Year Wrap Up: Bird Savior, Class Pets, New Habitats

The year and this semester seemed to fly by. Students got a chance to experience species first hand, we developed new habitat, we've expanded our classes and our storage.

To start off, an amazing experience happened just today. One of my previous students Jayden (boy), who is also a current student of Mr. Brooks, greeted me at my classroom door this morning. He had a shoe box which contained an unidentified bird. He told me that he and his family had discovered this bird being attacked in an ant pile. He decided to rescue the bird, clean it of the ants, and bring it into class. His brother had rescued a squirrel 2 years earlier and had brought that into class. Mr. Matthews and other students helped nurture that squirrel to eventually release it back outdoors. Mr. Matthews had this wonder phrase: Novices think I am an Expert, and Experts know that I am a Novice. When I saw Jayden's bird I knew what to do, but I getting started was the problem. I didn't know what the bird's condition was, and did not want to do anything to worsen it. We attempted to identify the bird, but had difficulties not knowing where to look due to the limited information we had about the bird. We ended up contacting Austin Wildlife Rescue (http://austinwildliferescue.org/). I left a message describing what had happened and waited for a response. Luckily they called back and recommmended I bring in the bird due to its ant bites. Normally with a fledling, you would leave it where it was found because the bird is learning to walk and fly with help from its parents. When Wildlife Rescue's Madeline examined the bird, she said it would do fine. Jayden's quick reaction saved a bird from a very painful death. The bird actually turned out to be a fledgling dove. I spoke with Madeline for a while to find out what would be next for our bird. It was going to spend some time in an incubator being fed. Once the dove is able to eat, walk, and fly on its own, it would be removed to a flight cage. Where it will get more experience flying. Once ready it will be released back into the wild. Way to go JAYDEN!

We have had great opportunities for the kids to get up close with some native and non-native species.We have the corn snake, Kaleidoscope/Sasha, that Mr. Brooks showed in his previous post. When she got out we got another corn snake, Klein. Sadly she got sick and wouldn't eat, but the kids loved holding her while we had her.

In preparation for the Plant Sale we had to organize near the greenhouse. While doing this we were able to find a few spiny lizards living under a pile of wood.

Having this spiny lizard in our class allowed us to experience our nature trail in a completely different way. We became cricket hunters. In the process we saw a lot of cool things outside we may have never seen.

The crickets were hiding underneath different flat heavy objects. We check under wood logs and found a plethora of invertebrates. Here we found a walking stick.

We found so many scorpions! Under every rock in a handmade staircase there were at least two.

We got up close with a cardinal nest. The mother kept flying off as I was trying to get close to get a shot. In the process we noticed that there was a bird singing every time we got close to the nest. It turns out that the male was sitting on a telephone wire above us warning the female we were near. Each time we looked at him he flew off. We went back and forth watching the male and female interacing in this way. It was truly a behavior that we had not been able to observe especially for such a long period of time.

In our Taste of Science class we are continuing the tradition of monitoring our purple martin houses. We have two metal houses and two plastic gourd towers. We monitor the building of the purple matin nests. There are other invasive species that like to interfere with the purple martins, their young, and their nests. We are supposed to control these invasive species. The main species we deal with is the house sparrow. There is a big difference between a purple martin nest and a house sparrow nest.

Purple Martin Nest with eggs

Purple Martin Fledgling

A purple martin nest is loose fitting. It mostly contains sticks and oak leaves. A house sparrow nest completely fills the gourd or nest box and contains mostly grasses.



ABOVE: House Sparrow nest in gourd, LOWER: House sparrow nest on ground



When you are aware of the invasive species, you can control their impact on the purple martins. Whether it is owls or raptors eating the martins. Or the house sparrows moving into martin nests, destroying eggs, and making martins raise the house sparrow young. Sadly sometimes when removing house sparrow nests you also have to remove their young as well. To prevent this catching and releasing sparrows is recommended, or you will have to constantly remove nests.

Luckily we also get to experience watching the cycle of life. We have watched nest building, egg laying, and now purple martins growing and getting ready for a new life on their own. We currently have over 40 eggs, hatchlings, or fledlings.



My last photos are extras of our pond and tool shed projects. They have been the big projects this semester in my classes

. The tool shed is done. Here are some of the stages. The last one was just before we did the white trim.



The pond is almost done! This has been a project that has taken a whole year to complete. Within the next few weeks we will have power. Once power is installed, we need to finish our waterfall and basin. This will allow us to have a second ecosystem to study. It is really exciting.

The year and semester has blown by. All we can hope for is that next year will go as well.

Well, That Was Fast

Just yesterday we cleaned and repaired their houses.

Today they returned.

Amazing!

Be My Purple Martin Valentine

A break in the weather afforded us a chance to spruce up our martin houses. The scouts should be arriving soon, and we want them to bring back last years's colony.

Our first step was to lower the houses. When the school year ended last June, the colony was thriving. They exhibited a strong preference for the older metal houses. By the time school started in August, the houses had been abandoned.

Before cleaning, we took time to examine the old nests. Of the 24 apartments in the metal houses, 22 showed evidence of habitation. The two empty spots were missing the front walls. 

 

Only one of the gourd houses had the telltale mud and twigs of a martin nest. On two occasions last spring we discovered sparrows nesting in the polygourds. We relocated those to the nearby woods. 

We did not find a completed swallow nest which is mostly just a swirl of straw. But, almost every gourd had a few pieces of straw.

Sadly, we did find the remains of a young martin. Hannah found 4 eggs in one apartment. In another, one egg didn't hatch. We set these aside for further investigation once the houses were clean.

 

The polygourds required very little cleaning and zero maintenance. The metal houses were dirty and in pretty rough shape. They looked like they had survived a barrage of artillery. I don't understand why anyone would throw rocks at birdhouses, but over the years this has been fairly common. After scraping and brushing them out, we straightened out and replaced the floors, front walls, and railing pieces.

Once we completed the spring cleaning and raised the houses back up their poles, it was time for our "eggtopsies." The contents of two of the eggs were liquid.

The other three contained more solid masses. We detected no foul odors. The consistency of two of them looked similar to a boiled chicken egg. One seemed more like a fetus, although we could not detect and discernible body parts.

We are eagerly awaiting the return of the martins and are keeping our eyes pealed for the scouts.

Photos by Matthew and David

Monitoring Martins

Last week while sitting on the curb across from the martin houses, Mr. Anthony and Martin pointed out that some sparrows were occupying a couple of the gourds. We watched for a few more minutes. Students noted that the smaller birds were behaving a lot like the purple martins, swooping, soaring, gliding.

After consulting with some knowledgeable ornithologists, Jane Tillman, Victor Emmanuel, Teri Siegenthaler, and Susan Sanders, it became abundantly clear that sparrow removal was a necessity. Purple martin populations are declining, sparrow populations are thriving. Sparrows are known to destroy martin eggs and hatchlings.

The class was predictably unhappy about the situation. Some accepted the verdict, others were very opposed. A bird is a bird is a bird. A bird is life and each egg a potential life. In the end the class voted to relocate the sparrow nests. Turns out there were three polygourds with nests. Equipped with buckets and weeders, we did the deed.

Sparrow nests are larger and contain mostly grass. It was easy to tell the nests apart. The weeders were unnecessary. Small handed students removed fistfuls of interwoven materials.

One of the sparrows was old enough to try flying away. The other, pictured here, seemed days younger. Notice the pink skin.

Once the nests and two hatchlings were removed, some of the students headed for the woods to find a suitable relocation site. Others remained to conduct a census of martin eggs. None had hatched out yet. Some clutches had up to six eggs. We have yet to tally them all due to lack of time.

The martin nests varied in size and mud content. The retention pond is now dry, so mud isn't available.

After we had satisfied our curiosity, students hoisted the houses and secured the ropes. The birds, martin and sparrow alike, immediately returned.

Students are recording their observations and findings in the field journals. Here are four examples.

Native Plants and Animals is my largest class (34). When monitoring the martins, student misbehaviors are not an issue. No one complains of boredom. Questions fly fast and furiously.

Score one for outdoor education.