Children's Birding Tour
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge
Sunday, November 21, 2004
bald eagle |
The "Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival" is now over for this year. Though I had to work all week, straight through Saturday, I did get to co-lead the FREE Children's Beginning Birding Fieldtrip with my husband, Cary, and Andy Bankert this morning. It was so much fun! We had 9 children ranging from ages 4 to 16 years old. With most of the children in the lower ages, we concentrated on having them be able to easily identify at least two species, by shape, color, and beaks and feet of course. We started off asking how do we know it is a bird we are looking at, and went from there. Andy was indispensable in helping with the group.
great egret |
white ibis |
wood stork |
We first met Andy about 6 years ago when he and his father showed up for one of our Beginning Birders' tours at MINWR. He had already started a bird list (about 25 species on it) and has a list longer than my own now. He joins us occasionally and we respect the skills he has developed.
With 7 very young birders along, we tried to keep it simple. Keep that in mind when I give you the list that our beginners were able to positively identify on their own by the end of the tour. There were many more species out there, but the point of this tour was to inspire and teach children how to identify birds.
I used the display in the refuge visitor information center to get the group warmed up; pointing out especially the great egret and talking about its yellowish-orange, straight beak and black legs and feet, then looking at the white ibis and letting the children look at the differences and describe them. Next was the wood stork, have you ever noticed the pink feet of the wood stork? They did. The 4 year old was quick to speak up.
I asked the children what their favorite birds were...blue bird and eagle seemed to get the most vociferous votes. This changed a bit as the day progressed.
turkey vulture |
With so many vultures about, we focused on them as we headed to Black Point Wildlife Drive. By the time we got to the drive, I think everyone in the group had a better appreciation for the birds that help keep our environment clean.
It was really wonderful watching as the birding fever built. With each vulture seen, we went through the questions about field marks. "See the Turkey vulture in flight, can you see the 'white' from its finger tips to its armpit? The Black vulture just has white on it's fingers."
At Stop 1 on the drive we were able to get a view of a red-shouldered hawk on the osprey-nesting platform, which had the adults taking a more active interest. When Andy put two bald eagles in the scope, the tour came to a halt for everyone to observe the pair perched in a tree some distance away. Now everyone was most definitely excited.
little blue heron |
It was really wonderful watching as the birding fever built. With each vulture seen, we went through the questions about field marks. Then we got to the fairly large blue-gray birds like the tricolor heron and the little blue heron. The tricolor went down on the list when several of the children could call out what it was on their own. Our list now had bald eagle, tricolor heron, black vulture, and turkey vulture; and there in front of us close to the road was a white ibis. Several of the children were able to call it out easily; but they were patient with the younger ones letting them call out field marks like "white" and "curved, red beak". This bird was quickly replacing the "blue bird" as the 4-year-old boy's favorite bird. When we finally got to a point where there was an easily seen great egret, the fever grew. They knew this bird.
reddish egret with fish |
By Stop 4, little blue heron was becoming much easier for them to identify and here we found a reddish egret. This of course meant it was time for me to do my reddish egret dance. I had a couple of the more bold children join in. They knew to look for the white belly of the tricolor with its straight yellow and black beak, or the mostly gray little blue heron with its blue and black beak, so we added looking for the pink and black beak of the reddish egret who dances for its dinner.
moorhen |
The older children and adults had questions of their own by now, which Cary and Andy took time to answer while I played with the little ones and did the repetition thing. Thankfully, everyone was very patient and allowed time for each to learn at their own pace. As we drove along and participants began to call out about a bird seen, Cary took time to give instructions on how to tell each other where they were looking. I laughed with one parent about the youngest also learning about "O'clock" while learning about birds.
High points for me during this time included the pleasure of helping children and parents catch the birding fever and one of my favorite few minutes was talking with the 16 year old about John James Audubon. The young man had read in a history book how Audubon had killed the birds and used wires to pose them. I explained that the birds simply would not hold still long enough for Audubon to sketch then paint them. I wonder how many people have a good enough memory to get it just right when they see a reddish egret dancing or goldfinches feeding. Aren't we lucky to have the tools we now have to capture those special moments in a bird's life?
| This tour felt like one of our most successful. |
| Here is the list of birds identified by the participants: |
| The more mature could also add: |
Black vulture
Turkey vulture
White ibis
Great egret
Tricolor heron
Little blue heron
Reddish egret
Bald eagle |
Osprey
Northern harrier
Red-shouldered hawk
Kingfisher
American coot
Moorhen
Rail (Clapper)
Hooded merganser
Northern pintail
Blue-wing teal
Pied-bill grebe
Cormorant
Anhinga |
One father taught his daughters about the difference in the way ducks feed, so that they could look through the scope and say, "they are dabblers" or "they are divers" and from there work their way through the identification process.
In the end I have to say it was a marvelous day!
Happy Birding,
Betty Salter
Story and photographs by Betty Salter
