Monday, November 19, 2007

P2F - Hanging Birds

Day 44 - Mon Nov 12: My first task this morning was clean off my desk. I have a habit of dropping papers on my desk until it looks like one of Dilbert's nightmares. He would have been screaming this morning!

The series of Eastern Bluebirds photos (see day 42) was among the desk debris. Obviously, I proudly hung the pics on my front board.

A new round of inquisition was inspired as many students saw, for the first time, the sequence of a parent bluebird feeding its fledgling young a mealworm.

P2F - Birds as Medication

Day 43 - Tues Nov 6: Despite not having any students today, there were bird droppings throughout my in-service this morning.

The most interesting came during a discussion with colleagues about daily trials abd tribulations of grown up life. One teacher was sharing some less than wonderful happenings of the past year. Then, turning to me, she said, "You know what has been my strength through all this? Birds. We love watching all those little birds at the shore during our summer vacation. This fall, we have had so many new birds visit our feeders. It's so exciting to watch something different come in."

I offered my understanding, "birds can be a fun escape without a doubt."

Her reply was both entertaining and enlightening, "Watching them at our feeder makes things better. I'm telling you those little birds are better than Valium!"

Monday, November 5, 2007

P2F - A "Beauty-Oh" Morning

Day 42 - Mon Nov 5: Sitting at my desk this morning, I heard the familiar Killdeer call. As I walked toward the open window, I noticed a large silhouette through the blinds. That's no Killdeer!

The raptor flew very low over the soccer field and the busy road before perching atop a telephone pole. I grabbed a set of bins from the shelf. Yes, I always have bins available in my classroom! On a Monday morning, there was NO WAY this immature Red-tailed Hawk was not going to be ogled for a few minutes.

As you have probably already figured out, the students were hearing about my magnificent morning all day!

P2F - The Blue and The Grey's

Day 41 - Fri Nov 2: During homeroom this morning, I was surprised by 2 former students rushing into my room. Each of them had their own birdy bulletin for me.

The Blue: I could instantly see that the one girl was carrying 3 ink-jet printed photos. As a frequent morning birder, I knew she had something of interest to show. She eagerly explained that her mom's friend had taken pictures of Eastern Bluebirds in her backyard a while ago. The series showed a 1) a male bluebird grabbing a mealworm from a feeder, 2) the bird stretching its head toward a fledgling, and 3) the mealy tidbit being placed well within the waiting mouth. Of course, it was a very pleasant surprise to have her bring them down but that was not the end of it.

I left the photos in the front of my class all day. In each of my classes, students were commenting on the pics or asking questions.

The Grey's: The other girl was a student I have not seen much at all since last June. She charged into my room and asked, "Mr. Mag, did you watch Grey's Anatomy last night?!"

"Nah, my wife is more of a Survivor/CSI fan. Besides, I was busy all night."

"I was thinking of you when I saw it!"

"OK - now you're scaring me! Why?!"

"They were talking about some bird. Something like an [very puzzled expression on her face] Ivy-building Woodpecker?"

"The Ivory-billed Woodpecker?!?!?!" My exclamation was followed by an extremely brief tutorial of the presumed extinction, recent rediscovery, and ensuing controversy.

She walked out with a proud smile, "I knew you would want to know about it!"

Nothing like prime time soap opera birding for middle schoolers = )

Sunday, November 4, 2007

P2F - Teaching through Talons

Day 40 - Thurs Nov 1: Both the starting gun and finsih line for my school day was in the form of raptors.

While chatting with a colleague about our plans for the day, I noticed an incongruous bounce in the pine tree outside her window. I rushed over to the window just as a fairly large bird regained its balance enough to perch upright. I immediately noted the brown-streaked buffy breast of an accipiter.

Margie asks, "what do you see now?"

With some guidance, I was able to get her on the young female Sharp-shinned Hawk just before it flew away from us. I took a few minutes to explain the plumage differences between immature and adults. With an artist background, she was intrigued by the gray and orange combination.

As I was leaving in the late afternoon, a student was also leaving the soccer game. We exchanged pleasantries in passing. Then, a silhouette buouded over his head. The pointed wings, slender body, and longish tail screamed AMERICAN KESTREL!

Seeing the surprise on this kid's face, I realized it was actually me that screamed kestrel. I was able to get his eyes on the bird just before it dropped out of sight behind a row trees. He asked something ot the effect of, "what is a kestrel?"

he had just seen the smallest falcon in North America. His heartfelt reply spoke volumes, "Cool!"

Impressing a 6th grade boy with a momentary glimpse at a kestrel is no small feat ; )

P2F - Trick-or-Treat Birding

Day 39 - Wed Oct 31: My pledge to Fledge efforts today were not in school. It was during the traditional Halloween begging for candy festivities.

In my best birder's get up, I was strolling my neighborhood with a blonde versions of Mulan and Diego. We were crossing paths with all sorts of monsters, ninjas, and the popular ultra-trampy vampires.

When did this costume become so popular among young teens anyway?! We are hoping this trend changes before our daughter tries asking for fishnets for her 13th Halloween = (

Sorry for that daddy dread moment. Now, let's return to our regualrly scheduled posting . . .

Anyway, I stayed in character throughout our candy gathering route. I was pointing out birds to every group of kids we encountered. Unfortunately, the starlings and sparrows did not impress terribly many kids. A very vocal mockingbird did capture some positive attention. The real nice oohs and aahs were initiated by a low saoring Red-tailed Hawk. I was able to get a few different groups on this very cooperative bird!

P2F - Loony Day

Day 38 - Tues Oct 30 When I left the house this morning, I was confident that there would be little if any thing to share here. There was a series of scheduled meetings that promised to be less than pleasurable which would command much of my attention. Before leaving the house, I donned my favorite tie to help keep my spirits up.

Low and behold, the fledging foundation was falling into place all day!

I've been wearing this blue loon tie for several years. Sometimes, it spurs some interest among the kids. (As a matter of fact, I posted once last year about the hullabaloo the tie stirred up last year.)
my favorite tie - if you know where I can find similar ones - PLEASE let me know!

All day long, students, other teachers, secretaries, and subsitutes were all commenting on my "beautiful tie"! Perhaps my colleagues knew what was going on behind the scenes and were trying to cheer me up. Regardless, I took every opporuntity to clear up that it was a Common Loon and NOT A DUCK!

It turned out to be a very birdy day after all = )

btw - the meetings went much better than expected by anyone!

P2F - Party Pooper - NOT quite

Day 37 - Mon Oct 29: This was an easy Pledge to Fledge day!

The kids knew I was going to be birding all weekend. Hoping for another Life Bird Party, many of them eagerly asked the sami question as they entered my class: "DId you find any new birds this weekend?!"

They were disappointed to hear that a party was not on the schedule for today. However, I was able to easily pick up their spirits by excitedly sharing the many other sightings from the weekend including Bald Eagles, Belted Kingfisher, Dickcissel, and all 3 falcons!

It's nice to know they are already thinking about birds a bit more. I still have 8 months left to get them ready to fledge!