Audubon Center notebook

What is your wingspan?

ORRINGTON – Mrs. Sawyer’s second grade class from Brewer is studying birds. They recently came to the Fields Pond Audubon Center for a field trip to learn more about birds.

Indoors the students were engaged in a variety of activities. They tried feather matching to see if they could decide which feathers came from what bird. Each child measured their own “wingspan” compared to some large Maine birds such as eagles, great blue herons and ospreys.

Students tried measuring eggs to see if they could identify what bird the eggs belonged to. They tried swooping down the hall with simulated talons like an eagle, after a simulated fish. Following the indoor activities the students split up into small groups and went outdoors with Nature Center guides to look for live birds and signs of birds.

Around the frog pond students found three small bird nests, leftover from last spring. This is a good time of year to look for bird nests. Without leaves on the trees, nests are much more visible than they will be after the leaves come back.

Blue jays were calling all around us and students were excited to see a flock of mourning doves disperse amongst a flurry of whistling wings. Under the feeders, hopping tracks of small birds littered the snow, and our treat for this spot was a perfect, double-wing print of a tiny bird, likely a chickadee. Much like the pattern of a child making a snow angel, the chickadee had left its angelic mark too.

Bird-track stories

Up in the forest, there were some interesting track stories waiting to be read. A ruffed grouse had walked along the ravine trail, through the remnant snow. Resting for a time under a small hemlock the grouse had left scat behind. Paralleling the grouse trail was a fisher trail! At one point the fisher trail overlapped the grouse trail. The fisher showed an interest in the scent left by the grouse, but without any sign of predation it appears that the grouse had departed before the fisher came by.

The next interesting bird track was a huge three-toed track. Only a turkey could have left such a monstrous track. In fact, two turkeys followed the brook trail for a short while before descending down to the stream.

Farther up the trail it looked like they had walked up the other side of the steep ravine. With strong wings you might think a bird would fly over such steep terrain. But with such a large body, it must take a lot of energy for a turkey to lift off, particularly in such a rugged area. Winter is all about conservation of energy – for birds as well as people.

Send sightings, comments, or questions to fieldspond@maineaudubon.org