Birding with Environmental and Adventure School Students

The Education Committee’s day with students at the Environmental and Adventure School (EAS), a middle/junior high school in the Lake Washington School District, began the morning of January 14 in their classroom. Shirlee and Jim Hall showed slides of Juanita Bay and talked about the importance of wetlands to our eco-system and especially to birds.  Jim’s photos and Shirlee’s narrative brought the students into the park they were to visit later in the day. Cattails swayed in the wind, beavers built their dam, and Song Sparrows trilled from nearby branches. The morning presentation excited students about their trip to Juanita Bay Park.

Dense fog greeted them at the park. In spite of the weather, however, the day proved to be a good one for birding. On the causeway with Jim and Shirlee, students encountered Downey Woodpeckers, a Killdeer, Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers and a Red-tailed Hawk. Ernie joined the group and pointed out the beavers’ winter food storage area and a large lodge with new stick additions. Margaret Lie and I took students to the viewing areas where they were amazed at the wide variety of birds, such as Green-winged Teals, 100+ American Coots, a Belted Kingfisher, Red-winged Blackbirds, Double-crested Cormorants and flying high overhead, a Bald Eagle. Their teacher John Hamilton declared the day a success and invited us to spend more time with his students in June.

Students were impressed that their teacher and the other founders of EAS received Eastside Audubon’s Environmentalists of the Year Award. We were impressed by the intelligence and cooperation of the students and are looking forward to working with them in June.

March, 2009 Corvid Crier article by Mary Britton-Simmons, Education Chair