Norwich
“It’s a special chance for kids to get to go out into real places, real forests and streams and fields,” said Donald McCabe, a Bird Week organizer and the coordinator with Marion Cross School. As fledgling citizen scientists, the students will take a hands-on approach to studying their subjects by harnessing the scientific method of making observations, taking notes and forming conclusions.
Bird Week, which started on Friday and runs through Sunday, offers six electives for students to choose from, including opportunities to camp outdoors, compose original music inspired by birdsong and learn to identify local species based on sight and sound.
“Some kids will be more into the identification aspect of it, others will be interested in raptors so they might be interested in the migration aspect, some will like the idea of studying directly in the field, some are artists who may want to learn how to sketch or paint birds,” McCabe said. “Ultimately, the kids are in charge of a lot of the activities, and I like to think that makes it more meaningful for them.”
The principal of Marion Cross, Bill Hammond, agreed.
“I have a strong feeling that the students will enjoy exploring stuff about birds, and enjoy paying attention to something they might not normally pay attention to,” Hammond said. “It’s like when you’re looking for a new house, and suddenly you find yourself noticing porches in a way you hadn’t before. Except it’s birds instead of porches, which is probably cooler.”
Hammond was especially excited about the opportunity for students to take an interdisciplinary approach to Bird Week through music and art. For these electives, Marion Cross teachers integrate bird studies into their lesson plans for the week, he said. Students who sing or play an instrument can choose to participate in the music elective by composing or adapting a musical score related to birds, while students who choose the art elective will visit the Norwich Historical Society and have the option of sketching birds based on models, or building birdhouses and feeders.
And for students who choose to participate in the identification or habitat study electives, the opportunity to learn about the traits of local species is a lesson that will stay with students for years to come, Hammond said.
“Different bird songs, for example, are kind of like different languages,” he added. “It changes the wiring in your brain to learn what the sounds mean. Even if you study Spanish for a while and then stop, you can always start again. And then you’ll suddenly remember words you didn’t think were in there anymore. Studying birds can absolutely be that way.”
Since the timing of Bird Week coincides with the expected return of many migratory species such as falcons and eagles, the series allows students the unique opportunity to witness one end of a momentous journey, he added.
“The basic idea is to open everyone’s eyes to the beauty and majesty of birds,” Chris Rimmer, executive director of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies and one of Bird Week’s coordinators, wrote via email, as well as to “instill awareness of the need to conserve birds and their habitats.”
And because it’s also nesting season for many songbirds, McCabe said, “it’s absolutely the best time of year to learn about how to spot and protect the sparrows and the mourning doves and the woodcocks and all those littler guys all around us.”
Norman Miller, the founding coordinator of Bird Week and emeritus professor of community and family medicine at Dartmouth, said his inspiration for the series came partly from participating in a bird education program in East Africa, which he said bolstered an appreciation and respect for wildlife.
“I was impressed by how African bird naturalists were able to build enthusiasm in primary school students, using birds as a window into the wilderness,” he wrote via email.
This experience, combined with the many local environmental groups — the Norwich Conservation Commission, Audubon Vermont, the Vermont Center for Ecostudies and the Vermont Institute of Natural Science all contributed to Bird Week — gave Miller the idea to coordinate some bird education of his own.
In addition to the six electives for Marion Cross students, there will also be film screenings, bird walks and art displays open to all ages.
The Norwich Public Library is housing a month-long bird exhibit in its lobby, including bird identification books, pamphlets and binoculars for students who are learning to identify birds; lush, detailed paintings of birds in a variety of habitats, to inspire students who are taking a creative approach with their projects; and a handful of East African bird carvings that Miller collected during his travels, and which he hopes will speak to students who are curious about how birds are regarded in different cultures.
The Norwich Historical Society will also hold a bird art display Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Films slated to screen during the course of Bird Week are Terminal Velocity, a National Geographic film about peregrine falcons, and Eagle Huntress, an award-winning documentary about a Kazakh girl from Mongolia who dreams of becoming the first female to hunt with eagles. Terminal Velocity will screen at Marion Cross on Wednesday, starting at 7 p.m. The screening will be followed by a question-and-answer session with Norwich native and birding expert Doug Hardy.
Eagle Huntress will screen on Friday at the Montshire Museum of Science. Norman Miller’s son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Lindsay Miller, who are film teachers from the Norwich-based World Story Exchange, will lead a discussion based on the film. Anna Autilio, an environmental educator from the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, will give a raptor presentation.
Experts from conservation groups will offer bird walks this weekend. On Saturday morning, Rimmer and Craig Layne, a member of the Dartmouth biological sciences department, will lead a morning bird walk from 8 to 10:30. Participants will meet at the Ledyard Bridge park-and-ride. In the afternoon, Tii McLain, a consulting forester from Audubon Vermont, will lead a walk from 1 to 4, with a focus on teaching landowners forest management techniques for songbirds. The afternoon walk will meet at 177 New Boston Road in Norwich, on Norman Miller’s property. A Boy Scout encampment open house will start at the same location and time.
Bird Week organizers recommend bringing a pair of binoculars on the walks, as well as practical shoes.
The penultimate event of the series, a family picnic on the Norwich Green, is scheduled for Saturday evening from 5 to 8. During the picnic, Marion Cross’s fifth- and sixth-grade citizen scientists will have the opportunity to share their projects from the week, including art, music and scientific findings.
On Sunday, Rimmer and Jason Hill, a conservation biologist from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, will demonstrate how they safely capture, band and take measurements of songbirds. Participants may have the chance to release the birds after the demonstration.
“We’re so connected to electronics these days that we don’t often remember to stop and pay attention to what’s around us,” McCabe said. “And it’s not just kids who are guilty of this, but these are things we want kids to become more and more aware of. And that begins with teaching about conservation and habitat.”
For more information on Norwich Bird Week, visit its page on Facebook.
EmmaJean Holley can be reached at eholley@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.