Life at ICS
Winter Birds Are on Display at ICS
Although the dead of winter tends to keep most people indoors, it’s a special time for bird watchers. Here at Irvington Community School, our bird watchers have been taking notice of the unique winter birds visiting our feeders and flying above the campus.
One day in early December, during release, the haunting in-flight call of southward-migrating sandhill cranes was heard above the school. Several large flocks, each numbering nearly 50 birds, flew over our campus, perhaps 1,000 feet above, in their typical "V" formation. In late February and into early March, these giants – whose wingspan reaches nearly 7 feet – have been sighted flying over our school as they return during the spring migration, heading for northern Canada and Alaska.
Our bird feeders, located in the ICS Outdoor Classroom, have attracted a variety of birds often taken for granted by the uninitiated, but admired for their beauty by those of us who are enamored with our winged friends. Sparrows, for example, are one of the most diverse birds in North America, with nearly 50 species claiming the United States as home. On the ground beneath our sunflower seed feeders, white-crowned, song, and tree sparrows are frequent visitors. The much more common house sparrows tend to perch on the feeders, grudgingly taking turns with goldfinches, now in their muted gray-brown winter plumage. Chickadees, sentinels of the woods, their extensive variety of calls including warnings to nearby wildlife whenever an intruder approaches yet one of the most human-friendly birds known (they can become so accustomed to humans that they have been known to feed out of one's hand), favor sunflower seed. Grey, white, and black-colored dark-eyed juncos – popularly known as “Christmas birds” – make occasional appearances near the feeders, competing with the sparrows for seeds on the ground that the tube-feeding birds drop.
Hawk sightings have been fairly frequent in the area this winter, particularly in the field to the south of the K-8 building. One January afternoon just after Winter Break, Mr. Mulherin spotted either a sharp-shinned hawk or Cooper’s hawk gliding directly over Mr. Stenger’s head, perhaps 10 feet above him. These remarkable hunters – known as accipiters, yet more commonly referred to as raptors – are remarkably similar in color, size, and behavior; only an expert birder with powerful field glasses and years of experience can make out the subtle distinctions between these closely related birds of prey who live in Indiana year-round. An occasional red-tailed hawk can be seen hunting over the field, searching for a meal of field mice or other small rodents. Many of these majestic birds, Indiana’s largest hawk, migrate in spring and summer, but some are year-round residents. And speaking of large birds of prey, an ICS staff member reported a “huge” owl silently flying through the parking lot air space in late December at dusk; most likely a great horned owl, or perhaps a barred owl. Owls are expert hunters, partially thanks to the design of their wings, which make no noise as they fly, allowing these carnivorous birds to approach prey – which includes squirrels, rabbits, and even small dogs! – with complete surprise.
Of course, the more everyday variety of year-round winged residents can be seen on the ICS campus. Cardinals, robins, and crows make the area home. (Did you know that crows are one of the most intelligent species in the bird kingdom?) And though common, each species has its unique features and behavior worth watching through field glasses or by the naked eye.
As winter slowly makes its way across the Northern Hemisphere, bird watchers eagerly anticipate the annual return of many migratory species to Indiana, whether spring and summer residents or, like many of the colorful warbler species, those just passing through as they fly north to their Canadian nesting grounds. And many of them visit our property – and yours! Do yourself a favor and be on the lookout for the remarkable diversity of birds that populate our city and school grounds. But be careful – once you begin to notice the many fascinating distinctions from bird species to species, you’ll get hooked. Before you know it, you’ll never be far from a pair of binoculars or a bird guide, and may find yourself the recipient of curious stares from those less smitten by birds as you comment about their remarkable characteristics with little if any prompting. Oh, well!
Top photo: dark-eyed junco; middle: red-tailed hawk; bottom: white-crowned sparrow.
To learn more about birds in your own backyard, visit the following websites: