Sally Week: A Bird’s Farm Song

Rushton Preserve: https://wctrust.org/rushtonwoodspreserve/

Day four was delightful. The class traveled to Rushton Preserve to observe both the catching and banding of birds and a tidy urban farm nestled into habitat and research.

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The process of catching, tagging and releasing the birds was something I had never seen before. The bird nets were so light I couldn’t believe that they held such vigorous birds. But sure enough as we made the rounds through trails and past nets the birds were held quite safely.  Everyone seemed really happy to see, pet and help release the birds. I was surprised by how soft the were. I had attempted to release a Cat Bird which squacked so painfully when I went to hold its neck that I released it in fear I hurt it. Clearly its scare tactics work and it flew away happily.

The farm was quaint and I have happily added the free plants we received to my window garden. The following lunch was perfect and the kickball game clearly more telling of group dynamics than probably any field trip. Our class definietly needs to play kickball again sometime soon!