Adams Elementary

What's New

Hyatt Wetlands

Our class joined members of the Golden Eagle Audubon Society on April 19th to tour the wetlands.

It was a perfect, cool morning to see all types of wetland birds and other animals. Our groups wandered around the ponds for a few hours.

There were dozens of Red-Winged Blackbirds and Yellow-Headed Blackbirds hopping from the cattails and announcing their territory. We saw several Northern Flickers, Mourning Doves, American Robins, Downy Woodpeckers, a White-crowned Sparrow and California Quail near the water.

On the ponds, our group spotted Canada Geese, American Coots, Mallards, Pied-billed Grebes, Northern Shovelers, Common Mergansers, Buffleheads,Cinamon Teals, 2 Gadwalls, and even Ruddy Ducks!

Overhead there were gulls (we think Ring-billed) , Magpies, Red-tailed Hawks, Osprey, Kestrels, and Cliff Swallows.

It was a great day to view so many different kinds of Wetland birds! We were even able to see 3 Muscrats making their way across the pond.

Project Wings

Yesterday we had a special guest come to our class. Mr. Weedon works for Idaho Power. You might wonder what Idaho Power and birds have in common..

We did too! He shared a cool video about how Idaho Power developed special platforms for raptors to nest on. Morley Nelson was the first to try these out with his

own bird, a Golden Eagle. The reason for designing and using these platforms was so that birds would not get electrocuted when they land on power poles. Some of these

Birds of Prey have a wing span of up to 12 feet and if both wings come in contact with the wires, it can be very bad news for the birds.

We found the information very interesting and would recommend this presentation to all other Bird by Bird classrooms!

Merlin!

Ms. Forderhase brought an old friend into class on Friday! His name is Merlin and he is a Great Horned Owl.

He was found many years ago near a road, having suffered from a broken wing. His wing is still a little droopy, but Ms. F said the he can

fly up to his perch from the floor-about 3-4 feet. He has enormous talons. If he was in the wild, he would use them to capture his food. He has no eye muscles because his

skull is very small. He can rotate his head about 270*. We all enjoyed meeting him, and I think he kind of liked us too!

Idaho Native Plants

Today our class got to plant native seeds in trays for planting in the Fall. We were joined by Sean Finn of the Golden Eagle Audubon Society and Kristin Gnojewski.

They brought Showy Goldeneye, Yellow Beeplant, Munro's Globemallow, Rabbit Brush, and Antelope Bitterbrush seeds. Everyone had the opportunity to plant and then we set the trays outside our classroom. We had to protect them from the birds and the squirrles, so Sean wrapped the trays in chicken wire. We will be watching for new growth in the Spring. Next school year, 4th graders will plant these at the Warm Springs Park that is located behind our school.

adams planting_dec2017.jpg

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What we've seen this school year

Observations

Species	Count	Disposition	Date and Time	Link
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)	1	Bath	09/26/2017 - 10:00am	Details
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)	4	Bath	11/09/2017 - 11:30pm	Details
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)	1	Bath	04/03/2018 - 9:45am	Details
California Quail (Callipepla californica)	2	Feeder	05/02/2016 - 8:15am	Details
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla)	1	Feeder	10/02/2017 - 8:45pm	Details
Pine Siskin (Carduelis pinus)	1	Feeder	04/20/2016 - 6:00pm	Details
Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis)	2	Feeder	11/16/2017 - 9:45am	Details
American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)	5	Feeder	11/11/2014 - 10:00am	Details
House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus)	1	Feeder	02/12/2018 - 11:30am	Details
Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)	1	Feeder	04/29/2016 - 12:15pm	Details