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Geil Elementary first graders had many bird related questions for Laura Smedsrud (right), an environmental educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies during the bird banding field trip on Sept. 9. Students pictured (from left): Jaxon Sands, Easton Timblin and Madi Payne.
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Geil Elementary first grade classes and teachers observed bird banding and trekked nature trails at Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area on Sept. 9.
First graders sat still and quiet while Nancy Ransom, an educator with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, expertly pulled a chickadee from a cloth bag to demonstrate bird banding.
“So right now I have the band and the pliers to put the band on the leg,” Ransom said. “I had to bring the bird back here to band it; I can’t just band it up at the nets because I have special tools that I use in order to band it.”
Nancy Ransom, an educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, demonstrates how to band a bird to Geil Elementary first graders on Sept. 9. Bird banding will continue in the Wildcat Hills until Oct. 14.
As the group of kids began fidgeting for a closer look, Delanie Bruce, an educator with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, began showing a close-up photo of a bird band and the pliers.
Bird banding stations provide scientists with information about health and habitat of migrating birds. Bruce said birds will be collected for a little over seven weeks in nets set-up near the Wildcat Hills Nature Center. The time frame will capture early migrating songbirds and could include late migrators like owls.
“Northern owls migrate on a four year cycle so 2020 was a peak time,” Bruce said. “If we do any night banding it will probably be mid to later September because they migrate later than our songbirds.”
Geil Elementary first graders (from left), Katherine Lewis, Hayden Atwood, Joclynn Turin and Jaxon Sands, get a close look at a chickadee held by Nancy Ransom, an educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. Lewis asked if birds are soft during the bird banding field trip on Sept. 9.
The staged nets are used to passively collect the migrating birds for banding, recording bird health observations and weights. Bruce said that active collection is used to catch migrating owls in the dark.
“Right now this is passive banding, we’re waiting to see if anything flies into the net,” she said. “For active banding, we actually only have a couple of nets open and we have a sound system playing a call of the owl to draw them in.”
In 2020 there were 1,006 birds caught in the Wildcat Hills and in 2021 just 500 birds in the seven week window. Ransom said there have been 217 birds caught so far this year.
“It depends on how migration goes, we’re either going to catch the birds that are migrating or they’re going to fly over,” Ransom said. “We could be considered a flyover spot, birds will pass over and they won’t use this spot as a staging ground.”
Geil Elementary students (from left) Azariah Palomo, Jazzlyn Freeburg, Lilly Guerrero and Cutter Conklin get a close-up look at a chickadee during a bird banding field trip at the Wildcat Hills Nature Center on Sept. 9.
After explaining bird banding, Ransom demonstrated the proper way to hold the chickadee and walked through the group for a closer look.
Many of the kids asked if they could pet the bird. “So Nancy can because she’s trained to hold the birds, she knows how to do it,” Laura Smedsrud, an educator with Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, said.
“I was actually just trying to get him to stop pecking me but I do pet the birds sometimes,” Ransom said.
Smedsrud fielded a barrage of curious questions from the first graders that were eager to learn about Nebraska’s birds.
“How do you know that birds are scared of use when we’re inside a building and they can see us,” Cutter Conklin said.
Nancy Ransom, an educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, takes a bird out of a collection net Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area on Sept. 9.
Smedsrud gave many reasons why birds may be scared of people, “but I guess I really don’t know how birds feel about us.”
Hayden Atwood asked, “How do birds make their nest?”
“So that’s a really good question,” Smedsrud said. “They can collect stuff; like nests can be made out of sticks and they actually use their mouth to weave them together.”
Laura Smedsrud (front), an environmental educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, leads Susan Harrison’s (back) Geil Elementary first grade class on a nature hike at the Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area on Sept. 9.
Once question time was wrapped up, the first grade classes set out on a nature hike through the trails at Wildcat Hills.
Smedsrud lead a group with an excited “off we go,” before stopping for a closer look at the bird catching nets.
“If you want to touch the net with the back of your hand with the littlest, gentlest pet, you can feel how soft is,” she said.
Delanie Bruce (left), Nebraska Wildlife education manager with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, shows (from left) Azariah Palomo, Jazzlyn Freeburg, Lily Guerrero and Cutter Conklin a picture of a bird band and pliers at the Wildcat Hills Nature Center on Sept. 9.
Once on the trail, the kid’s began calling out the many sights of nature. Smedsrud pointed out nearby cactus to avoid, flowers to smell, pinecones to feel as well as dragonflies and birds to see in the sky.
The students responded with an enthusiastic yes when asked if they had learned new things while visiting the Wildcat Hills.
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Nicole Heldt is a reporter with the Star-Herald, covering agriculture. She can be reached at 308-632-9044 or by email at nheldt@starherald.com.
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Nancy Ransom, an educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, demonstrates how to band a bird to Geil Elementary first graders on Sept. 9. Bird banding will continue in the Wildcat Hills until Oct. 14.
Geil Elementary first graders (from left), Katherine Lewis, Hayden Atwood, Joclynn Turin and Jaxon Sands, get a close look at a chickadee held by Nancy Ransom, an educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies. Lewis asked if birds are soft during the bird banding field trip on Sept. 9.
Geil Elementary students (from left) Azariah Palomo, Jazzlyn Freeburg, Lilly Guerrero and Cutter Conklin get a close-up look at a chickadee during a bird banding field trip at the Wildcat Hills Nature Center on Sept. 9.
Geil Elementary first graders had many bird related questions for Laura Smedsrud (right), an environmental educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies during the bird banding field trip on Sept. 9. Students pictured (from left): Jaxon Sands, Easton Timblin and Madi Payne.
Nancy Ransom, an educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, takes a bird out of a collection net Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area on Sept. 9.
Laura Smedsrud (front), an environmental educator with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, leads Susan Harrison’s (back) Geil Elementary first grade class on a nature hike at the Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area on Sept. 9.
Delanie Bruce (left), Nebraska Wildlife education manager with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, shows (from left) Azariah Palomo, Jazzlyn Freeburg, Lily Guerrero and Cutter Conklin a picture of a bird band and pliers at the Wildcat Hills Nature Center on Sept. 9.
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