Dr. Mark Stanback opened our eyes to the wonder of birds. We saw bluebird eggs in a nest box on campus. We even touched a newly hatched baby bluebird from another campus nest box! We also learned about the nesting experiences of different birds. Brown-headed Nuthatches, for example, breed as family groups: mom and dad raise the kids, and the kids stay home for a year or two! And Male House Wrens fill up nest boxes with sticks to attract a female who then chooses her favorite. The problem is that all the unchosen boxes stay filled with sticks. As we walked along campus, we listened for bird calls. And we learned about the Chickadee’s “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” call. The number of -dees correlates with the threat posed by a predator. The greater the threat, the more -dees the chickadee adds. Thank you, Dr. Stanback [See image gallery at www.davidsonlands.org]
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