May 23, 2001
Field trip for the birds
Central Grade School visits Omena sanctuary
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"Listen up - zip your beaks!"
With that admonishment from their teacher, students from Jody Meyers' fifth-grade class at Central Elementary School began their tour of the Charter Bird Sanctuary in Omena. The culmination of a yearlong study of birds, where everything major science unit had a link to birds, the visit was a chance for the students to see first-hand birds in a protected wildlife habitat.
"This is fun, it's like jumping into one of the pictures in the textbook," said Kelsey Hyde, a fifth-grade student.
As the students traveled along the sanctuary's path from wet woodland to wetland to meadow, they saw different birds nesting, guarding their nest, attracting mates and marking their territory. They also learned about the breeding, nesting, singing and migratory patterns of birds ranging from kingfishers and gray catbirds to orioles and bank swallows. A perched hummingbird was an unusual sight and nesting bobolinks held students' attention for a while.
"It is so weird how all the different habitats here attract different birds," said Chelsey Harding, also a fifth grader.
Meyers' own love of birding has guided her students all year. Since she began serious bird watching three years ago, inspired to the topic by her husband, she has used it as a vehicle to teach students throughout the fifth-grade's five major science units: light and sound, weather, floating and sinking, ecosystems and anatomy. For example, during the anatomy unit, she had students compare human and avian anatomy.
The science teacher for both fifth-grade classes, she finds students eager for more information on every facet of birds. Students also completed detailed reports on a bird of their choice.
"I found a way to link each unit to birds," said Meyers, who developed her birding skills specifically to use in teaching. "You cannot go a day without observing birds, they are everywhere. I think it makes what we're studying make more sense because they have something they can connect it to daily."
Earlier this year, they took a bird walk through the Grand Traverse Commons, and practiced identifying birds by sight and sound. Meyers keeps their interest alive in an urban setting by pointing out birds around the school and neighborhoods.
These skills came in handy during the walk at the Charter Sanctuary. Kay Charter and her husband, Jim, bought their 47 acres in 1993 specifically to create a bird sanctuary. Over her decades of birding, Kay had become increasingly concerned by the decline of native songbird species, especially orioles, grosbeaks and warblers. She was determined to create a haven for the species that were losing habitat because of increasing development in Leelanau County.
"The scarlet tanager population has declined 50 percent in 25 years and I couldn't bear the loss," Charter said.
The Charters owned a small piece of lakefront property, which they sold for a down payment on the large inland piece. Sinking their whole retirement into the acreage and working to support their sanctuary are just part of their commitment to preserving bird habitat.
They started bringing school groups out for a tour two years after opened and, after a few year hiatus from school groups, began accepting them again. All along they have led tours of garden clubs, birding groups or families.
As they take visitors along a trail they have laid through their property, they wind through a variety of habitats that are home to more than 50 nesting species. Charter believes that about 40 of those are species she was concerned about.
"We have probably more than 150 species occurring on the property, including a bald eagle that has flow over," Charter said. "It has been successful beyond our wildest dreams. It is very satisfying. This place is as close to Heaven as I can imagine because of what it brings and what it represents."