The World is Our Classroom: Field Trips to Plum Island and Wolf Hollow

A little bird. A hungry wolf. Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf springs to mind when we reflect on recent field trips by our elementary classes. But thankfully, nobody was swallowed on our adventures!

In May, our Lower and Upper elementary classes participated in two special field trips with wonderful naturalist guides. Below is a summary of our visits to Plum Island for bird banding, and Wolf Hollow—a preserve for gray wolves. Both of these visits were less than a 15 minute drive from the North Shore Montessori School in Rowley, Mass.

Bird Banding at Plum Island

On May 5, we visited the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Newbury, Mass. to witness a bird banding operation conducted by Massachusetts Audubon staff and volunteers.

The objective was to teach students about wintering and migrating bird species, including local raptors. After gathering at the Joppa Flats Education Center, we made our way to Plum Island—one of the East Coast’s most important stopovers for migratory birds.

After parking at the Sub-headquarters, our guides escorted us across the road to what seemed like a secret path; it was unmarked, but gated. We made our way a short walk through a clearing and to a little shack where a group of University of New Hampshire students were just finishing their visit.

Outside the little wooden bird banding shack was a small group of volunteers who were spending their morning checking a special temporary net every fifteen minutes for any species of bird that happened to fly into it.

While our group quietly waited for the volunteers to return, we visited with Ben, an Audubon employee who explained the banding process and purpose, as well as how bird data is collected and tracked in a national database.

At last, the volunteers trudged down the path victorious, with a small cotton sack in hand. Ben explained that the sack is used only once and keeps the birds calm. He carefully removed the unsuspecting White-throated Sparrow—a migratory songbird, allowing the students to ask questions as he examined, weighed, and placed a small numbered band on its ankle.

Ben told us that the bird was young, hatched less than a year ago, and that it will migrate to Vermont's Green Mountains or on to Canada for the summer months. The children were fascinated by the process, with some talking about their interest in a future career in science or working with nature.

After visiting the bird banding station, the students participated in a realistic role play called the Great Migration Challenge where they monitored a migratory bird and tracked its successes and failures along a virtual southward migration.