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Birds
of a feather
Children, adults get together to
learn lessons on birding
By Nammi Bhagvandoss
nbhagvandoss@joplinglobe.com
Just
as Chris Pistole was explaining that the
hobby of watching birds is referred to as
birding and the person doing it is a birder,
a pair of birds making different songs flew
into a nearby tree.
Pistole said the birds are known for singing
different songs, and that they can imitate
cats, other animals and even a squeaky door.
"They're a great imitator," Pistole
said of the northern mockingbird.
Morgan Burnside, 10, Beth Monroe, 10, Delaney
Heisten, 12,
Jim Burnside, 43, and Rose Lofton, 59, all
of Joplin, were among those taking part
Wednesday morning in the Wildcat Glades
Conservation & Audubon Center's first
program to introduce children to identifying
birds, and using binoculars and field guides.
The program was conducted at Wildcat Park.
Pistole, the center's education director,
told the group about the family of mockingbirds.
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| Conalee
Churchwell (left), 7, and her brother
Carter Churchwell, 5, look through a
bird identification book before taking
part in a Wildcat Glades Audubon Center
birdwatching tour Wednesday morning.
FOR TNC. Globe/David Stonner |
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Before
beginning a short trek, Pistole told the group
that one should watch with the eyes first,
look straight and then raise the binoculars
to see the bird.
"Don't try searching with the binoculars,"
Pistole said. "Find it first with your
eyes, raise the binoculars, and it's right
there right in the binoculars."
The group then looked at a black bird that
landed on an electric line. Pistole said was
a European starling.
Starlings kill bluebirds, the state bird of
Missouri, Pistole said. Starlings also are
known to take over bluebird nests.
Pistole said a man in the 1800s brought starlings
and house sparrows to the United States because
he apparently believed that this country should
have all the birds about which William Shakespeare
wrote.
The group also saw two turkey vultures, killdeer,
house sparrows, rock dove pigeons, cardinals,
Carolina chickadees, a red-shouldered hawk
and a red-bellied woodpecker.
During the nature walk, Pistole pointed out
a Spring Beauty wildflower, a frog and turtles,
and he talked about a small snake that Jim
Burnside spotted on the trail.
Lofton, a retired teacher and now a nurse,
said she wanted her granddaughter, Delaney
Heisten, in the outdoors instead of playing
computer games.
Delaney said she learned how to go about identifying
birds on her first day of birding.
Lofton said she plans to stash what she learned
for later use.
"It's a hobby I'm going to take up when
I retire again," she said.
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