This past weekend, zoology students traveled to Jekyll Island to study the different animals of that region. The trip, led by Owen Kinney, was meant to give students a better understanding of the animals in that region. Instead of studying the birds in the classroom, they could get a practical experience in field research techniques to help identify the birds. Senior Stephen Moore shares on his experience traveling to South Georgia to go bird watching.
“We went to the beach of Jekyll Island and walked around to see different types of birds,” Moore said. “We also went to three different wetlands to see more of a variety of birds.”
Going to Jekyll Island really puts to test the identification skills that the class has been learning. Moa Berglund shares the importance of utilizing the skills she has learned over the past months.
“We went to a lot of different places to spot different species of birds and learn more about what we are learning in our unit.” Senior Berglund said. “We went to learn more about the birds we were studying in class, and to see them in person and connect all the identification skills we learned about in class.”
Jekyll Island is home to many different birds and other species of animals. The class saw many different birds which migrate to or live on the island.
“We saw hawks, wetland birds, beach birds, and we saw a couple crocodiles as well,” Senior Whit Molnar said. “We went to multiple habitats like the wetlands, the swamp, and the coast to see the different species of birds.”
This trip was very beneficial towards the process of learning about animals. Kinney, the zoology teacher, taught the students as they were walking around spotting the different species of birds.
“I got a lot more information about how different birds look and interact with each other,” Moore said. “He (Kinney) taught us all about how to see the different characteristics of birds and how we can identify them.”
The class went to the coast of Jekyll Island, where there are tons of different species of birds. According to Georgia Birding Trails, it is not an uncommon occurrence to look to the south end and see thousands of birds resting on the beach near the water.
“We had this contest where each group had to find as many species as possible, so everyone saw different amounts of bird species,” Berglund said. “My group saw 94 different species of birds, which were mainly just coastal birds on the beach.”
All three students claimed that their favorite bird they saw was the peregrine falcon, which according to EarthSky, can reach speeds of up to 240 miles per hour. Moore shares on his experience seeing the falcon.
“I enjoyed the walk around the south end of the island because we saw a peregrine falcon which is the fastest bird in the world,” Moore said. “It was on a log eating its prey that it had just killed.”