While it was encouraging to see the general public make the most of the opportunity on the weekend, our highlight was yesterday, when we welcomed science teacher Paul Beltrame and 20 of his Year 11 students from Kildare College. What made it so worthwhile was seeing the students’ enthusiasm and engagement over the course of the morning, as they listened intently and asked intelligent questions about the process of bird banding. They also appreciated the beauty and diversity of the 20+ species of birds that we caught, with highlights for the day being two young Restless Flycatchers, a Varied Sittella, and numerous Rufous Whistlers, Dusky Woodswallows, Diamond Firetails and Southern Whitefaces. Bio·R is looking forward to growing this program for schools in future years during National Science Week, so please feel free to forward information about the event to teachers and schools so that they can jump on board next year.
In other good news, we saw a Southern Whiteface using one of the nest boxes that we put up at the June planting festival and, when we checked, we were delighted to find that it contained nesting material!
