PS 159's explorers had a beautiful trip May 21, 2023 at Westmoreland Sanctuary!   We began with a super fun and informative bird banding program! We learned about all different types of birds and which prefer mixed seed versus straight seed, like the black oil sunflower seed we were giving them.  We learned how to catch birds with ground traps that use a funnel strategy and mist nets.  After setting up the nets, we waited 8 minutes and then went back to check.. we caught a cowbird!  We banded the bird, and then released it!  After another 8 minutes, we caught another bird- one of which was a woodpecker!  She already had a band on her, so we let her go.  We also learned all about biomimicry, using nature to help us design different things- like helmets, and velcro.  

Following the bird banding program, we found a great loop trail!  We saw so many clumps of worms on the trail, due to crazy rain in the days before and saw lots of red and black millipedes.   There were just enough rocks and hills to keep our group working as they hiked up and down the trails!