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News & Photos
Students Take to the Field to Study Biological Diversity
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McDonogh students are LifeReady. What does this mean? We teach students how to think, not what to think, empowering them to lead lives of consequence and do the greatest good.
LifeReady Skills Achieved: Creative & Critical Thinking, Communicating, Collaborating, and Connecting
Students in Advanced Biology, Environmental Science, and Genetics stepped off campus and into the field at Washington College in Chestertown, Md., to learn firsthand about the seasonal movements of migratory birds. The trip fell one day before World Migratory Bird Day (May 9) and the setting could not have been more fitting as Maryland, with its mix of Chesapeake Bay habitat, forests, and coastal areas, is one of the richest stopovers along the Atlantic Flyway, one of North America's major migratory corridors.
At the college's bird banding station, students observed how researchers assess and band birds to track movement, population behavior, and environmental health. They joined the Washington College team in checking nets and learned how to hold the birds, including a male and a female Baltimore Oriole, and how to release them for the rest of their journey.
Later in the day, students turned their attention to the college's habitat restoration work through the Natural Lands Project, where prescribed burns create conditions that favor native plant and animal species like the Northern Bobwhite Quail. To see that work in action, they participated in a vegetation survey comparing two sections of the same field — one burned in November, one burned in April — to assess how burn timing affects spring vegetation growth.
The trip was an opportunity for students to experience the core principles of biological diversity while exposing them to real research in unique fields. "Students weren't just learning about avian ecology and grassland ecology, they were doing it," says Upper School science teacher Josh Jones, the director of McDonogh’s Signature 800-Acre Labs program. “As they collected data, they contributed to large datasets and discussed patterns they observed in the grasslands.”
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McDonogh students are LifeReady. What does this mean? We teach students how to think, not what to think, empowering them to lead lives of consequence and do the greatest good.
LifeReady Skills Achieved: Creative & Critical Thinking, Communicating, Collaborating, and Connecting
Students in Advanced Biology, Environmental Science, and Genetics stepped off campus and into the field at Washington College in Chestertown, Md., to learn firsthand about the seasonal movements of migratory birds. The trip fell one day before World Migratory Bird Day (May 9) and the setting could not have been more fitting as Maryland, with its mix of Chesapeake Bay habitat, forests, and coastal areas, is one of the richest stopovers along the Atlantic Flyway, one of North America's major migratory corridors.
At the college's bird banding station, students observed how researchers assess and band birds to track movement, population behavior, and environmental health. They joined the Washington College team in checking nets and learned how to hold the birds, including a male and a female Baltimore Oriole, and how to release them for the rest of their journey.
Later in the day, students turned their attention to the college's habitat restoration work through the Natural Lands Project, where prescribed burns create conditions that favor native plant and animal species like the Northern Bobwhite Quail. To see that work in action, they participated in a vegetation survey comparing two sections of the same field — one burned in November, one burned in April — to assess how burn timing affects spring vegetation growth.
The trip was an opportunity for students to experience the core principles of biological diversity while exposing them to real research in unique fields. "Students weren't just learning about avian ecology and grassland ecology, they were doing it," says Upper School science teacher Josh Jones, the director of McDonogh’s Signature 800-Acre Labs program. “As they collected data, they contributed to large datasets and discussed patterns they observed in the grasslands.”