By Julia Wilmont
After a brief recess due to the pandemic, the birdwatching Mayterm is back! Houghton’s resident Ornithologist, Eli Knapp, is once again breaking out the binoculars and leading students on a wild adventure. According to Houghton College’s Course Catalog, this class is “designed to investigate the basic principles of ornithology. The bulk of this course includes in-the-field identification skills with a combination of both visual and auditory senses.” In addition, students work with “local experts as they learn to band birds and actively manage habitats to assist bird populations.”
This four week Mayterm class is broken into two sections; the first is based in Houghton, the second in Puerto Rico. “In both places it’s intense: all birds all the time,” Knapp explains, “but it’s spring, the birds are migrating, the flowers are blooming, and there’s no better time to be sliding down a ravine or mucking through a swamp after a rare species.” Participators will wake up when the birds do, and then spend the afternoons processing, reflecting, understanding, and recouping. During the first half of the class, students will sharpen their skills at local bird hot-spots. Professor Knapp says these locations are “little known gems,” including Keeney Swamp, Hanging Bog, and his personal favorite, Fort Hill, an old Native American enclave not far from Houghton.
In the past, for the second half of the class students have ventured to special places like Yellowstone, Acadia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Iceland. A few years ago, a cohort went to Big Bend, Texas, and recent graduate Kyle Burrichter (‘21) regaled the events, saying “Texas is super rich with bird diversity, so I had no problem seeing over 150 bird species during the Mayterm. During our time there we also got to see Carlsbad Caverns, sled on sand dunes, kayak on the Rio Grande River, and eat lunch in Mexico.” This Mayterm trip may be based on birds, but that is not the only highlight. The flexibility of the schedule allows for many fun opportunities and adventures. Recent graduate Hannah Greidanus (‘21) shared that the most memorable part of the trip was “taking a 4-hour long hike with one of my friends for fun during our free time.”
Not only is this a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, but it also gives students transferable skills and experience. Burrichter said that “being able to see and appreciate so many birds I didn’t know existed was mind blowing to me. It was a part of nature I was completely overlooking.” He now works at an ecotourism camp in Cambodia, where a large part of his job is guiding birders through the forest, and explained that this was “a career path I never would have chosen if it wasn’t for this Mayterm.” Greidanus shared that in addition to a great experience, it is an “opportunity to make friends with people you see around campus, but may not necessarily know.” These friendships, combined with a fun adventure, make for an incredible opportunity.
This year’s bird enthusiasts are headed to Puerto Rico in May. While studying in Western New York, a few feathered creatures that are likely to be spotted include the Scarlet Tanagers, Louisiana Waterthrushes, and Barred Owls. In Texas, students had the chance to see the Colima Warbler, which strictly resides on one mountain top in Big Bend National Park. In Iceland, students were able to observe the Arctic Puffins, and this year, Knapp says “we’ll do a circuit of the entire island as we hunt down the Antillean Mango, Pearly-eyed Thrasher, and the Bananaquit.”
For more information on the birdwatching Mayterm, feel free to email Professor Eli Knapp. ★
