On a recent sunny morning, marine biology students from Mount Madonna School (MMS) met researchers at Elkhorn Slough near Moss Landing to help count shorebirds, including Snowy Egrets, Short-billed Dowitchers, Greater Yellowlegs, Willets, Spotted Sandpipers, Marbled Godwits, Killdeer, Black-bellied Plovers, Western Grebes, gulls, and many ducks, including Mallards, Red-breasted Mergansers, and Buffleheads.
Local field biologists working with the Elkhorn Slough Research Foundation visit the slough four times each year to count and record the migratory and permanent shorebird populations who inhabit and nest there. The students, working one-on-one with A. Todd Newberry, professor of Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, collected real-time data to contribute to the study. “The study is very important in determining the health of the different bird populations who call the slough home,” explains MMS science teacher Lisa Catterall.
“Some of the birds are on their way from Canada to Mexico, and the slough is a critical stopping-off point on the journey,” says Catterall. “Without data to support what population numbers are healthy, scientists would not be able to determine whether a given type of bird is threatened or in trouble from environmental pressures.
“This year the participating MMS students focused on learning field biology techniques. The bird count data gathered by the students is their first monitoring study,” Catterall explains. ”When this class travels to Catalina Island for a five-day marine biology field trip in May, the students will participate in four field research snorkels offshore, and an intertidal zone quadrat study to help monitor Leopard Shark, Garibaldi, and sea urchin populations in Catalina’s fragile ecosystem.”
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Contact: Leigh Ann Clifton, Media & Public Relations,
Nestled among the redwoods on 355 mountaintop acres, Mount Madonna is a safe and nurturing college-preparatory school that supports students in becoming caring, self-aware and articulate critical thinkers, who are prepared to meet challenges with perseverance, creativity and integrity. The CAIS and WASC accredited program emphasizes academic excellence, creative self-expression and positive character development. Located on Summit Road between Gilroy and Watsonville.
