In my last two years here at Fairfield, I’ve seen over 40 bird species, ranging from the mallards in the pond to a beautiful bald eagle soaring over Dolan, and of course, the turkeys, which I can confirm are far more aggressive than Turkeys are supposed to be.
I learned about birds during my senior year of high school in a class where each day we would birdwatch at various locations around my hometown. For my friends and I, birding became our new favorite pastime and I’ve now seen almost 200 different species of birds.
Coming to Fairfield I wondered if I’d still be able to keep chasing these amazing animals, and I’m happy to say I haven’t been disappointed at all. In one of my first weeks at Fairfield, I saw a gorgeous pileated woodpecker in front of Bannow, a fairly rare bird that is also the largest woodpecker species in North America.
In the spring of that year, I was lucky enough to get a look at the broad-winged hawk migration over the Quad, as thousands of these gorgeous predators were flying up from their winter homes in South America to breed in Southern Canada. Even aside from amazing encounters like these, there are beautiful birds on campus every single day.
One of my favorite species is the house sparrow, a tiny brown bird that there is always an abundance of in the bushes in front of the BCC. If you’ve ever seen a bird in the Tully, I can guarantee you it was one of these guys.
If you ever hear the iconic screech of a Bald Eagle while you’re walking around on campus there’s probably a Red-Tailed hawk circling nearby. Though Eagles get all the credit for this awesome call, the screech really belongs to Red-Tailed Hawks, and they use it to communicate with each other about territory. The Eagle’s call is actually a series of pretty wimpy squeaks, but I guess you get good press when you’re America’s bird.
Another personal favorite of mine is the great blue heron, an absolutely massive bird that spends its time picking off small fish from the ponds on campus.
The house finches and cardinals add shots of bright red to the fall leaves when they’re not being bullied by Blue Jays, which are maybe the only birds on campus meaner than the Turkeys.
There are far too many amazing birds for me to include here, so sometime this semester I’d encourage you to download the Merlin Bird ID app and use the sound ID feature to listen to the birds living around the zen garden behind Bellarmine. You’ll be shocked by just how many birds are out singing their songs and shocked by how diverse and beautiful they truly are.
Anytime you’re in between classes, walking to the Tully, or just taking in the views on campus, take the time to look up and around you. There’s a whole world of birds out there, and I can guarantee you don’t want to miss them.
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