Princess+Anne+Elementary+School+(MD)

What's in our neighborhood?
How would you describe your neighborhood to someone who has never visited? Brainstorm about 10 phrases to describe your habitat, such as lots of trees, some tall buildings, many trees, blacktop everywhere, etc. 1. Our school is located in the town of Princess Anne. 2. There is a housing community to the north and residental houses with small yards all around. 3. Our school has 2 parking lots (one in the front and one in the back) with sidewalks and separate buildings for storage and the art room. 4. Our school is less than a mile and northeast of the Manokin River. 5. Our playground has lots of trees such as loblolly pines, pecans, cherry trees and pin oaks. 6. Around the town of Princess Anne are other small communities, farms (growing soybeans, corn, some wheat, chickens), marshes, and a wildlife preserve. 7. Our playground has a lot of squirrels and sometimes we see neighborhood cats. 8. We have a bird feeder outside the classroom window.

** Write an overall description of your habitat, including a photos if you can. **
Our habitat contains many loblolly pine, pecan, and pin oak trees, 2 cherry trees, and sycamore trees. There are separate buildings for storage and the art room as well as sidewalks. There is a reading garden and butterflies bushes planted. The Manokin River is less than a mile northwest of our school.

** What features make our neighborhood a place for birds? **
Think about the availability of food, water and shelter.
 * lots of trees for food and shelter (pecans, cherries in the winter)
 * a river less than a mile away for water
 * some open spaces

** What birds do you regularly see on your bird counts? **
You may want to record data from your "Count Birds for Science" lesson. In the Project FeederWatch, we have seen:
 * house finches
 * juncos
 * black-capped chickadees
 * nuthatch
 * robins
 * cardinals
 * mourning doves
 * chipping sparrows
 * song sparrows

On the playground we have also seen cedar waxwings (usually one time for several days during the winter), a pileated woodpecker and red-bellied woodpeckers, mockingbirds, blue jays, starlings, cowbirds and blackbirds (at the feeder on noncounting days). Flying over the playground has been bald eagles and osprey.