Students get a look at their feathery neighbors

Lincoln Elementary School sixth-grader Luis Ortiz gets a birds-eye view of massive bunches of egrets and herons every day as he goes to and from school on West Ninth Street in Santa Rosa.

"They are right in front of my house," he said of the sometimes loud and always messy birds that make a home in the trees high above the busy thoroughfare for a portion of the year.

The long-established rookery that is home to approximately 350 nests of snowy egrets, great egrets, black crown night herons and cattle egrets, in a small knot of trees that dot West Ninth Street between Blair and Simpson places were part of the inspiration behind the second annual Lincoln Elementary School bird festival Wednesday.

Elementary school children spent most of the day seeing three species of owl up close, learning about bird predators and prey via an obstacle course, hearing bird tales from a storyteller and folding origami in the shape of birds.

"Between the (Santa Rosa) Creek and the rookery, we have quite a few species of bird that call Lincoln their home," said Principal Nicole Lamare.

Third-grade teacher Kathie Noguchi and members of the Madrone Audubon Society spearheaded the second annual campus-wide event, calling in more than 20 volunteers from the the Bird Rescue Center, Audubon Canyon Ranch and Bouverie Preserve.

The crown jewels of the day were the spotting scopes set up just steps from Lincoln's front gates where students could see magnified images of the hundreds of birds in the trees above.

"This is pretty unique that it's right here in an urban environment," said Emiko Condeso, ecologist with Audubon Canyon Ranch.

School officials are working on developing a curriculum that could culminate in the bird festival next year. But Wednesday's event simply marked a celebration of the surrounding neighborhood and the end of Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR testing) period.

"Now that the test is over, this fits in beautifully with our habitat study," Noguchi said. "I like nature and I like to get kids to look at the birds and the bugs and everything."

Sixth-grader Natalia Campos liked the up close view of three different species of owl best, especially the barn owl because of its tawny color.

"We learn a lot and we get so interested in the birds," she said.