At the Block Island School, we are following the tradition started by Elizabeth Dickens, who began the bird program at the School in the early 1900s. We are grateful to Kim Gaffett for continuing it.
Each year, Mrs. Szabo includes a bird unit in her fourth grade class, and asks her students to choose a bird they think will best make the “Block Island Bird of the Year.” Through nature walks, bird banding with Miss Gaffett, and research, each student chose a bird they believe best represents Block Island.
This is the fifth in a series.
You may think that the magnificent Indigo bunting is just a blue bird. But did you know it’s not really blue, but black? The Indigo bunting is a beautiful bird with vibrant blue feathers, which separate it from other birds. I think that the Indigo bunting would make a striking bird to represent Block Island because its color contrasts against the green vegetation of the island and this vegetation is an ideal home for the Indigo bunting.
Indigo buntings are vibrant and beautiful, but small and sparrow-like. They are about 5.5 inches tall, with a wing span of eight inches, and a
