The World of Birds at George School

It’s dawn on George School’s campus. The air is cool, and the sun is just rising over the meetinghouse. While most boarding students are still asleep, Kevin Gong ’25 is found wandering campus, studying birds that live high up in the trees.

“If you pay attention to the birds around you, it gives you a new way of looking at things,” Kevin said. “Even the most common species can amaze you.”

Across the vast 240 acres of campus, without the hustle of students shuffling from class to class, there is a whole world hidden from plain sight. “A lot of times you only detect the bird by hearing its call.” Kevin explained.

Kevin has observed a number of exciting moments on campus that often go overlooked: male and female Nuthatches building a nest in a small tree cavity, a Sharp-shinned Hawk catching a foraging Swallow out of the air, and a Blue Jay mobbing a Cooper’s Hawk. “Mobbing,” Kevin explains, refers to “when birds defend their territory and try to prevent, for example, other raptors (predatory birds) from coming near.”

Kevin began birdwatching on campus last Spring after discovering the “Merlin” app, which identifies bird sounds and allows you to record them in real time. He explained that it was perfect timing because “Warbler migration peaks in Pennsylvania from early to mid-May,” meaning he saw birds passing on the way to Canada in addition to birds that live in the area year-round. Kevin observed over 15 species of small, colorful Warblers, and over 120 bird species in total. Discovering the vast ecosystem around campus sparked his interest to learn more.

“I was so intrigued by how the birds use our campus environment and how they interact with other elements of life on our campus,” reflected Kevin.

Kevin shared his findings on online platforms like “iNaturalist” and “eBird,” where he discovered another member of the community was also sharing their findings. Science teacher and avid birdwatcher Pacho Gutierrez ’77, who helped enrich Kevin’s interest in birdwatching and start his own club.

“I wanted to share this interest with others because it’s such a wonderful thing to do,” Kevin explained. The birdwatching club gained 20 members in the fall and has organized bird watching sessions both on campus and locally.

On one trip, Pacho took students to Core Creek Park, where he shared his spotting scope, a telescope with up to a 60x zoom. Members saw Ospreys, Bald Eagles, and Cormorants, all just ten minutes away from George School’s campus.

“Working with Pacho and my other club members allowed me to have new experiences that I would not be able to have if I watched birds myself.”

On a trip to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton, PA, he recalls how rewarding it was to share his love of birds with his peers, “it was so cool seeing how people were really amazed at the first time seeing these birds up close, and I love seeing other club members really in awe of birds I see all the time.”

As a boarding student from Shenzhen, China, Kevin takes advantage of studying an ecosystem completely different from his hometown.

“Because biodiversity is at its high at southern latitudes, birds back in South China are really colorful and have all kinds of vocalizations that are more musical, whereas here, you get to see a lot of the migration because you’re in a temperate region.”

Most recently, while on winter break in China, Kevin visited Yunnan province and saw many unique species, including over 50 he has never seen before. Next month, Kevin will join students on the Tanzania service trip, where he will explore an entirely new environment.

“I’m really lucky to be able to travel to these regions to see and experience birds in different climates.”

In addition to a campus of wildlife, George School grants Kevin access to courses that support his passion for birdwatching. Kevin plans to take courses like Field Studies and AP Biology in future terms. In these courses, he looks forward to building a broader perspective of birds in their greater ecosystem by studying topics like animal behavior, DNA structure, and evolution.

“I want to go beyond seeing birds as separate organisms, and study how they interact with the wider school ecosystem,” said Kevin. As he continues to learn more about the birds at George School, Kevin uses his knowledge to advocate for the populations he observes.

“Just watching for birds is not enough,” he said. “Seeing these birds on campus helps us understand how we should take actions to protect them.”

In the next year, the birdwatching club plans to propose building a Chimney Swift Tower to the Environmental Stewardship Oversight Committee (ESOC). Chimney Swifts, one of the fastest declining birds in North America, only perch on vertical surfaces. To support these birds on campus, the club proposes a freestanding wooden structure with a concrete foundation where they can nest, with a camera where they can be studied by any member of the community. Kevin believes this initiative would not only protect the birds, but also raise awareness of them with the community.

“I’m hoping that in the future I can do more initiatives like this to take action on campus and not just watch for birds but make a difference for them.”

Kevin loves to share his experience and passion with the community–through the club, his desire to lead a campus tour about the birds, and teaching others about the wildlife that surrounds them. Kevin even plans to publish a field guide for birds at George School next year.

On your next walk on campus, take a break from your phone and take a moment to observe the birds that call George School home. Kevin reminds us that there is beauty all around us—and if we don’t look up, we might just miss it!