By Isaac Warren
Print editor
SPRINGFIELD – Lincoln Land officially opened March 22 its new bird watching station.
The idea to build a bird watching facility was made in 2012 and was pitched to the Board of Trustees. They approved the plan to upgrade the old bird watching station, which consisted of a green picnic table in the middle of a field.
The new facility will allow watchers to observe birds all throughout the year and stay sheltered from the sun and snow.
Lincoln Land is currently the only college to have an official station for bird watching. Other colleges have some sort of lean-to, or even a tent.
LLCC has been fortunate enough to receive donations.
The station was built in cooperation with the work force development students. While the students learned how to build a small building, the bird watchers got to slowly see their future being built. They were able to be a part of every part of the process.
The station will be used to study the migration patterns of Illinois birds.
So far, more than 100 birds have been caught and studied. An estimated 1,000 people have used the old bird watching station. Most of these people were current LLCC students however, some from other colleges or organizations have used the station, as well.
The bird watching station is located near the baseball fields, behind Cass Gymnasium.
Isaac Warren can be reached at [email protected]
