GUILDERLAND — In the old days, children who didn’t behave in class would sometimes be sent into the hallway of the school as punishment.

That wouldn’t work at Westmere Elementary. Entering the bird-watching corridor feels more like walking into paradise.
"It adds peace and calmness and tranquillity to our school," said Robert Whitman, the school’s enrichment teacher.
The bird-watching station was his idea. He had had his first-grade students watching birds and said, "I’m always looking for things the whole school can benefit from."

The sounds of birds chirping, scolding, and calling to each other outside can be heard inside the school hallway. Microphones are mounted outside along the top edge of the building and speakers inside magnify the sounds. The sound system was paid for with enrichment funds from the school board, said Whiteman.

He got the idea from the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster, Mass..
"When the birds are in the bushes close by," said Whiteman, pointing to those just on the other side of the glass, "you can hear the black-capped chickadees tapping seeds open. You can even hear their wings flutter."

The line between indoors and outside is blurred not just by the noises but by the scenery, too.

Whiteman had admired murals done by local artist Amy Radley at the Four Corners Luncheonette in Delmar and got her to paint wildlife murals around the six large windows facing the school’s courtyard.

The realistic paintings, mostly in pastel tones, camouflage the cement-block walls with scenes of local birds in their natural habitat.

A regal-looking crested blue jay reigns from a birch tree. An egg-filled nest nestles next to one corner of a door while a goldfinch perches on the other corner. A downy woodpecker pecks at a tree trunk next to the windows.

Under the row of windows, a chickadee sits in a berry bush while a gray squirrel crouches on a stump nearby. On the far side of the windows, a bright red cardinal stands out against a dark green fir tree.

The murals were paid for by the Giggling Gardeners Club and by the graduating fifth-grade class, said Whiteman.
"Bringing the outdoors in"

He has learned by trial and error, Whiteman said.
"The first season, we mostly fed the squirrels," he reported with a grin.

To outwit them, Whiteman talked to experts at Five Rivers Environmental Center in New Scotland. They recommended building a platform feeder for the squirrels; it worked. They left the bird feeders alone, he said.
"Their frequency and numbers have decreased this year," said Whiteman.

In addition to the platform feeder, which some of the birds use, too, there are seven feeding tubes and a small, clear feeder stuck directly to a window.

The station also features a heated birdbath.

The feeders are stocked with four different kinds of seed: black oil sunflower seed; a mixture of millet, cracked corn, and sunflower seed; nyger thistle seed for finches; and cracked corn, which is placed on the platform feeder and on the ground.

At first, Whiteman said, he had placed the feeders too close to the windows and the birds were frightened away by the activity inside.

He has conducted bird-watching workshops for each class and a display near the windows identifies different types of local birds.

The Westmere PTA is currently sponsoring a Courtyard Brick Drive to raise funds to further enhance the courtyard with the bird station and a second courtyard on the other side of the same hallway. Engraved bricks are on sale for $25 each through April 10. Families or individuals can put their names or other words on the bricks, which will be used to pave pathways in the courtyard.

The goal is to sell 350 bricks. A display in the school’s front lobby has pictures of the sold bricks piled in a paper wheelbarrow, indicating that 50 have been sold so far.
When the project is complete, Whiteman said, the courtyard with the feeding station will also have a "teaching garden" and the courtyard on the other side of the hallway will have an outdoor reading space near the library and a place where kindergarten classes can set up water tables.

Whiteman also hopes to be able to find funds to pay Radley to create a mural on the other side of the hallway, surrounding the windows there.
"We’re bringing the outdoors in," said Whiteman.
"A new culture"

But, as he unlocked the door to step outside, it was clear Whiteman was entering another world. Rabbit tracks could be seen, coming right up to the door, in the freshly-fallen snow.

Whiteman lifted the top off a silver barrel and scooped seed into a yellow cup, flinging it across the ground. He was coatless in the cold, winter air, but seemed unperturbed by the freezing temperatures.
"Chickadee-dee-dee!" he called, and called again. Miraculously, the silence was broken by several calls of "chickadee-dee-dee!" from the nearby bushes.

The barren branches came to life with the fluttering of little wings.

With encouragement, Whiteman let loose with the calls of other common birds.
"Everyone knows the crow," he said. "Caw! Caw! Caw!"
The blue jay" He let out a harsh cry: "Jay! Jay! Jay!"

Whiteman held out his hand, palm flat, filled with seed, fingers curved upward.
"I’ve never actually had a bird eat out of my hand, but they’ve come close," he said.

He stepped back inside just as a class of children filed by the window on their way to somewhere else. With his encouragement, the students turned to look at the world outside.
"Kids will see me in the hallway and tell me the count for chickadees," said Whiteman. "One class saw a hawk out here...
"There’s a new culture emerging in the school. People are talking about the birds they’ve seen or heard. You can hear it quite a ways in the hallway."