In the early morning, on the way to class at Baruch College one will hear students mingle, feet patter, and the omnipresent chirping of birds vibrating off of the building walls. It’s like a continuous recording over loud speakers. While it may be difficult to spot the small birds that have made home in Baruch’s window panes, they are undoubtedly a presence in the building.
The birds can be identified as the common house sparrow, the same type of small brown bird that can be seen on the sidewalk.
The birds have been in the Baruch’s “Vertical Campus” building for years- and seem comfortable enough. With seventeen stories they have plenty of room to fly around. The 319 million dollar building can see as more than 15,000 undergraduate students during the school year. It seems that such little birds could easily fly under the radar in the swarm of students, but that’s not the case.
Khira, a student at Baruch for the past three years says that the birds have been here as long as she has. She said that her classmates don’t mind them. She does not know how the birds entered the building; whether it is a maintenance issue or that they simply found a way in.
The bird’s enigmatic presence doesn’t go over the heads of even the most obscure members of the Baruch community.
Madison, a high school student who has taken multiple classes on the Baruch campus, says that she thinks the birds are “dirty” and a sign of bad luck. “Having birds in a building is a omen of impending doom”. She was very startled when the birds landed near her, so much so that she shot up from her seat.
“They’re a distraction,” she huffed in reference to the birds chirping as she sat down again. However another student, Oriella St-Louis, said that the birds chirping was relaxing, like a “white noise” machine.
It seems that Madison is the minority in the Baruch community. The birds certainly seem accustomed to the students, and the students to them. The birds frequently land near students who work on computers, or have their nose in a book with highlighters and pens thrown about in an effort to study. The students continue on even when the birds land and hop sometimes only a foot away from them; unfazed by each others presence, the birds and students co-exist.
The House Sparrow, the breed of bird that has made its home in Baruch, has a typical life span of three years. But while the birds who call Baruch home may die soon, it wouldn’t be a wild thought that some other common bird could make its way into the building.