Dauphin Island Elementary School is unusual among public schools in Mobile County. The mayor knows many of the students by name. Children ride bikes to school and leave them unlocked. And now, the school's entire fourth grade, all 12 of them, have brand-new binoculars so they can participate in one of the island's most popular pastimes: birdwatching.

After they each received a pair of 8x42 Eagle Optics binoculars Monday afternoon, the school's 12 4th-graders stepped outside their classroom onto a raised wooden deck to try them out. As if on cue, an osprey who frequents a tower standing in the sand dunes swooped in, landing atop the structure.

"This is awesome!" said one of the girls. Several students looked up "osprey" in their brand-new field guides.

Although the students will go on a few birding field trips with their new binoculars in the course of the school year, it's obvious that they don't have to go far to see some interesting sights.

"You could not be in a better spot for birdwatching," said Don McKee, one of the birders who helped fund the gift that was given to Susan Watt's 4th-grade class. The wooden deck just outside Watt's classroom is situated next to a tall stand of pine trees, overlooking the sand dunes that stand between the school and the Gulf of Mexico.

McKee's wife, Dena McKee, had the idea for the binoculars after meeting a woman on a cruise whose teenage son is one of the nation's top birders. "I said I'd love for every kid on Dauphin Island to have a pair," she said.

The McKees, along with Ralph Havard, president of the Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuaries board, and longtime birding enthusiast Eugenia Carey, contributed money toward the gift. Each pair of binoculars cost $100, and the students also received field guides valued at about $20. The binoculars will stay in the classroom until the end of the school year, when the students can take them home.

"Hopefully you'll use them for years to come when you bird-watch," Don McKee told the students. Later, he mentioned that "the best birders start young, when their eyes and ears are good."

He and his wife are longtime birdwatchers who lived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast until they discovered Dauphin Island. After coming to the island with their camper for years, they spotted a lot for sale near Cadillac Square and built a small house. They lost their home in Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina, and decided to move to the island permanently.

Likewise, Eugenia Carey came to Dauphin Island in 1986 and was smitten. "The first time I stepped foot here, I bought a house," she said. She came back every spring, finally relocating there from Boca Raton, Fla., when she retired in 2004.

"Dauphin Island is in the top 10 birding spots in the United States," McKee told the students when he gave them their binoculars. "I live at Dauphin Island primarily because of the birds. This is a great spot to view them. I'm excited to have young friends out there with me."

Mayor Jeff Collier was also in the classroom for the presentation. Birding, he said, "is a big part of our local economy." He stressed that children also need to learn how important it is to be "good stewards of the environment."

"Maintaining birding opportunities is something worthwhile for us to do," he said. "We're thankful for the Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuaries' donation to the fourth grade."