One of the things we do as nature study every day is observe our birds. We have a bird feeder right outside our kitchen window, so anytime we're sitting at the kitchen table, we have our birdie friends for entertainment. If they aren't there, we try to figure out why, like maybe it's related to the weather, or maybe the neighbor's cat too nearby.
[Birds are one of Kathryn's favorite subjects to draw. She drew this before we started a nature journal. It's a tad fantasy since there was no giant rainbow, but she was very accurate on the feeder, as well as the cardinal pair, and bluebirds!]
We also have a thistle feeder in the front yard, where we can watch from the living room. We see goldfinches on there off and on all day long, nearly every day. We keep a birdbath in that same flower bed, and often see a feathered friend bathing or getting a drink. A hummingbird feeder hangs in our side yard, in the midst of our newest flower bed. One of my goals in gardening is to create a bird-friendly environment. I get a great deal of joy from watching the birds in our yard.
Earlier this spring, we were blessed with a bird nest right on our front door wreath! We couldn't always see them, but we heard them coming and going, and checked in on them about once a day, and took photos when we could. It was so interesting to notice their comings and goings, how long it took them to build their nest, how quiet the babies were when the parents were gone and how much noise they made when mom or dad arrived with a meal! When they first completed the nest, I thought it was the most perfect little thing ever and decided right then that I would keep it when the babies were grown; I hadn't taken bird droppings into the equation, so I did NOT end up keeping the nest. It just wasn't nearly as cute when they were done with it, but is was a great educational experience.
We also have a thistle feeder in the front yard, where we can watch from the living room. We see goldfinches on there off and on all day long, nearly every day. We keep a birdbath in that same flower bed, and often see a feathered friend bathing or getting a drink. A hummingbird feeder hangs in our side yard, in the midst of our newest flower bed. One of my goals in gardening is to create a bird-friendly environment. I get a great deal of joy from watching the birds in our yard.
Earlier this spring, we were blessed with a bird nest right on our front door wreath! We couldn't always see them, but we heard them coming and going, and checked in on them about once a day, and took photos when we could. It was so interesting to notice their comings and goings, how long it took them to build their nest, how quiet the babies were when the parents were gone and how much noise they made when mom or dad arrived with a meal! When they first completed the nest, I thought it was the most perfect little thing ever and decided right then that I would keep it when the babies were grown; I hadn't taken bird droppings into the equation, so I did NOT end up keeping the nest. It just wasn't nearly as cute when they were done with it, but is was a great educational experience.
[There are FIVE babies in the nest! These baby house finches were SO tiny when they first hatched! Just two weeks later, they had all grown up and flown away.]
We have an old copy of a Reader's Digest book called North American Wildlife, and it's great for identifying all sorts of critters, including birds, but I used it so much when I was a kid that many of the pages are falling out. I wanted something easier to use so we'd know exactly what kind of bird visitors we were seeing. I found Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds, and it is fabulous! It's color coded so looking up what bird you just saw is super-easy. The guide is based on region, so we have the Eastern Region edition. There is a great photograph of every bird,
along with information about how to positively identify the bird, what that bird's song sounds like, what kind of habitat they prefer, what kind of nest they build, appearance and number of eggs, information about incubation and such, and how to attract that type of bird to your yard. It's wonderful! [This photo is a chickadee perched on top of our feeder. I love these cheerful little birds!]
We've been keeping a list of birds we've seen in our own yard. We can read about birds we see elsewhere, but we only keep track of the ones actually in our yard. Here's our list so far:
We have an old copy of a Reader's Digest book called North American Wildlife, and it's great for identifying all sorts of critters, including birds, but I used it so much when I was a kid that many of the pages are falling out. I wanted something easier to use so we'd know exactly what kind of bird visitors we were seeing. I found Stokes Beginner's Guide to Birds, and it is fabulous! It's color coded so looking up what bird you just saw is super-easy. The guide is based on region, so we have the Eastern Region edition. There is a great photograph of every bird,
along with information about how to positively identify the bird, what that bird's song sounds like, what kind of habitat they prefer, what kind of nest they build, appearance and number of eggs, information about incubation and such, and how to attract that type of bird to your yard. It's wonderful! [This photo is a chickadee perched on top of our feeder. I love these cheerful little birds!]We've been keeping a list of birds we've seen in our own yard. We can read about birds we see elsewhere, but we only keep track of the ones actually in our yard. Here's our list so far:
- Eastern Towhee (who I love because he sings, "drink your tea!")
- Eastern Bluebird
- Carolina Chickadee
- Tufted Titmouse
- Northern Mockingbird
- Northern Cardinal
- Blue Jay
- Red-tailed Hawk (we watched one catch a mockingbird
- Mourning Dove
- Brown Thrasher (our state bird!)
- American Robin (we found a robin nest this year, too!)
- House Finch (they were our front door nesters
- Red-bellied Woodpecker
- Ruby-throated Hummingbird
- Brown-headed Cowbird
- Song Sparrow
- Carolina Wren
- European Starling (they change so much from winter to summer that they look like a completely different bird!)
- American Goldfinch
- White-breasted Nuthatch (we watched a baby learn to fly on our back porch)
- Dark-eyed Junco (lots of these in winter)
- Common Grackle
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Downy Woodpecker
- Pileated Woodpecker
- American Crow
- Northern Flicker
