Author: Barb

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Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival – Bird Edition 2013

OHC Blog Carnival

As we finish up this month of challenges focusing on birds, I feel a little sad that it is over. I know we can continue learning about birds at any time but I like the intense focus of learning about one particular topic. I feel so privileged to have been able to travel to Florida during this time and learn a bit about some new birds…just enough to make me anxious to some day go back again.

We also thoroughly enjoyed our time counting birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count and the anticipation of seeing which visitors we would have this time. It made me realize how much I enjoy counting birds and keeping it going from November to April with Project Feederwatch. If you want to participate this coming year, sign-ups start on March 1 and you would start counting each week in November of 2013. It is a little different than the GBBC so pop over and read about it if you think your family might want to get involved.

[See bottom of this post for the Crowe’s Nest Media giveaway winner announcement!]

Here are our families birds entries from this month’s study (in case you missed one):
Watching Birds From Our Observation Station
Barn Owl Study Using All About Birds 
How to Be a Better Birder: Learning Bird Calls 
Things We Learn With The Great Backyard Bird Count: 2013

Be inspired. Be encouraged. Get outdoors!

Pilgrims at Tinkers Creek – Finch entry

Bird Grid Study
Lisa from Pilgrims at Tinker Creek shares their Finches entry with the carnival as part of their Bird Grid Study. What a treat to see their finches at the feeder and a Pine siskin too! I loved this glimpse into their Virginia bird study.

Diana from Homeschool Review submitted their bird entry – Nature Study: Birds with the OHC. She shares their seasonal visitors: Robins, Starlings, and Cedar Waxwings. I love that she has been anticipating their return and then actually got to see them. There is such value in continuing seasonal nature study!

Heidi from Home Schoolroom has put all of their bird goodness into their entry Nature Study-Birds for you to enjoy. Lots of wonderful ideas in this entry but my favorite is their customized backyard bird field guide cards…awesome! She also lists their Great Backyard Bird Count observations for you to see.

Nadene from Practical Pages shares their swallow story with carnival readers: Swallows. They are now on the hunt for the swallow’s nest….love the continuing study.

Barbara from The Schoolhouse on the Prairie joins the carnival this month with their entry Weather, Rocks, Birds, and Blessings. She recaps their last three month’s nature study along with a photo of their new bundle of joy.  

Rachel at United for Christ has submitted their entry Outdoor Hour Challenge Birds for you to view. She shares how they are finding new birds in each place they live and are keeping a life list. Don’t miss reading her entry!

Sarah from GranWood Explores shares their Outdoor Hour-Birds entry for you to enjoy. She has included some additional resources and ideas for our own bird study.  Always so much to learn!

Michelle from Following Footprints has gathered their whole awesome month of bird study into one entry that will encourage you in your own studies. Backyard Bird Watching. I love watching a love for birding unfold!

Owl  Pellet Dissection at Academia

Owls
Robin from Academia compiled their whole month of bird related nature study into her entry: Birds! Don’t miss seeing their bird-themed nature table and their bird observation spot. They also had an owl pellet dissection party and share their results. Wonderful example for us all!

Alice from Redwoods Homeschool shares their entry Birding with the carnival for this edition. Don’t miss seeing their wonderful owl notebooking pages for their nature journals….and they ate owl cookies too!

Sarah from GranWood Explores submits their Outdoor Hour Owl Study for your to enjoy.  This entry is rich with additional ideas and resources for your own owl study. Check it out!

Carol from Journey and Destination joins the carnival from Australia with her entry: Nature Study-Birds, Blooms, and Bugs. I enjoyed seeing her colorful birds and reading about their owl experience.

Kris from On the 8th Day has an awesome owl study and activity to share with the carnival: The Art of the Owl.  I really enjoy seeing families take a topic of interest and go deeper. Enjoy her short video too!

Bethany from Little Homeschool Blessings shares her entry: A Hawk, An Owl, and an Eagle with you. They were able to complete their studies and journals and then follow-up with a real live visit with a red-tail, an owl, and an eagle at their local library. Excellent!

Bird Calls
Alex from Life on a Canadian Island captured their Black-Capped Chickadee and did some reading in the Handbook of Nature Study. I love the song of the chickadee and once you hear it you will be able to recognize it from then on.

Tufted Titmouse – Pilgrims at Tinker Creek

Bird List
Lisa from Pilgrims at Tinker Creek shares their Great Backyard Bird Count list with the carnival. I loved seeing their actual list and the variety of birds they observed over the weekend. 

Mother Robin from Mother Robin’s Notes from the Nest shares two entries with the carnival: Our Backyard Bird Paradise and OHC: Great Backyard Bird Count. She shares some wonderful ideas for placing birdfeeders in the yard, types of feeders and seed, and then their official first ever GBBC story. 

Winter at the Beach-Rocks from Life on a Canadian Island

Potpourri
Alex from Life on a Canadian Island put together a wonderful photo essay she calls Winter at the Beach-Rocks for carnival readers. This was part of last month’s rock study and a wonderful view into their Canadian rocks.

Jen from Snowfall Academy joins the carnival from her new African home with their Monthly Nature Notebook and Our New Tree Study where she shares their first mango tree study. Won’t it be fun to watch as their year progresses?

Diana from Homeschool Review shares their 2nd Snow of the Year...in which they take a walk in the fresh snow and find all kinds of things to enjoy.

Rock Study – Outdoor Hour Challenge: Rachel’s entry from last month’s theme is a wonderful example of how you can make your study as simple as you need too.

I hope you’ll consider promoting the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival on your blog, Twitter, Facebook or other social media. For your convenience, you can copy and paste the following update for Twitter or Facebook:
 
Latest Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival posted @HBNatureStudy. Theme is Birds! http://bit.ly/Wn178X #nature #playoutdoors  #homeschool

OHC Blog Carnival
Don’t forget to share your blog entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival. All entries done in March are eligible for the next edition. The deadline for entries is 3/30/13 and you can send them directly to me: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com or submit them at the blog carnival site (link on the sidebar of my blog).

I want to thank this month’s blog sponsor Crowe’s Nest Media for creating such a wonderful series of DVDs for us to share with our children.

Your Backyard: Birds
Your Backyard: Monarch Butterflies 

Everyone who entered this carnival was entered into a random drawing for their choice of DVD’s from Crowe’s Nest Media. 
The winner is…..Alicia C. from RedwoodsHomeschool! 

Congratulations!

 

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Shale Nature Study – Rock Update #2

Our local landscape is full of rocks…the area was settled by gold miners in the California Gold Rush and even today there are gold mines in our area that are back into production (the price of gold is up enough that they can make money). There is a park in our neighborhood that has an exposed bank next to the road and that is where we found our shale to study as part of my on-going year-long focus on rocks.


This is our official first rock from the list which we pulled from the book Rocks, Fossils and Arrowheads (Take-Along Guides). See last month’s entry for my preparation for this project where I will be attempted to locate and collect as many of the rocks from the book as  possible during 2013: Rock Update.

This is what our local shale looks like….like wafers that are either horizontal or vertical. The color varies but mostly the out-croppings we have seen are light colored from a light gray or red or even green. Doing some research has revealed that it is the organic materials in the shale that give it its color: iron oxide, hematite, geothite, or mica.

This is the piece of shale that is shown sticking out in the photo above. I could just slide it out.

Shale is a sedimentary rock that is mostly composed of clay and is sometimes called mudstone. It can easily be scratched with a knife and has a quality that is listed as “laminated”. This means that the rock is made up of many thin layers.

The mystery rock from last month’s entry turns out to be slate which is the metamorphic form of shale. Guess what next month’s rock will be? You guessed….slate! I will explain how you can tell the difference because in the process of identifying the shale I also learned quite a bit about slate.

You can read all my 2013 nature study goals here on my blog.

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Crowe’s Nest Media: Incredible DVDs for Your Family

I want to thank my sponsor for the month of February for their wonderful products that encourage families to learn more about the awesome world around us! These DVD’s are such a gift to all of us with the amazing images and information that children love.

I encourage you to support this family business and share their work with your friends and family.

Want to learn more?

Crowe’s Nest Media DVDs
Read my complete review: Your Backyard Butterfly

Read my complete review: Your Backyard Feeder Birds

Watch one of the DVD trailers here: Life and Journey of the Amazing Monarch Butterfly

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Things We Learn with the Great Backyard Bird Count – Our 2013 List

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This is our fifth year of participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count in our Northern California home. It is the highlight of our February nature study and has led to our becoming better birders every year.

Things We Learn With The Great Backyard Bird Count
  • Learning to identify our backyard birds-an obvious skill that comes directly from recording our observations.
  • Refining our skills as observers-knowing the difference between male and female specimens, subtle differences between species like the House finch and the Pine siskin.
  • Careful record keeping-counting and tallying each bird for the best data to share with the GBBC
  • Better at understanding changes over time-comparing numbers of birds from year to year, anticipating migratory birds, knowing a new bird
  • Learning to use our binoculars better and to take better bird photos
  • Becoming part of an online birding community-reading other family’s experiences and lists, seeing their photos
  • Value of contributing to a citizen science project- realizing our small part in this really important big project as a partner with Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Our2013 List of Birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count
  1. Western Scrub Jay 2
  2. Oak Titmouse 2
  3. White-breasted Nuthatch 1
  4. Spotted Towhee1
  5. White-crowned Sparrow 4
  6. Dark Eyed Junco 6
  7. House Finch 15
  8. House Sparrow 4
  9. California Towhee 1
  10. American Robin 20
  11. Anna’s Hummingbird 2
  12. Mourning Dove 4
  13. Lesser Goldfinches 2
  14. Northern mockingbird 1
  15. Steller’s Jay 1
  16. Pine Siskin 4

Not the impressive numbers we usually have and a few of our old favorites are missing like the woodpeckers and flickers and Cedar waxwings. We did have two new birds this year which was a thrill. The Steller’s jay and the Pine siskin are newcomers to our GBBC list.

I of course spent lots of time running from window to window to try to capture some of our backyard bird visitors….this is normal behavior from me at all times but especially during the GBBC. But this time I didn’t get an really super images so I will indulge you with my Mourning dove and California towhee….some of our regular year-round residents.

Did you count birds for the Great Backyard Bird Count?
Feel free to share your GBBC entries with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival this month or you can leave a comment here in this entry with the most exciting or interesting bird you saw during the GBBC.

Don’t forget that everyone who enters the OHC Carnival this month is entered to win a DVD from Crowe’s Nest Media – either the Monarch Butterfly or the Backyard Bird DVD! They are both wonderful resources for your nature study that your children will want to watch over and over again.

Our February Blog Sponsor….Thanks to the Crowe Family for providing such wonderful DVD’s and study guides for our science and nature study!

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Starting a Bird Life List

Outdoor Hour Challenge:
For this challenge, I encourage you to start a life list of birds. A bird life list is a cumulative list of birds that a birder sees and identifies.There are a variety of ways to do a life list including a handwritten list in your nature journal, using a pre-made book, checking off birds and noting the dates in your field guide or from a checklist, keeping an online list at eBird, or using an app on your phone. 

Don’t get stuck on picking the “perfect” way to keep your list. Review the choices and then get started. My only regret is that I did not start my personal life list sooner. 

I have found that I like to keep multiple lists including one for our yard and neighborhood (by month), by location when you travel (like my Oregon and Yosemite lists), and perhaps even lists by the month or season. You can see my entry on Nature Journal Organization for more information.

You can also start a bird “wish list” and keep track of birds you would like to see in the future. This is especially helpful if you are traveling and can do some preparation before you leave noting the birds you may encounter. 

Special Activity:Life List Printable

Bird Life List Printable
I have attempted to create a Life List Printable that will be flexible for you to use in your nature notebook. I am in the process of testing it out in my everyday bird sightings.

Your list can be as detailed as you wish.
Things to include: Date and Time of Day. Location. Gender. Weather. Bird Sounds. Number of birds seen.

Additional resources:
Printable Checklists by Country or Region (updated the link with one that should get you started)
 

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #5. I love the quotes in this challenge from Charlotte Mason. Remind yourself that you are the key to a successful outing and follow your child’s lead as much as possible. After your outdoor time, start or add to your running list of birds you see in your backyard. You can use the notebook page from the ebook for further information.

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You can see and download a sample challenge and notebook pages: OHC Getting Started Ebook Sample.


Please note that this ebook is included in every level of membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.

 

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How to Be a Better Birder: Learning Bird Calls

“When a bird sings, it’s telling you what it is and where it is. Learn bird calls and open a new window on your birding.”
All About Birds website, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

It all started last year with our visit to Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology…a desire to be a better birder. I have known that my listening skills are not as sharp as they could be and I made it a goal to learn more of my local bird’s songs and calls, one bird at a time.

We have been at it for about ten months and I have found that just paging through The Backyard Birdsong Guideand listening to the songs has greatly helped me learn to distinguish between a House sparrow and a House finch, a Titmous and a Nuthatch. I think it is like learning a whole new language and as you work on it your ears get accustomed to hearing subtle differences.

This page on All About Birds has some wonderful tips for learning to recognize bird songs: Songs and Calls. I highly recommend it for anyone who is trying to learn this skill. My boys pick up on it faster than I do so don’t hesitate to share the tips with your children.

Last summer I was able to identify a Hermit thrush during our Oregon camping trip by listening and repeating in my head the song he cried out in the forest. I followed the advice to put the bird song into words that I could remember. I now can immediately identify it with no question.

The Steller’s jay that has moved into my neighborhood in the last few months can be heard easily and distinguished from the Western scrub jay with ease.

The titmouse, the Spotted towhee, the Cedar waxwing…all are easily identified now by their sound.

It feels good. You can do it too by taking one bird at a time and making your own memory or aid to remembering.

During my recent trip to Florida, I used my camera video to capture some bird calls for later identifying.

Do I think it is worth the effort to learn the various bird songs of my neighborhood birds? Yes! It has given our family so much more enjoyment in our birding and has helped us to be more skilled at listening. You can use the ideas in last week’s challenge to help you get started: Birding by Ear.

Do you know any of your local bird’s songs?

Amazon.com Widgets

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Quotes for Nature Lovers – John Muir

“Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, inciting at once to work and rest! Days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God. Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever.” 
My First Summer in the Sierra, 1911

All who have enjoyed a visit to Yosemite National Park owe a debt of gratitude to John Muir and his work in preserving this magnificent place for us to explore, to find refreshment in its beauty, and to feel the inspiring spirit of this one of a kind place on earth.

In my up-coming series from Yosemite I will be sharing some of my magical moments….once in each season, sharing with words and hopefully video. The first visit will be coming quickly in April with a visit to the trees and birds of this park that John Muir loved so much.

Please feel free to subscribe to my blog and receive my free monthly newsletter packed with nature study ideas, printables, and articles to inspire your family to be outdoors.
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This post is part of the Quotable Wisdom Link-up by the bloggers of iHomeschool Network.

My Beloved Sponsor For The Month of February

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Outdoor Hour Challenge – Birding By Ear


Outdoor Hour Challenge:
This will be a great week to get outside and look and listen for birds. Hopefully you have started a list of your feeder birds and now you can take a few minutes to look up on the All About Birds website what your local birds sound like.You can do this by typing in your bird in the search box and then clicking the “sounds” tab a little ways down on the page. Birding by ear is such a great skill for little ones since they many times will hear a bird before they see it. What a great way to work on our listening skills together…outside in the fresh air and exploring our own yards and neighborhoods! 

Split your Outdoor Hour Challenge time this week between preparing for identifying birds by their call using the All about Birds website and then putting your skills to work. The additional activities this week will give you some more information about just how birds sing. The second video is for all the adults to be inspired by as we endeavor to share the many bird’s songs with our children…be encouraged!

Additional Activity: Videos, a Quiz, and Inspiration

The Language of Birds

Test your knowledge of your local bird calls: eNature Birdcall Quiz (online listening).


Now something special….the power of nature and being outdoors! Want to be inspired? Watch this video Birding by Ear (Blind birdwatchers in Texas!)

Getting Started Suggestion:
If you already own the Getting Started ebook, complete Outdoor Hour Challenge #2. This is one of my favorite challenges….to listen and then use simple words to describe your outdoor time. Use the ideas in this challenge to help your child listen carefully during your time outdoors…even if it is just for a few minutes. Record your words in your nature journal or on the notebook page in the ebook. 

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Great Backyard Bird Count 2013 – Get Ready!

What? The Great Backyard Bird Count
When? February 15-18, 2013
Who? Anyone around the world…for the first time ever!
How? Count birds in your yard and at your feeders. Report the data to the Great Backyard Bird Count

Need so more information?
Great Backyard Bird Count

Video: Great Backyard Bird Count

Images of the Top Ten Birds from last years count!

Get prepared with printable checklists for you area…by zip code or town name.

Join the photo contest! 

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Our family is getting ready for the big count this weekend. The weather is going to be warm and sunny so we will be able to get out and count those birds! I invite you to join us either formally or informally….How about some tweets with the hashtag #GBBC? How about some Instagram images with #GBBC?

Get out those Bird Grids from the February Newsletter and get started looking for birds with your family. 

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Barn Owl Study – Using All About Birds

Barn Owl at Arizona Sonora Desert Museum – Tucson, Arizona

This week’s challenge was to learn more about our local owls: Owl Study. In past owl studies we focused on the Great Horned Owl, the Western Screech Owl, and the Spotted Owl. This time we decided to learn more about the Barn Owl.

We started off listening to the sounds of the Barn Owl and I have to admit if I ever heard this sound at night I would be terrified. It is such a scary sound and not at all one I want to hear too often. It sounds more like a scream than a bird sound. This owl does not make the typical hooting sound we have come to associate with owls of all kinds.

Here is the link: Barn Owl Sounds.

We read the information on the All About Birds website which includes this interesting information on where you might see a Barn Owl:

“Many people’s first sighting of a Barn Owl is while driving through open country at night—a flash of pale wings in the headlights is usually this species. Barn Owls also often live up to their name, inhabiting barns and other old, abandoned buildings, so keep an eye out for them there. Barn Owls don’t hoot the way most other owls do; you can listen for their harsh screeches at night.”

We finished up with a notebook page for our nature journal. It is all in preparation for the time in the future when we may see or possibly hear this bird. You may want to do your own research on the Barn Owl…it is the most widely distributed owl worldwide (see map at the bottom of this website: Common Barn Owl).

Here is what the Peterson Field Guide says about the Barn Owl:

“A long-legged, knock-kneed, pale, monkey-faced owl. White heart-shaped face and dark eyes, no ear tufts. Distinguished in flight as an owl by the large head and mothlike flight..”

I may just have to put that in my nature journal. 🙂

Have you started your owl study yet? 

OHC Blog Carnival

Don’t forget to share with the Outdoor Hour Challenge Blog Carnival!