I have received so many emails about this coloring book link. Cornell changed the link and it has been near impossible to find online but today I stumbled across the classic bird coloring book for you to download.
Make sure to download and save the PDF so you will have it when you need it!
Enjoy.
Can you believe it is almost December? I thought I could fit in another November World post or two before the end of the month. It is surprising what you will see if keep your eyes open!
It has been really cold the last week or so and when I opened my blinds early in the morning a few days ago, this is what I saw at my birdfeeder.
Mr. Hummingbird.
We still have hummingbirds in our yard although the temperatures have been in the low 30s and the world has been frozen. Another day I saw some hummingbirds in my remaining lavender blooms in the front yard. One morning the feeder was frozen so I had to bring it in and defrost it and refill it with more liquid. Two hummingbirds come regularly and sit and feed for long periods of time and then they fly off. I am not sure if they are the same birds over and over or whether they are different birds migrating. So many questions….
Later in the day, this Northern Flicker (red shafted) caught my son’s attention and he had to run in and get me to see it. Over the years Mr. A has become a great spotter of birds and I think it is because we have taken the time, one bird at a time, to get to know them and their habits.
The Chinese pistache tree in our front yard has little red-orange nuts on it this time of year. The local birds come here quite frequently and there seems to be quite a few migratory birds that stop by once or twice a year to enjoy the nuts. Here is a whole gang of different birds in the tree at one time.
One of my favorite colorful birds was visiting, the Cedar Waxwing.
Mr American Robin was there too making his presence known.
And don’t forget Mr. Western bluebird. I see these just about every day now and I love them. We are thinking of finding a place to put a bluebird house for them to nest in but we need to do some more research about size and location.
November World birds seem to cheer even the coldest day up!
We have had an abundance of birds in our yard for the past few weeks. Part of the reason is my new birdfeeder station in our front yard but mostly because it seems to be that time of year.
I grabbed my son’s camera the other day and took quite a few photos of just a small fraction of the variety of birds right in our yard.
There are always lots of Western scrub jays in our yard. This one found an acorn snack.
This is the best I could get of the Northern mockingbird in our front tree.
There have been quite a few Western bluebirds hanging around this week. I was able to snap a good photo of this pretty little bird.
There is a pair of Nuttall’s woodpeckers that are frequently on the utility pole across the street from our house. This seems to be the female…the male has red on his head.
This Western scrub jay was poking around in the rocks. I think he was trying to find some acorns or walnuts that he stashed but I was able to catch him holding still for a few seconds so I could capture his beautiful blue feathers.
Stay tuned because I am sure I will have some more to share soon. We spend time watching birds everyday and it is always fun to share.
We have had a hard time attracting goldfinches to our yard. We tried thistle feeders before but the goldfinches never came. I decided two weeks ago to try again and this time….they arrived right outside my window!
I can’t tell you how thrilled we were to see them in the feeder, lined up along the branches, and sitting in the top of the tree. Their bright yellow color is amazing to see flash across the yard and their sweet little song is so beautiful coming in the windows.
Mr. B came in yesterday with a gift for me.
He found a goldfinch feather under the feeder and brought it in for me to see. Doesn’t it look as if someone dipped the tip in yellow paint?
This is going in my nature journal! We found the goldfinch in the Handbook of Nature Study and now we are going to read up on them and do some of the suggestions in Lesson 10.
“Goldfinches are seen at their best in late summer or September, when they appear in flocks wherever the thistle seeds are found in abundance.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 57
Hopefully they are here for awhile so we can get our fill of finches.
We had quite a few false starts on this particular challenge. A couple times we planned to go out after dinner but it is getting dark so early these days that we decided it was too late to go once the dishes were done. Then one of the boys was sick and wasn’t up to going.
Thursday was the day! We went in the afternoon before dinner and we were able to see some geese and ducks.Usually there are more ducks than geese but this particular time there seemed to be more geese.
No Canada Geese this week but we did find these white geese at our local duck pond.There were a few mallard ducks hanging out with the geese as you can see in the background of this photo.
Their necks are so very long that they can do amazing maneuvers like this!
There were a few gray geese like this one as well. They would flap their wings and you could glimpse at how long they were. I love the way when he stood still his feet were on top of each other…really big feet! This guy is definitely going into my nature journal.
The goose in the background shows how they stand on the dry land and poke around in the edges of the pond to find something to eat.
The ducks floated out onto the water and did the bottoms up technique instead.
We were able to make quite a few observations on this trip because there were not too many people around to distract the birds from doing their own thing. We just stood on the bridge and watched the geese and fairly soon they totally ignored us and went about their business of preening, eating, and honking.
We are heading out to the river today to do some kayaking so maybe we will see some Canadian geese there…I will update if we do.
If you are interested in more bird challenges, you can look on the right sidebar of my blog and see a whole series of bird challenges listed there for you to choose from. Enjoy!
Autumn Series #2
Bird Study: The Goose
“And there is not a more interesting sight anywhere in the autumn landscape than the wedge-shaped flock of these long-necked birds with their leader at the front apex.” Handbook of Nature Study, page 133
Inside Preparation Work:
1. Read pages 130-135 in the Handbook of Nature Study (Lesson 34). Take special note of the fact that the northern migration of wild geese takes place in April and May, and the southern journey is from October to December. (Check this website for a map of where Canada Geese live in North America.)
2. Listen to the sound of Canada Geese and Snow Geese. Many times we will hear a goose before we see it flying overhead. Use your sense of hearing to help you identify a goose when the opportunity arises.
Comparison Ideas:
Outdoor Hour Time:
Take the opportunity during this challenge to find a local duck pond and check to see if there are any geese visiting at this time. You also might try a local farm that may have geese and ducks for you to observe. Use your Outdoor Hour time to observe geese and/or ducks with the suggestions from the Handbook of Nature Study as well as those suggested above. Help your child to find words to compare the goose to some other bird they already know as far as shape, size, and habits.
If you do not have any geese or ducks to observe, you can observe any of your backyard birds and make some comparisons. This activity is one that can be done with any bird at any time. Work on your observation skills a little each week to sharpen your child’s awareness of their own surroundings.
Follow-Up Activity:
Take a few minutes to talk briefly about what you saw during your Outdoor Hour time. If you observed geese and/or ducks, use the gentle reminder questions in the list above to stimulate a little conversation. Your child can also record their observations in their own blank nature journal or use the notebook page from the ebook for convenience. You may wish to pull up the website listed in the preparation work to view more photos of geese to make sketching a little easier. In the Autumn 2010 ebook, there is a printable notebook page for a goose and another more general page for an autumn bird study of any bird.
If you did not observe a goose or duck, you can still complete a nature journal page or notebook page for any bird you did observe. Use your field guide or AllAboutBirds.org to glean more information if desired.
Note: This nature study challenge can be found in the Autumn 2010 ebook.
If you would like to own this ebook, it is part of the Ultimate Naturalist Library for members. You can find more details on how to get your own membership here: Join Us!
It is my joy and privilege to write a review of this wonderful new product. I received a copy of the new DVD titled Your Backyard a few weeks ago and I think it is a perfect start to birding for families.
This DVD, presented with a Christian point of view, introduces 18 common feeder birds of the Eastern and Central U.S. Even though I live in California, I found this DVD extremely helpful and full of information that I can use in my area.
Features I love about this DVD:
Other information you may find helpful:
Would you like to see a sample? Here is the trailer for the video!
I am going to be giving a copy of this DVD away to one family as part of tomorrow’s Autumn 2010 Outdoor Hour Challenge. Please make sure to read the bird challenge and see how you can participate to have a chance to receive your own copy of this video.
At $19.95, this DVD is affordable for all families and your children will want to watch it over and over. What a great way to introduce a love of birds in your family!
As part of our great front yard remodel, we cut down a tree.
My boys brought me this nest that they found among the branches. I knew there was an abandoned nest up there and it was exciting to see it close-up.
We were able to only see the stick part from underneath but now we see it is lined with soft grasses for the eggs and babies.
We know it is from a Western Scrub Jay because we watched the baby birds fly away this past spring. We know they have a new tree to nest in across the yard…it has better protection and we think they may even have another nest there too.
I was clearing my camera and decided to include a few photos from our explorations this month so far.
New yellow wildflower. I think this is Hooker’s Evening Primrose.
New purple wildflower. I am still working on identifying this one.
Crimson Columbine.
Large Tiger lily.
No kidding, it is as large as my palm.
Osprey nest on the top of this dead tree…see it up there made out of sticks?
Here is a link to the sound that was coming from this nest:
All About Birds: Osprey
As we were standing there, the mama or daddy osprey flew in and dropped a fish from the lake into the nest and then it flew away. All was quiet again.
Just a few photos to keep track of some of the things we have experienced while outdoors this month.
Hubby surprised me with this new field guide. I haven’t had a chance to really look into it deeply but it looks very, very good. I will post a review soon.
I forgot that I took these photos a few weeks ago of some quail’s egg shells in a nest. The nest was right on a bank outside a friend’s house in the dry grass on the ground. Amazing that no one saw it until now.
There were so many little egg shells and they are so pretty and speckled. We were not sure whether it looked like the eggs had hatched or not….they do have three foxes that frequent their property. Would foxes eat the whole egg or just break it open and eat what is inside?
We came home and looked up to make sure they belonged to a quail:
California Quail
We learned that a nest can have as many as 28 eggs! The nest is usually in a shallow depression on the ground and lined with grasses and other vegetation, usually 5-7 inches across.
We have quail in our yard sometimes but I have never seen a nest before.
There is always something new to see if you keep your eyes wide open.
