Birds Archives

Posted on February 12, 2010 by Barb — 2 Comments

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Winter Series #7 Winter Birds

Outdoor Hour Challenge
Winter Series #7
Winter Bird Study

For this challenge, instead of picking a particular bird from the Handbook of Nature Study, we will focus on learning about bird migration and then spend some time outdoors looking for birds in our own neighborhoods. In addition, I am encouraging you to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count that takes place in February. You can participate in the bird count even if you just spend 15 minutes observing birds in your own yard or neighborhood. See their website for more information: GBBC.

Inside Preparation Work:
Read in the Handbook of Nature Study pages 35-37. This will help explain why you have some birds in your area only during certain seasons. If you are interested in more information, you might want to check the Peterson Field Guides for additional information about particular birds that you have in your feeders or near-by parks. There will be maps in the field guide that show where birds winter, migrate, and spend their summers. I encourage you to pick one common bird you have in your area and see if it migrates. (If you do not have a field guide, use the links in the Follow-Up Activity to research your bird.)

Outdoor Hour Time:
Spend 15-20 minutes outdoors this week looking for local birds. Choose one of the birds to learn more about and to record in your nature journal. If you are participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, plan on spending your outdoor time to tally birds you see in your yard. If the weather is too cold, you can always sit at a window where you can see your birdfeeder and take a tally from there.

Follow-Up Activity:
Give an opportunity for a nature journal after you talk about any birds you observed. Help your child identify any birds they saw if you can. Remember to check the table of contents in the Handbook of Nature Study to see if your bird subject is covered in a lesson. You can use those suggestions to learn more about your backyard birds. If you have a field guide, use the information there to discuss if the bird is a winter resident or a year-round resident. Our family uses this online bird site to help us identify birds: WhatBird? And this website for additional information as well: AllAboutBirds.

Also make sure to log into the Great Backyard Bird Count and record your results from your neighborhood.

Additional bird migration websites:
Bird Migration (Backyard Nature)
Bird Migration (Wild Birds Unlimited)

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Barb — 3 Comments

The Beginnings of a Robin Study

“Most of us think we know the robin well, but very few of us know definitely the habits of this, our commonest bird. The object of this lesson is to form in the pupils a habit of careful observation, and to enable them to read for themselves the interesting story of this little life which is lived every year before their eyes. Moreover, a robin notebook, if well kept, is a treasure for any child; and the close observation necessary for this lesson trains the pupils to note in a comprehending way the habits of other birds. It is the very best preparation for bird study of the right sort.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 57

What started off as a hike after the rain had stopped, quickly turned into an exciting weekend of robin watching. Heading down our regular hiking trail, we immediately saw a sight that made us stop in our tracks. Up over our heads in huge groups were groups of birds flying, some stopping to perch in the tall pines above us. Some of the birds were just flying very fast all in one direction. I did not have my binoculars on this afternoon so we had to use the camera to see at first what kind of birds they were. Robins! Flocks and flocks of robins!

We were amazed at the numbers of robins and I tried to capture a few photos, but I had my little camera that does not have an adequate zoom. The photo above is the only photo that you see the robins.

None of us had experienced this large of a flock of robins before. We realized exactly what is in the quote above from the Handbook of Nature Study. How could we have never noticed the robins migrating/flocking before? Where are they coming from? Where are they going? We had so many questions in our minds as we finished our hike.

This experience was repeated several times over the course of our weekend. We even had them flocking and flying overhead yesterday morning at our house. The neighborhood was alive with robins.

This is how our robin study started this weekend. We are going to use the suggestions for progressive robin study in the Handbook of Nature Study and spend some time this spring learning about this common neighborhood bird. You can read the lessons starting on page 61.

“For third or higher grades the pupils may have individual notebooks in which each one may write his own answers to the questions of the successive series……The cover or first page should show the picture of the robin colored by the pupil, and may contain other illustrative drawings, and any poems or other literature pertinent to the subject.”
Handbook of Nature Study, page 61

The Handbook of Nature Study contains lessons that follow the spring habits of the robin and it will take us a few months to finish our study.

We found the following links helpful:
Winter Robins
What Happens to All the Robins?
Making Sense of Robin Migration This article has some interesting information stating that the robins only start singing when they have reached their territory. Many of the robins we observed over the weekend were singing…so I guess they are home. More info HERE.
Robin Migration Journal Pages I can’t believe what you can find on the internet with very little effort. I was reading this website and realized they have a journal you can print out and use to keep track of the robin migration for this year. Awesome! They also have more generic notebook pages to go with any study HERE.

I will keep you posted on the progfess of our robin study. Don’t forget that this coming weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count. Even if you can only devote 15-20 minutes of bird watching in your neighborhood this coming weekend, you can participate in this important birding event. You do not need to be an expert in bird identification either. Report the birds you do know!

I will share our bird tallies as we make our observations.

Posted on January 6, 2010 by Barb — 7 Comments

Winter Blah-It Even Happens To Me

Yesterday I decided I needed some outdoor time. Grabbing my camera I went out the door with a feeling of anticipation. I always feel that little spark of adventure even in my own backyard. I know it like the back of my hand, but it always has a way of surprising me

The winter storm we had really took its toll on our plants and trees. I shed a few tears as I surveyed the damage to my roses, butterfly bushes, and other flowering plants. Some sort of rodents have been digging around in my garden and under the birdfeeders…what a mess of holes and tunnels! How could such a beautiful space be so ugly in winter? It really made me sad.

I turned and started walking back up to the house, sort of feeling like winter had let me down. After all my pep talks on this blog about winter and winter nature study, I was the one having the bad attitude.

I noticed that the birdfeeders were getting down to the last few seeds so I stopped by the storage room and filled my seed pail with dinner for the birds. I filled every feeder up and started up the stairs again to go inside.

This time I heard a little scuffling behind me. I turned and realized that the birds had flocked to the feeders right after I had filled them up. There were juncos, sparrows, my favorite little titmouse, a couple of towhees, a scrub jay, and few finches. These birds did not care that all around them the branches of the trees are hanging down, broken from the winter storm. A few were scratching around under the feeders where the muddy rodent holes and tunnels were just inches away. The birds didn’t see any problem.

I stopped and looked up over the trees and there was a turkey vulture swooping and gliding in the crisp winter air. He didn’t seem to care that the roses were all broken down in my yard…he was just having a good time flying in the afternoon sunshine.

Okay, I remember now…winter just has its own ways of bringing beauty. The clearing of the old is a way of making way for the new. Didn’t I just realize that a few weeks ago?

My tears were dry and I was now smiling at the antics of the birds in the feeders….the scrub jays being such bullies and the titmouse flying in and out like a crazy bird. The sky seemed a little bluer and the bird sounds were like a winter musical concert just for me.

The Winter Series of Outdoor Hour Challenges, starting on January 8th, are going to really get me focused again on regular focused nature study. I know that many of you are planning on following along so I will bring my very best winter nature study attitude with me when I come on Fridays. My boys have already asked about the cattail study and that will be our first challenge…to catch up with our cattails to see how their winter is going.

Posted on December 28, 2009 by Barb — 8 Comments

Woodpecker Alert!

Today we identified a new woodpecker in our yard…really exciting stuff.

He was hopping between the tree and the feeder, but I was able to snap a few photos to share with you.

Nuttall’s Woodpecker
Picoides nuttallii
“The only black and white, zebra backed woodpecker with a black and white striped face normally found in California west of the Sierra. Males have red caps.”
Habitat: Wooded canyons and foothills, river woods, groves, and orchards.

I just love the unexpected nature study that happens along with real life. When you have to observe closely to identify a bird, you learn all kinds of things in the process. We learned that the Downy woodpecker that we normally see is very close to the Nuttall’s woodpecker but he has a big white spot on his back. Now we will be able to tell them apart quite easily.

New bird for our bird list!

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Barb — 8 Comments

Winter Birds – So Lovely

My oldest let me play with his camera yesterday and I took a few bird photos out the window.

Birds make me happy.

Watching birds makes me happy.

Taking photos of birds makes me happy.

Junco in the tree.

Spotted Towhee in the feeder.

My favorite of the day…

A titmouse right outside the bedroom window.

See me being happy?

Posted on November 10, 2009 by Barb — 2 Comments

Truly Beautiful Birds: Woodpeckers

We decided that woodpeckers are very beautiful birds. The two kinds we see most frequently are Acorn woodpeckers and White-Headed woodpeckers and although they are mostly black and white, they are truly lovely to look at.

“The clown-faced Acorn Woodpecker is a common bird of western oak forests. It lives in extended family groups, and all members of the group spend hours and hours storing thousands of acorns in carefully tended holes in trees and telephone poles.”

All About Birds, Acorn Woodpecker listing

This tree is at my dad’s house and it has about a zillion holes in it from woodpeckers. He is plagued with woodpeckers pecking on the side of his house.

I found this old nature journal entry made for our backyard woodpecker….makes me smile.

Here is our previous entry for black and white birds which included some woodpeckers: Outdoor Hour Challenge: Black and White Birds

Here is another black and white bird that we see and it always amazes me…the magpie.

What a great tail this bird has and he makes a funny noise when he walks along.

We have been keeping track of birds in our yard this week as part of this challenge.

Here is our list:

Western bluebirds
Goldfinches
Western scrub jays
House sparrows
Anna’s hummingbirds
Juncos (under the feeder)-just returned
White-crowned sparrows (under the feeder) -just returned

We heard a crow and a mockingbird as well.

We don’t have as much variety in our feeders or yard at this time of the year. The bird variety picks up as the winter marches on and by the time of the Great Backyard Bird Count, we are in full swing.

No woodpecker sightings this week but we enjoyed watching the birds we did have in our yard.

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Barb — 2 Comments

Fiery Skipper in the Flower Garden and a Few Turkeys

Fiery Skippers in the garden are pretty common this time of the year.

Just as ordinary to our autumn season are the turkeys that wander onto my dad’s property everyday as they make their rounds. Even though they are not my favorite bird, I have come to recognize their beauty…..and also their silliness.

They think if they hold still I can’t see them. They will be as still as statues until some signal goes through the flock and they trot off for cover.

There they go making their little gobbling sounds. Silly turkeys.

Enjoying our gorgeous weather…..perhaps a hike later today.

Posted on September 23, 2009 by Barb — 4 Comments

Extraordinary in the Ordinary: Our Fabulous Five

A few weeks ago I wrote about finding something extraordinary in the ordinary as far as things we see in our own backyard and in our own neighborhoods. We have done some follow-up work on our five subjects and I wanted to share a little about what we learned and didn’t learn. 🙂

Morning Glory (Handbook of Nature Study page 519 reference to twining)
We learned that it is closely related to the sweet potato. It is called a morning glory since the blossoms only last one day. It grows in just about any soil, doesn’t like too much moisture, and will thrive in full sun.

I love the way the vine curls up the poles and then into the trees.

Alligator Lizard (reference and photo of alligator lizard and fence lizard, Handbook of Nature Study, pages 210-211)
We did some research on our alligator lizard but guess what? We saw an even bigger and more glorious lizard last week.

How is that for a lizard? I love his feet!

I think he might be a Northwestern Fence Lizard which we have had in our backyard before but he also may be a Sierra Fence Lizard. He has lots of color on his back and we have always just called these guys “blue bellies”. I am not definite about who exactly he is but still enjoyed observing him with his wonderfully long toes on his feet and his inquisitive eye.

We learned from reading on different websites that lizards can have ticks! That is something we definitely did not know before and for some reason we all found it very interesting.

This is an older journal entry my son did for a lizard we had in the backyard. He incorporated a photo and a sketch. We did some additional research this week on the alligator lizard and found that there are several species that live in our area. Now we are not sure which one we have so during our next encounter we will know more in detail what to look for.

Caterpillar (Handbook of Nature Study -lots of caterpillar info. We used page 299 for a drawing in our nature journal.)

We had no luck with figuring out what kind of caterpillar we saw on the sidewalk under our Sweet Gum tree. You would think that with its bright colors and outstanding horns and markings that we could find it somewhere in our field guide or online. Nope. We will be keeping our eyes open to see if we can observe more about these creatures right outside our back door.

Hummingbirds (Handbook of Nature Study section on hummingbirds starts on page 115)

We were still not able to figure out our dark headed hummingbird from a few weeks ago. We have been watching the feeder but the regular hummers are keeping it busy. Anna’s Hummingbirds are very common at our feeders all summer long and then even over the winter. We learned that they are *not* migratory which is really interesting since it gets very cold here in the winter and we even have snow. Where do they live when the weather is bad in the winter? You can be sure we will be keeping our eyes open to answer that question.

We have been working on taking photos of the birds in sports mode and we get much better photos…a tad bit clearer.

After some research and online digging, I think we have identified our migratory black headed hummer as a Black-chinned Hummingbird. I looked at the migratory map on WhatBird.com and it looks like it is highly likely it could be just this bird. Here is more on their migration.

California Towhee

We read some more about this regular to the feeder, or more specifically…under the feeder. They always come in a pair. What is interesting is that the map does not show that we should have these birds but we have them year round in our yard. The other thing that is interesting is that the maps show that we should have Spotted Towhees all year but we don’t during the summer. Hmmm….don’t know what that means but it is interesting.

We also learned that California Towhees are sometimes called “car birds” since they like to run and hide under parked cars. We have actually witnessed this behavior several times and think it is quite funny. They also will sit on car mirrors and “fight” their own image. We have not seen that behavior but it wouldn’t surprise us.

Here is a link for reference on the CA Towhee.

Our Fabulous Five Ordinary Things
That wraps up our fabulous five ordinary things that we looked more closely at from our yard. This was a great exercise and we will be certain to do it again.

Posted on September 6, 2009 by Barb — 5 Comments

Trip to the Nature Center: Birds, Butterflies, and a Sundial Bridge

So yesterday was our big day trip to Turtle Bay. The weather was perfect which was a big relief. The city of Redding is usually scorching hot this time of year but there were a few high clouds in the morning to keep the temperatures down.

We started off with the outside exhibits at the nature center just in case it warmed up and the aviary was first on the list. What a racket these birds can make! You are given a little stick with some seeds on it to attract the birds down to eye level. This was a great way to spend extended time close-up to these colorful birds.

These Rosellas preferred to sick up high and watch us instead.

This pair of cockatiels posed for me and they never did come down to snack on the seeds.

After the aviary, we visited the butterfly house. We didn’t see too many butterflies this time but this Julia on some sedum was the prettiest one that I captured in a photo.

After lunch we went outside to explore the botanical gardens. What a display of plantings that will grow in our climate! I did not realize that this place had so much information and now I need to go back when I am fresh and the sun is not so hot. We became members of the nature center so we can get in free for a whole year and this will make it easier to go back just to look at the gardens and get some ideas for my yard.

We are going to be pulling up our lawn and replanting with drought-resistant plantings and the display at this botanical garden will help us pick things that will flourish and be beautiful without so much water.

This is the famous Sundial Bridge which doesn’t look much like a bridge from this photo because I took it from the gardens. Believe me, it is a very large bridge over the Sacramento River that connects the nature center with the botanical garden. Follow the link above to see the whole thing in a photo.

The bridge really is a big sundial. I took this photo of the shadow at 12:47 and you can see on the rock that it says 1:00….what a great way to teach about the sun and telling time.

One more thing that I loved about this nature center is the way things are so open to explore. This shelf is just what I want in my living room to display all our collections and nature stuff. I might have to have my son take a look at it and see if he can design something similar to fit my space.

It was a very long day with a long drive to get there and back but all of us agreed that it was a fantastic place. We all found something to be excited about and interested in. What more can you ask for?

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Barb — 4 Comments

Red-Tailed Hawk Encounter

We often see Red-tailed Hawks in our area and they are an awesome sight as they soar high above us. If you listen carefully, their call can be heard from very far away because it is so distinct. Try clicking the photos to see them larger.

This particular hawk landed in a little stream area at the flower farm. You can’t see the little bit of creek in this photo where he is sitting at the water’s edge. He had swooped down over our heads and we thought for sure he was after his prey but he landed and sat for a few minutes which allowed us to take a few photos. My boys commented that he was a lot bigger than they thought and he was a big guy. I looked it up when we got home and our field guide says they are around 22 inches with a wingspan of 52 inches and weigh around 45 ounces.

He waddled through the tall grasses and up into the near-by parking lot and we were able to really see his red tail feathers. He turned his head and gave us his best “hawk eye” and then he flew off.

Off he goes!

For more information on these gorgeous birds, I highly recommend the AllAboutBirds.com article. This page has inspired me to try sketching the Red-tailed Hawk in my nature journal, Naturalist’s Notebook, although my sketch will be a far cry from this piece of art. 🙂

Category: Birds