Birds Archives

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Barb — Leave a comment

Brand New Outdoor Hour Challenge: Raven Nature Study

Brand New! Outdoor Hour Challenge

Forest Fun – Raven Nature Study

Ravens are a common sight to many of us here in North America. This week you can use the link below as well as the challenge in the new Forest Fun ebook to learn what ravens look like, what they sound like, and what their diet includes. Your children should be able to identify the raven by sight and by their sound after you finish your raven nature study time.

Choose a resource to learn more about ravens. A terrific website for bird information is All About Birds: Common Raven.
Ravens are often mistaken for crows so a study of this similar bird might be helpful. Lesson 32 in the Handbook of Nature Study will help you learn more about the crow. In addition, there is an Outdoor Hour Challenge for the crow in the archives: Black Birds.

Please note that I will not be posting the complete challenge here on the blog, but you’ll find the detailed challenge in the Forest Fun ebook that’s available both in the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey level memberships. Sign into your account and download the ebook for the details, more links, and notebook pages.

We are working through the Forest Fun ebook which is a brand new series of nature studies featuring things you might find in the forest. It’s not too late to join us by purchasing an Ultimate Naturalist or Journey level membership.

If you don’t have a membership yet, you can click the graphic above and join today for immediate access to the 24 ebooks and so much more! Remember that all levels, even the Discovery level membership, include access to all of the archived newsletters!

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Barb — Leave a comment

New Ebook! Bird Set #1

New Ebook is Now Available to Members!

This is going to be an exciting addition to the Ultimate Naturalist Library membership! This new ebook has nine new Outdoor Hour Challenges featuring some of North America’s most interesting birds!

These Challenges are not based on information in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock. You’ll be using internet links and field guides to glean information about each topic. Plus, there are alternate study ideas for most of the challenges presented in this series of bird nature study lessons.

This 30 page digital ebook has 9 challenges and supplemental activities.
There are multiple custom notebooking pages for each of the topics. You can choose from simple notebook pages or more advanced notebooking pages.
There are 9 coloring pages.
Sample: Print an ebook sample here: Ooutdoor Hour Challenge Bird Set 1 Sample

Here are the specific topics included in this ebook:
American White Pelican
Trumpeter Swan
Wilson’s Snipe
Great Egret
Sandhill Crane
Clark’s Nutcracker
American Dipper
Horned Lark
Black-billed Magpie

How do you get the new Creepy Things ebook?

Members of the Ultimate Naturalist and Journey levels have access to the new ebook in their library. You need to click the “Members Area” button at the top of the website, sign into your account, and the ebook is there to download and save for your family to use when desired.

If you don’t have a membership yet, I’m offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: OHC10

Posted on August 6, 2019 by Barb — Leave a comment

New Ebook- Forest Fun with New Challenges!

Forest Fun ebook cover graphic — Ultimate and Journey Level members can click this graphic to go directly to the library to download a copy of this new ebook. Make sure you are logged in and if you are having trouble with your password, please leave me a comment or send me a direct email to receive my assistance. Email: harmonyfinearts@yahoo.com

New Ebook is Now Available to Members!

The Forest Fun ebook is now ready for you to download and use with your family. It will be a part of the 2019-2020 plans here on the Handbook of Nature Study. I’m excited to have a new set of challenges to complete along with you!

There are nine brand new Outdoor Hour Challenges for you to complete as part of your nature study lessons with your children. These Challenges are not based on information in the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock but you will be using internet links and field guides to glean information about each topic.

This 47 page digital ebook has 9 challenges and supplemental activities that will help you learn about some common things you’ll find in a forest, especially the forests of the western United States.
There are multiple custom notebooking pages for each of the topics. You can choose from simple notebook pages or more advanced notebooking pages.
Coloring pages for each topic.
Sample: Print an ebook sample here: Forest Fun ebook sample challenge.

Here are the specific topics included in this ebook:

Rabbitbrush
Skunk Cabbage
Azalea
Common Raven
California Quail
Western Tanager
Black Bear
Moose
Porcupine

How do you get the new Forest Fun ebook?

If you don’t have a membership yet, I’m offering a $5 off discount code that will be good towards your Ultimate Naturalist membership.

Discount Code: OHC10

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Barb — Leave a comment

Spring 2019 Bird List

I’ve been posting on my Instagram account (outdoorhourchallenge) the monthly list of birds we observe from our window and in our backyard. But, it appears I haven’t really talked about our bird visitors for some time here on the blog. So in conjunction with or instead of the Baltimore oriole nature study from last week, I’ll be sharing some of our bird stories and the list too!

As you can see from the list, we had a huge variety of birds visit during the month of May.

Birds that Visit the Feeders

Northern flicker
House finches – They are seen in the feeder but also on the lawn as they eat the puffs of dandelion seeds that get left behind by the mower.
California scrub jays
Red-winged blackbirds
Pygmy nuthatches
Mountain chickadees – We have two nesting boxes with chickadee nests. I saw a mama bird fly out of the box, land on the sidewalk, pick up some ants, and then fly back up to the nest. What a good mama!
Yellow-headed blackbirds – I’ve learned the sort of mechanical sound of these colorful birds that will sit high up in our pine trees. They visit the feeder occasionally. Here’s a link to what they sound like: All About Birds.
Evening grosbeaks
Western bluebirds – We have a nesting box full of bluebirds in our yard!
Black-headed grosbeaks
Hairy woodpeckers
Steller’s jays
Western tanager – This is a new bird to our list! It’s such a beautiful and colorful bird that appeared one morning. Then, by afternoon, we had 5 males and 2 females at our feeders. I haven’t seen them in a few weeks so I guess they have moved on.
Rufous hummingbirds – They seem to have come and gone. I anticipate that they’ll return again soon.

Birds that Eat under the Feeders

Mourning doves
Brewer’s blackbirds
American robins – We have a nest up on our bbq shed. The mama very dutifully sits on the nest day after day. I looked it up and incubation is 12-14 days so she must be getting close to hatching the babies.
White-crowned sparrows
Dark-eyed juncos
California quail

Birds that Fly By

Tree swallows – There is a swallow nest in one of our nesting boxes. I love watching the swallows fly and dive and swoop in my yard as they eat mosquitoes! I wish they would eat them all!
Osprey
Snipe
Canada goose
Mallard ducks – There’s a duck family with about a dozen babies on the pond behind our house. There is nothing sweeter than a little duckling.
Common raven
Turkey vultures
Great blue herons – We observed three herons flying behind our house a few nights ago. That’s a record number of heron being seen all at one time.
Cooper’s hawk – He is a fierce predator and we’ve seen him chasing birds from our feeder several times. He is fast and flies so agilely.

Is your family looking for a resource to use to learn more about your backyard birds? You should take a look at my Learning About Birds ebook that is available to both Ultimate and Journey level members here on the Handbook of Nature Study.

Here are the specifics:

This 65 page digital ebook has 8 challenges and supplemental activities that will help you learn more about your local birds using the Handbook of Nature Study as well as the book, Backyard Birds. (See the Amazon.com store for the bird related resources.)
There are 6 notebooking pages included in the ebook. Two of these are general bird study pages that can be printed multiple times to meet your family’s needs.
Full color photos of every bird included in the ebook.
Additional information on birdfeeders, bird seed, nature table ideas, life lists, field guide help, and online identification.
There is enough material in this ebook to provide 8 weeks of bird study or more depending on how long you take to complete each challenge. Every challenge has more than one bird – see list of birds included below.
The ebook contains a chart that links every bird discussed in the Handbook of Nature Study (the book) to a challenge here on the website. This chart will help you find the bird challenges found in other OHC ebooks as well as the corresponding notebooking pages (if available).
Sample: Print your ebook sample here: Learning About Birds from the Outdoor Hour Challenge.

Use the discount code BIRDLOVER5 for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist membership here on the Handbook of Nature Study.

Posted on June 14, 2019 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge Summer Bird Study – Baltimore Oriole

Note: If you’re on the west coast, look for the Bullock’s oriole for your study instead. Information and a link are in the original challenge in the archive post linked below.

You can also substitute the How to Learn Bird Songs and Calls activity linked in the original study.

The Baltimore oriole is a gorgeous bird! I’ve never seen one in person, but someday I hope to see one during my travels. This is one reason we can study birds or other nature topics we don’t expect to find in our local area. Gathering facts and knowledge ahead of time prepares us for the time we stumble upon something new or unexpected.

Click the link below to see the original challenge in the archives or if you’re a member here on the Handbook of Nature Study, you can open the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook (linked below) for the lesson, the notebook pages, and the images.

Baltimore oriole image from Fishhawk

Would you like some fun facts about Baltimore orioles? Here’s a link to Wild Birds Unlimited: Baltimore Orioles.

Link to the Archive Challenge: Baltimore Oriole

Baltimore oriole nest from synspectrum

Both the bird and the nest would make awesome subjects for a nature journal page. This challenge can also be all about differences in bird nests using the links in the original challenge.

If you want to purchase the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook so you can follow along with all the notebooking pages, coloring pages, and subject images, you can join the Ultimate or Journey Membership Levels. See the Join Us page for complete information. Also, you can view the Summer Nature Study Continues – New Ebook announcement page for more details.

Use the discount code SUMMER5 for $5 off your Ultimate Naturalist Library membership and you’ll have access to the Summer Nature Study Continues ebook and the Brook and Stream Nature Study notebook page along with 20 other ebooks and many, many more printables!

Posted on April 29, 2019 by Barb — 2 Comments

Nature Observer – April 2019

April is such an awakening of life and color here in Central Oregon. We’ve experienced an explosion of birds visiting our yard and within view of our back windows. The joy of living at the edge of two habitats grows as you see the variety of birds and animals that appear as the spring warms the earth and the grasses begin to grow.

Here’s my April list of birds seen from our windows, all listed on the chalkboard that hangs in our dining area. I hardly have room to add any more birds! Some are the usual residents but many of the birds we spotted are migrant visitors that stop by or stay through the summer.

I hung my hummingbird feeder up last week and two days later we had our first hummingbird! The nesting boxes are already full of birds that are nesting, including the tree swallows that zip and dive around our yard.

We were particularly surprised to see an eagle land behind our house and then take off chasing a raven. This eagle was huge! It was a thrill to be able to not only see this magnificent bird but to capture some images for my nature journal.

The return of the elk came in April this year as well. We have 7-8 elk that graze behind our house every day early in the morning and sometimes again in the evening. During the day, they hang out among the trees and if they stand still you can’t even see them.

The large snow pack and the heavy rains we received have made the river behind our house rise up higher than we’ve ever observed in the two years we’ve lived here. We can’t freely walk up and down the riverbank because our path is cut off with a channel of water as it meanders around and then back to the main river.

We’ve seen herons, mallards, and otters in these new waterways right up near our back fence.

One More Image

I’m feeling so much stronger now that my hips and muscles are healing from my surgery! We took a more strenuous hike this past week up to Fort Rock in the Oregon Outback. This is a magical place for hiking this time of year. Once at the top, you can see for miles out over the sagebrush and juniper trees. The wind makes a moaning and whistling sound up against the volcanic rocks if you climb up and sit near the rim of the crater. We heard birds like ravens and hawks calling out from their perches high up on the rocks, echoing and bouncing from rim to rim. The wild currants are just getting ready to blossom and the sagebrush isn’t far behind in leafing out. What a great afternoon!

There are many, many nature journal ideas included in the archives of the Handbook of Nature Study newsletters. If you have any level of membership, make sure to download the newsletter index to make finding a topic easy.

Did you see the new Wildflower ebook? There are five completely new Outdoor Hour Challenges in this ebook for you to enjoy with your family. Please click over and check it out and don’t miss the $5 off discount code!

This is the perfect time of year to start a bird nature study unit. If you’re just finishing up your science curriculum and you have a few extra days to fill in with some fun nature study, take a look at the Learning About Birds ebook for some ideas and suggestions for making the most of the springtime bird population in your local area.

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Barb — 2 Comments

Our Spring Bird – Not Quite Yet

Posting the spring bird challenge a few weeks ago, I knew in my heart that I would have to wait a month or even two months before I could accomplish a true spring bird nature study. But, it has put it on my on plan for future nature study experiences.

We have not spotted one spring bird. In fact, our Great Backyard Bird Count was the smallest count we have ever recorded in the many years we have been tallying birds for the project.

Great Backyard Bird Count List for 2019

La Pine, Oregon

Hairy woodpecker -2
Northern flicker -2
Mountain chickadee – 5
Pygmy nuthatch -7
House finch -1

That’s it. Hardly a spectacular count here at my location in Central Oregon. We had snow on the ground and a high temperature of 35 degrees for the Bird Count weekend. Even for us this was a fraction of the usual birds we see at our feeders on any given weekend.

As far as new birds to learn about, none so far this season. I will keep watching and hopefully just like last year I will be surprised by a new species to add to my list. (Last year it was the Wilson’s snipe!)

If you would like to read the original challenge for a spring bird nature study, here is the link: Outdoor Hour Challenge – Spring Bird.

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Barb — Leave a comment

Outdoor Hour Challenge -Looking for Spring Birds Challenge

Here’s the link to the challenge in the archives: Spring Bird Nature Study.

You’re going to find all kinds of helpful suggestions in this entry along with a printable notebook page, a complete coloring book, and links to learn more about identifying birds by their song.

Don’t miss this week’s nature study suggestion to take time to learn about a new spring bird in your neighborhood. If you’re really up to a challenge, your family can participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count which is this weekend!!! You only need to commit to a few minutes of observation time to make this citizen science project a part of your nature study this week.

Find all the details here: Great Backyard Bird Count.

This is the perfect time to download the Learning About Birds ebook available in Ultimate and Journey level memberships. This ebook steps you through the study of birds by color and topic. Included in the ebook are notebooking pages, images, and links to help you study some of the most common birds here in North America.

Look for this ebook in your library if you’re a member or join now using the discount code below for $5 off an Ultimate Naturalist Library membership.

Discount Code: BIRDLOVER5

Posted on December 19, 2018 by Barb — Leave a comment

Our Family Winter Bird Study

Our winter bird study has included a lot of watching out the window at our feeders. They’ve been super busy with all the wintery weather, including snow that hasn’t melted and covers the landscape. I keep track of the birds in our feeders as part of Project Feederwatch and so far this season we had a good number of birds visit.

There are still a couple of winter migrants that haven’t made an appearance yet like the spotted towhee. We will keep our eyes open!

In particular, I’ve made a study of the chickadee, learning the difference between the mountain chickadee and the black-capped chickadee. There’s an easy way to distinguish them and I made a page in my nature journal to solidify the information in my brain.

Right now my interests have turned to learning more about bird migration. There’s an exhibit at the High Desert Museum in Bend, OR that features information about migration, called Animal Journeys. I have another month left on my membership there and I’m hoping my hips heal up enough that I can manage a quick visit there to take it all in.

Here’s an image my husband sent me of an eagle soaring over the river behind our house. What a treat!

That pretty much wraps up our winter bird study so far this season. I know we’ll be continuing to look for and learn about birds because that’s what we do here.

Bird nerds forever.

Bird tab image and link

Are you interested in seeing my picks for bird related books and field guides? Click over to my bird tab on the website.

Posted on November 7, 2018 by Barb — 2 Comments

Our Family Autumn Bird Study

October 2018 chalkboard bird list — Excited to have so many birds in October!

In our continuing effort to learn the bird migration patterns in our new habitat, our dining room chalkboard list of monthly birds is a valuable tool. It creates a simple record of birds that visit our feeders, our yard, and fly by our back windows. I copy the list into my nature journal at the end of the month so we’ll be able to see from year to year the birds that come and go throughout the seasons.

There was a new bird this month! The western meadowlark became my autumn bird study. I was really glad it appeared before I had my hip surgery so I could go outside and try to take a photo. Even though I wasn’t successful at getting an image, I did get a good look at the meadowlark and its behavior. I used AllAboutBirds.com to research this beautiful bird along with my Peterson field guide. These two sources gave me enough information to create a good nature journal entry. I hope to someday hear this songbird singing…perhaps this spring.

Project Feederwatch Nature Journal — Nature journal page from 2017 Project Feederwatch

November 10, 2018 is the first day we can start counting birds that visit our feeders as part of the Project Feederwatch citizen science opportunity. Click over to read more about this important and simple activity for families: Project Feederwatch.

You can read our November 2017 entry here: Project Feederwatch November 2017.

This is a perfect way to start or continue an autumn bird nature study with your family even if you don’t know the identity of all the birds that come to your yard. This project will help you learn as you go. Click the logo above for a video that explains how to participate.

How did your autumn bird study go this time around?

It’s not too late to do your own Autumn Bird Study!