We've had so much success spotting birds this past week that we've been getting up before dawn almost every day to see what we can find in the yard. The boys have enjoyed lots of birding, finding old favorites and spotting some new finds, as well. We continue to marvel at how many more birds we are seeing with our multi-purpose feeding station, built for us by a kind neighbor, Mr. S.
There is a platform feeder with black oil sunflower seeds, a hanging nut feeder, a mixed seed feeder with a roof on top and a hummingbird feeder. Looking out the window right now I can see a ruby throated hummingbird, two cardinals, a chickadee, an Eastern Towhee and two mourning doves, each perched on a different feeder or eating seeds from the ground.
Our bird garden, now 4 months old, is the perfect spot for these birds to take cover, and the feeding station gets even more visitors thanks to its perfect spot. The Rose Breasted Grosbeaks have continued to come back daily, along with mockingbirds and our other usual visitors. In fact, today we had two male Rose breasted Grosbeaks as well as the female. We've seen two woodpeckers this week as well, in or near the bird garden (not at the feeding station).
Tonight K and I heard a cerulean warbler and a hooded warbler in a wooded area down the street, but we could never spot either one.
Now that the weather has cooled, we are ready for phase two of our bird garden project. There are still several holes (dug in the spring) awaiting trees or shrubs, and we want to put a gravel path and some benches in, as well as a water feature. There is some discrepancy about that, as I want a simple bird bath whereas the boys want to dig a pond! I think birdbath will win out, and they can put a pond in later, when they are big enough to dig it and maintain it themselves!
The boys each built a birdhouse, aimed at attracting a particular bird, with the help of their grandfather. We have a purple martin house, a towhee house and a finch house. I hope to get those put up in the bird garden this month, as well.
I had also planned to transplant several butterfly bushes, but it looks like I may not need to. I can see where it looks like some have come up on their own, probably spreading from the butterfly garden in the backyard.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Rose breasted Grosbeaks
It is migration season! We've all been out birding in our yard this week. The bird garden with its feeding station has drawn a lot to our yard. We've added some new birds to our life list.
Yesterday we (K, C and I) all saw both male and female Rose breasted Grosbeaks. They spent a long time at the feeder and in a tree at the edge of the garden. We also saw a hummingbird which we could not identify. We spotted a gray catbird, which was new for me, though K had seen it before. It was exciting to pore over the bird guide, finally identifying the gray bird with a buffy underside to its tail.
Today K saw a white-eyed vireo, which was new for his life list. He was out at 7:30 to try and spot some early birds. K and C also both saw the female towhee two days in a row, also for the life list.
Other findings, not new for us, were the Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinals, Chipping Sparrow, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds (a pair), Rose breasted Grosbeak was back today, male Eastern Towhee, Common Yellowthroat, Mourning Doves, male Purple Finch, Downy Woodpecker, Red headed Woodpecker, and Black Vultures (yesterday on our way to speak and today near the house...new for our neighborhood).
Yesterday we (K, C and I) all saw both male and female Rose breasted Grosbeaks. They spent a long time at the feeder and in a tree at the edge of the garden. We also saw a hummingbird which we could not identify. We spotted a gray catbird, which was new for me, though K had seen it before. It was exciting to pore over the bird guide, finally identifying the gray bird with a buffy underside to its tail.
Today K saw a white-eyed vireo, which was new for his life list. He was out at 7:30 to try and spot some early birds. K and C also both saw the female towhee two days in a row, also for the life list.
Other findings, not new for us, were the Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Cardinals, Chipping Sparrow, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds (a pair), Rose breasted Grosbeak was back today, male Eastern Towhee, Common Yellowthroat, Mourning Doves, male Purple Finch, Downy Woodpecker, Red headed Woodpecker, and Black Vultures (yesterday on our way to speak and today near the house...new for our neighborhood).
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Teaching other kids about birding
K, C and I were invited to speak to a class of homeschool kids about birds and birdwatching today. I hope it was as much fun for them as it was for us! I wasn't sure how it would go, as the boys were terribly nervous. We had spent a couple of days preparing, so they were ready to go, but they were daunted to see a class of older children looking at them. K froze a bit at the beginning, but he relaxed after awhile. When it was all over he told me, "I wish we were still there teaching right now! That was a lot better than I expected it would be!" And C said he would love to do that again sometime.
When my boys started birding they were 3 and 5 years old. We shared with the class how we began birdwatching at home, putting out different feeders with different kinds of seeds in view of the windows. The boys passed samples of various kinds of seed around the class, as well as three different kinds of feeders. They also displayed some bird houses they had built themselves with Grandpa, each designed to attract a particular species of bird.
We talked to the kids about field marks, taking along a diagram about the parts of a bird and many plush Audubon birds for the kids to look at. Each boy chose an Audubon bird and used it to explain the field markings on the head, body, wings and tail. We talked about different kinds of beaks, too. They encouraged the kids to also judge the bird's size. Is it as small as a cell phone or is it the size of a can of coke? The boys think the Great Blue Heron's body is about as big as a watermelon if you don't count its head and legs!
Next, we did an activity to teach about using binoculars. Most kids see a bird with their eyes and then look down at their binoculars. When they raise the binoculars and try to find the bird, they can't locate it again. We taught the kids to find the bird with their eyes and then raise the binocs to their face, without moving their gaze from the bird. The binocs should be trained on the bird. To facilitate this exercise, we gave each child two empty toilet paper rolls, and placed several keychain sized birds around the room for them to spot. We also told them to be sure and move the tubes toward their nose until they could only see one single round image, rather than two images. They worked in pairs to spot a plush bird through the tubes, and then describe it to their partner (its field marks and its location in the room). Then their partner was told to use their instructions to also locate the bird in their homemade binocs. We passed out a few pairs of binocs for the kids to practice with, as well, but the room was not large. It was easier for them to do this exercise with the toilet paper tubes than with the actual binocs.
Some of the children were faster with this exercise than others. We gave the groups that finished a plush bird and a field guide, with some instructions about how to use the guide. We had a color coded guide, which was our boys' first guide (Stokes Beginners Guide). We also had two Kaufmann guides, which are excellent for beginners (thanks to a pictorial index) and a Young Birders Guide (Peterson). The kids had the chance to look through their field guide and try to match the plush bird they were looking at. They really seemed to enjoy that activity.
Next we talked about birding by ear. The boys taught about mnemonic devices, and how they have used mnemonic devices in their birding. We taught the kids about the benefits of birding by ear, and shared with them about the boys' science fair project last year (in which they learned that subjects who learned bird calls with the aid of a mnemonic device remembering them much better than those learning calls with no mnemonic device). Then we did a little game, where I placed 10 audubon plush birds in a pillowcase and allowed the children to squeeze one bird without showing it to Knox and Colin. They were able to identify each bird by its call alone. When they guessed the bird, I took it out of the pillowcase to confirm. They got all 10 calls correct. Between them and their two teammates they've memorized over 100 calls collectively, so this exercise wasn't too tough for them. But it was fun for the kids watching and seemed to make quite an impression! We also showed the Identiflyer to the class, which we use frequently in birding by ear.
We finished up by telling the kids some good places to look when birdwatching, and then gave each child a packet from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Celebrate Urban Birds! Project. Our kids have really enjoyed this activity, which has children spend 10 minutes watching for birds in a location of their choice (it can be their own backyard). After 10 minutes the children complete a very brief questionnaire which allows the scientists at Cornell to determine which species are living in which areas at this time of year. They use Google Earth to plot the location exactly, and the children are given two posters which show pictures and sillhouettes of each bird they are looking for. Cornell has highlighted the birds they want kids to search for, but all findings can be reported. There was also a sticker in the kit which says "Zero means a lot", because even if nothing is found, scientists can learn from that, too.
All in all it was a great day. I'd like K to take the Communicators for Christ class and then try this again. The boys were excited to do another presentation, and I think if we did a few that it would be great for them. This is an excellent way for them to begin to hone their own communication skills, on a topic where they feel comfortable and which they are truly excited about.
When my boys started birding they were 3 and 5 years old. We shared with the class how we began birdwatching at home, putting out different feeders with different kinds of seeds in view of the windows. The boys passed samples of various kinds of seed around the class, as well as three different kinds of feeders. They also displayed some bird houses they had built themselves with Grandpa, each designed to attract a particular species of bird.
We talked to the kids about field marks, taking along a diagram about the parts of a bird and many plush Audubon birds for the kids to look at. Each boy chose an Audubon bird and used it to explain the field markings on the head, body, wings and tail. We talked about different kinds of beaks, too. They encouraged the kids to also judge the bird's size. Is it as small as a cell phone or is it the size of a can of coke? The boys think the Great Blue Heron's body is about as big as a watermelon if you don't count its head and legs!
Next, we did an activity to teach about using binoculars. Most kids see a bird with their eyes and then look down at their binoculars. When they raise the binoculars and try to find the bird, they can't locate it again. We taught the kids to find the bird with their eyes and then raise the binocs to their face, without moving their gaze from the bird. The binocs should be trained on the bird. To facilitate this exercise, we gave each child two empty toilet paper rolls, and placed several keychain sized birds around the room for them to spot. We also told them to be sure and move the tubes toward their nose until they could only see one single round image, rather than two images. They worked in pairs to spot a plush bird through the tubes, and then describe it to their partner (its field marks and its location in the room). Then their partner was told to use their instructions to also locate the bird in their homemade binocs. We passed out a few pairs of binocs for the kids to practice with, as well, but the room was not large. It was easier for them to do this exercise with the toilet paper tubes than with the actual binocs.
Some of the children were faster with this exercise than others. We gave the groups that finished a plush bird and a field guide, with some instructions about how to use the guide. We had a color coded guide, which was our boys' first guide (Stokes Beginners Guide). We also had two Kaufmann guides, which are excellent for beginners (thanks to a pictorial index) and a Young Birders Guide (Peterson). The kids had the chance to look through their field guide and try to match the plush bird they were looking at. They really seemed to enjoy that activity.
Next we talked about birding by ear. The boys taught about mnemonic devices, and how they have used mnemonic devices in their birding. We taught the kids about the benefits of birding by ear, and shared with them about the boys' science fair project last year (in which they learned that subjects who learned bird calls with the aid of a mnemonic device remembering them much better than those learning calls with no mnemonic device). Then we did a little game, where I placed 10 audubon plush birds in a pillowcase and allowed the children to squeeze one bird without showing it to Knox and Colin. They were able to identify each bird by its call alone. When they guessed the bird, I took it out of the pillowcase to confirm. They got all 10 calls correct. Between them and their two teammates they've memorized over 100 calls collectively, so this exercise wasn't too tough for them. But it was fun for the kids watching and seemed to make quite an impression! We also showed the Identiflyer to the class, which we use frequently in birding by ear.
We finished up by telling the kids some good places to look when birdwatching, and then gave each child a packet from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Celebrate Urban Birds! Project. Our kids have really enjoyed this activity, which has children spend 10 minutes watching for birds in a location of their choice (it can be their own backyard). After 10 minutes the children complete a very brief questionnaire which allows the scientists at Cornell to determine which species are living in which areas at this time of year. They use Google Earth to plot the location exactly, and the children are given two posters which show pictures and sillhouettes of each bird they are looking for. Cornell has highlighted the birds they want kids to search for, but all findings can be reported. There was also a sticker in the kit which says "Zero means a lot", because even if nothing is found, scientists can learn from that, too.
All in all it was a great day. I'd like K to take the Communicators for Christ class and then try this again. The boys were excited to do another presentation, and I think if we did a few that it would be great for them. This is an excellent way for them to begin to hone their own communication skills, on a topic where they feel comfortable and which they are truly excited about.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Our trip to the Galapagos Islands
We just returned yesterday from a 9 day trip to Quito, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. We were so blessed that my husband earned this trip-of-a-lifetime as a bonus from his employer! As the photos show, it was one amazing wildlife encounter after another.
I will do a separate slide show of Quito. These are the photos of Galapagos. To pause photos or to see captions, roll your mouse over the photos. Click the plus or minus to change the speed of the slide show.
I will do a separate slide show of Quito. These are the photos of Galapagos. To pause photos or to see captions, roll your mouse over the photos. Click the plus or minus to change the speed of the slide show.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
DVD give-away on Counter-Cultural Mom Blog!
I have a contest going for the month of June over on the Counter-Cultural Mom Blog. You can read the rules and details there.
The contest is for a complete set of Vision Forum's Reclaiming the Culture DVDs. To view clips of these DVDs or to read a summary about each DVD's content, click on this link.
The contest is for a complete set of Vision Forum's Reclaiming the Culture DVDs. To view clips of these DVDs or to read a summary about each DVD's content, click on this link.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Learning about Birds
We were in the car last night and 3 year old Cal spotted a bird. He said, "Mommy, I just saw a blue grosbeak!" Now, I myself have never seen a blue grosbeak! So I asked him, "How do you know it as a Grosbeak? Maybe it was a blue jay!"
He replied, "It had a blue head and a blue body and some white on its tummy, but it wasn't a blue jay. Blue jays have a thingy on their head and this bird didn't have a thingy on its head!"
"Yes, honey, you are right, blue jays do have a crest on their head! Maybe it was a blue bird. Are you sure it wasn't a bluebird?"
Cal replied, "Bluebirds are light blue and the Grosbeak I saw was dark blue."
I don't know if he saw a Grosbeak or not. He has several stuffed Audubon birds, and one of them is a Grosbeak. So maybe he recognized one. But I tend to think not. But....he is definitely learning, at the tender age of three, to look at birds, to notice the coloring on their back, wings, head and breast, and to look for the shape of their head. I think he's doing great!
He replied, "It had a blue head and a blue body and some white on its tummy, but it wasn't a blue jay. Blue jays have a thingy on their head and this bird didn't have a thingy on its head!"
"Yes, honey, you are right, blue jays do have a crest on their head! Maybe it was a blue bird. Are you sure it wasn't a bluebird?"
Cal replied, "Bluebirds are light blue and the Grosbeak I saw was dark blue."
I don't know if he saw a Grosbeak or not. He has several stuffed Audubon birds, and one of them is a Grosbeak. So maybe he recognized one. But I tend to think not. But....he is definitely learning, at the tender age of three, to look at birds, to notice the coloring on their back, wings, head and breast, and to look for the shape of their head. I think he's doing great!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Our bird garden
We are planting a bird garden. This is a huge project for us, so it is a work in progress. We cleared a big area on one side of our house. It had been mostly scrubby weeds before, lots of briars and yucky stuff. I know the birds liked it as it was, and I didn't want to clear it in the first place. Someone is building a house next door, though, and they were doing a lot of clearing. My husband felt like we had to clean that area up, so that it wouldn't look like there was a jungle between us and them.
Once some of the brush was cleared, we started getting the garden laid out. We saved several stands of tall trees, including some dead ones. The woodpeckers love the dead trees, so we didn't take down any dead trees at all, other than one which was threatening to fall on the house.
We hired someone with a power auger to drill holes in our tough, rocky Georgia soil. They dug 40 holes, and we are in the process of digging about 20 more small ones. We have purchased lots of trees and shrubs which birds love, as well as transplanting several from my mom's property and our own.
So far, the boys and I have put in 5 Little Gym magnolia trees, two holly bushes, two crape myrtle, several pines (Leyland Cypress and Little Giants), some tiger lilies, hydrangeas, Nandina, and snowball bushes. We have some Rose of Sharon and 3 southern magnolias which we plan to put in the ground today.
We are working on weeding our existing butterfly garden. Once that is done, we plan to transplant several of our butterfly bushes to the outer edges of the bird garden, turning that area into two separate hummingbird gardens. The tiger liles are there already, and our kind neighbor built us a lovely feeding station which holds 3 bird feeders.
Right now we have out a screen feeder with black oil sunflower seeds, a covered feeder with a seed mix, and a peanut feeder. Soon we will put a safflower feeder and a humming bird feeder in that area, as well.
Each of the boys has built a birdhouse to attract a certain type of bird. Their Papa helped them do that to meet specific criteria needed by each species. We plan to put those in this area, too, as well as some additional feeders, one or two birdbaths, a bench, and an arbor for climbing vines.
My dad and I spent a couple of days putting in a drip irrigation system. This is an inexpensive set of lines that run from the hose to each plant, allowing each one to get a deep watering by turning on just one hose. This is important in our drought-ridden climate. We have heavy watering restrictions, and it isn't good conservation to waste tons of water doing each plant individually with a gushing hose. Installing the lines wasn't as hard as I feared it would be, and it is much cheaper than an in-ground system.
I have ordered two more hollies, and I still have several holes to fill. I plan to get some flowering dogwoods, which I love. They do well in this climate and the birds like them. Other than that, I am not sure what to fill the other holes with, so I am taking some time to pore over all my bird garden books, including the newest one, Attracting Birds to Southern Gardens.
I am a relatively new birder and a very novice gardener. Books like this one help me to think through the complicated process of choosing plants which will attract certain birds, be well situated to our climate, tolerate a largely "hands off" approach (which is what this garden will be once school starts up again), provide for both nesting and food needs, and other factors. With a limited amount of space and money for this project, we need every plant to "count".
Today was the first time we have started to see the fruits of our labors. We began this project about 3 weeks ago and the birds are starting to find the trees and feeding station. We had several cardinals, a tufted titmouse and a mockingbird on our feeding trays this morning. We also saw some chipping sparrows on the ground around it, an Eastern Phoebe in one of the trees, an American crow, and two squirrels climbing up one of the magnolias. As I am typing this, I can hear a Carolina wren, and we hear Eastern Towhees now, too. I trust that as we plant more trees and put out food and water stations we will begin to see and hear much more. I'm looking forward to "phase two" of this plan, when we will begin attracting hummingbirds, as well.
This has been a wonderful project to do with my boys. We ended our school year at the beginning of May. We set aside one month to do Phases 1 and 2 of this project. It would have been impossible if we had done all the heavy labor of clearing the brush and drilling the holes ourselves. But with that work done, we should have all the trees and shrubs (over 60 including the saplings and transplants from my mom's extensive garden and our own butterfly garden out back) in the ground within the month's time frame. Phase 1 was getting everything prepared and getting the bird garden plants in. Phase 2 will be transplanting everything needed for the hummingbird garden from our butterfly garden out back.
Phase 3 will probably be done when the weather cools off in the fall. We have plans to put in a gravel path, get the bench and arbor into the garden, lay down a pad of pavers for a bird bath station, and put in some railroad ties and pavers to make a path for the boys down a hill which is unsuitable for planting but needs some erosion control measures.
The best thing about this garden has been doing it with the boys. My husband's back is bad, so he hasn't helped at all. My boys are 11, 8, 6 and 3 and each one of them has had a significant hand in digging holes, filling them with dirt, pulling weeds, and choosing plants. We are enjoying this time together, bringing our dream to fruition. This is "conservation in action", a very valuable lesson for my boys and something we will always remember doing. We can't do much on any given day, but we chip away at accomplishing our goal, little by little.
I know 10 years from now, as we sit on our bench under the arbor, watching many species of birds enjoying this lovely garden, we will look back and remember our our "day of small things" with fondness.
Once some of the brush was cleared, we started getting the garden laid out. We saved several stands of tall trees, including some dead ones. The woodpeckers love the dead trees, so we didn't take down any dead trees at all, other than one which was threatening to fall on the house.
We hired someone with a power auger to drill holes in our tough, rocky Georgia soil. They dug 40 holes, and we are in the process of digging about 20 more small ones. We have purchased lots of trees and shrubs which birds love, as well as transplanting several from my mom's property and our own.
So far, the boys and I have put in 5 Little Gym magnolia trees, two holly bushes, two crape myrtle, several pines (Leyland Cypress and Little Giants), some tiger lilies, hydrangeas, Nandina, and snowball bushes. We have some Rose of Sharon and 3 southern magnolias which we plan to put in the ground today.
We are working on weeding our existing butterfly garden. Once that is done, we plan to transplant several of our butterfly bushes to the outer edges of the bird garden, turning that area into two separate hummingbird gardens. The tiger liles are there already, and our kind neighbor built us a lovely feeding station which holds 3 bird feeders.
Right now we have out a screen feeder with black oil sunflower seeds, a covered feeder with a seed mix, and a peanut feeder. Soon we will put a safflower feeder and a humming bird feeder in that area, as well.
Each of the boys has built a birdhouse to attract a certain type of bird. Their Papa helped them do that to meet specific criteria needed by each species. We plan to put those in this area, too, as well as some additional feeders, one or two birdbaths, a bench, and an arbor for climbing vines.
My dad and I spent a couple of days putting in a drip irrigation system. This is an inexpensive set of lines that run from the hose to each plant, allowing each one to get a deep watering by turning on just one hose. This is important in our drought-ridden climate. We have heavy watering restrictions, and it isn't good conservation to waste tons of water doing each plant individually with a gushing hose. Installing the lines wasn't as hard as I feared it would be, and it is much cheaper than an in-ground system.
I have ordered two more hollies, and I still have several holes to fill. I plan to get some flowering dogwoods, which I love. They do well in this climate and the birds like them. Other than that, I am not sure what to fill the other holes with, so I am taking some time to pore over all my bird garden books, including the newest one, Attracting Birds to Southern Gardens.
I am a relatively new birder and a very novice gardener. Books like this one help me to think through the complicated process of choosing plants which will attract certain birds, be well situated to our climate, tolerate a largely "hands off" approach (which is what this garden will be once school starts up again), provide for both nesting and food needs, and other factors. With a limited amount of space and money for this project, we need every plant to "count".
Today was the first time we have started to see the fruits of our labors. We began this project about 3 weeks ago and the birds are starting to find the trees and feeding station. We had several cardinals, a tufted titmouse and a mockingbird on our feeding trays this morning. We also saw some chipping sparrows on the ground around it, an Eastern Phoebe in one of the trees, an American crow, and two squirrels climbing up one of the magnolias. As I am typing this, I can hear a Carolina wren, and we hear Eastern Towhees now, too. I trust that as we plant more trees and put out food and water stations we will begin to see and hear much more. I'm looking forward to "phase two" of this plan, when we will begin attracting hummingbirds, as well.
This has been a wonderful project to do with my boys. We ended our school year at the beginning of May. We set aside one month to do Phases 1 and 2 of this project. It would have been impossible if we had done all the heavy labor of clearing the brush and drilling the holes ourselves. But with that work done, we should have all the trees and shrubs (over 60 including the saplings and transplants from my mom's extensive garden and our own butterfly garden out back) in the ground within the month's time frame. Phase 1 was getting everything prepared and getting the bird garden plants in. Phase 2 will be transplanting everything needed for the hummingbird garden from our butterfly garden out back.
Phase 3 will probably be done when the weather cools off in the fall. We have plans to put in a gravel path, get the bench and arbor into the garden, lay down a pad of pavers for a bird bath station, and put in some railroad ties and pavers to make a path for the boys down a hill which is unsuitable for planting but needs some erosion control measures.
The best thing about this garden has been doing it with the boys. My husband's back is bad, so he hasn't helped at all. My boys are 11, 8, 6 and 3 and each one of them has had a significant hand in digging holes, filling them with dirt, pulling weeds, and choosing plants. We are enjoying this time together, bringing our dream to fruition. This is "conservation in action", a very valuable lesson for my boys and something we will always remember doing. We can't do much on any given day, but we chip away at accomplishing our goal, little by little.
I know 10 years from now, as we sit on our bench under the arbor, watching many species of birds enjoying this lovely garden, we will look back and remember our our "day of small things" with fondness.
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