I grew up next to my grandmother and her chickens. She always had a story to share about them and the endless ways she would interfere in their pecking. Whether wild or cooped up, birds have stories and songs to share.
The child who does not know the portly form and spotted breast of the thrush, the graceful flight of the swallow, the yellow bill of the blackbird, the gush of song which the skylark pours from above, is nearly as much to be pitied as those London children who 'had never seen a bee.'
Charlotte Mason Vol 1 p.60
Birds
References:
—Handbook of Nature Study Anna Comstock p. 27-143 abbreviated HONS
—Attracting Birds to your Backyard by Sally Roth
—Any basic field guide for birds (Audubon, Peterson or National Geographic)
—Birding by Ear CD -Produced by Peterson Field Guides or another sound based book/CD for identifying birds.
Video of common feeder birds.
Bird guide
Sketching birds:
Books
Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman p.162-187
Read an Egg is Quiet by Diana Ashton
Secrets of the Nest by Dunning
Bird Behavior (Volume I) by Donald Stokes
The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Burgess
One Wild Bird at a Time by Bernd Heinrich
Baby Birds An Artist Looks into the Nest by Julie Zickefoose
The Homing Instinct: Meaning and Mystery in Animal Migration by Bernd Heinrich
Nature journal
Spend time writing scientific data, sketches, watercolor entries and notations. Consider the curiosity framework. http://johnmuirlaws.com/stewardship/a-curiosity-framework
Birds need food, shelter and water. A bird feeder or shallow dish with sunflower seeds, nyger seed, meal worms, suet, popped corn and oranges will attract a variety of birds. Build a bird house. Put out a water source. Put these close to windows for inside observations.
Research Ideas
Select a Bird to study
Try to identify some birds that are coming to your feeding and watering stations. Pick one bird to learn more about. Find and mark it in your study guide. Perhaps make a family list of birds? This could be kept in your list of “firsts” or on a sheet of paper near the window in which you watch birds? You may also wish to circle the birds on your bird watching guide?
Feathers
Find someone who has a hen to discover the different kinds of feathers. Spend time observing the chicken. Ask the children questions about feathers such as “Why do birds have feathers?” “What do you notice about the different kinds of feathers on this bird?” Look for down, pin feathers, oil gland. (see HONS p. 29-33) Collect feathers as the weeks go by and try to categorize. Get hands on experience with the hen. Draw different kinds of feathers in your nature journal. Include information you learned about why birds need feathers, how they work, or anything special you learned about feathers. Types of feathers http://www.poultryhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Types-of-feathers.png Nature Anatomy by Julia Rothman p. 168-169 has drawings of feathers and kinds of feathers. What kinds of feathers do you notice on wild birds?
Migration
Perhaps print out a map of the Americas and track the flight migration patterns of your bird. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/americas.htm Look for evidence of birds. Record your observations in your nature journal. Make a list of what birds you see one day and compare to a list another day in the same week. Are there differences in these lists? Could the birds be migrating? Look up the specific bird you are studying. Is this bird always in our area? Is it migrating through? Where does it spend the winter? Where does it do it’s nesting? Include all this in your nature journal.
Eyes and Ears
If you can have access to a hen again, this is a good way to get hands on observation regarding ear and eye placement. Can you make a list of all the different kinds of birds you see in one day? Look up placement of eyes and ears on different birds that you have seen. Eagles vs Black-capped Chickadees vs Woodcock vs Owl? What placement of eyes is on the bird you picked to study?
Beaks
Look for evidence of birds using their beaks in trees. Watch the birds at your feeder and see how they use their beaks in different ways. Try to make a list in your nature journal of all the kinds of beaks you have seen on birds. Would you like to group birds according to beaks? Perhaps make a list of the different kinds of bird food you put out and which birds like to eat it. Do their beaks impact what they can eat?
Feet
Slide Show about Bird’s Feet https://www.slideshare.net/MMoiraWhitehouse/bird-feet
Perhaps make a list of the different kinds of feet you have observed so far in birds. Make a sketch of your bird and start collecting information from your observations and recording in your nature journal. Look up information in your birding guide to help you learn more about this bird's behavior.
Songs
Find songs for the bird you are studying. Read Stokes Bird Behavior for the bird you are studying. Nature Anatomy p. 170-171. Perhaps make a list of all the songs you hear in your observations this week? Write in bird speak “Chickadee-dee-dee” “Sweet-sweet”. Perhaps one day this week you could get up before the sun. Catch the first sounds of the first birds to wake up and make their songs. Make a list of who was first to be heard even before you saw them. Try to go out “birding” after dark. What different kinds of birds do you hear and see? Make sure to listen for birds. What song does your bird have?
Nests
Read aloud chapter 1 from Secrets from the Nest by Joan Dunning. Read the chapter of the bird you have chosen to study specially. Find a nest. If there are eggs here, come back often to see the hatching. Consider hatching eggs. Many cooperative extension offices have an embryology program in which you get an incubator and eggs for a small rental fee. Basic instruction is given and you hatch the eggs in your home. Looks for evidence of bird’s nests. Draw or dry brush nests in your nature journal. What kind of nests are there. Which one does your bird build or use.
I adapted these resources from Marcia Mattern and they are not for sale.
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