More About the Birds

So, I'm kind of becoming a crazy bird mama and, just in case you and your kiddos love the birds too, I thought I'd fill y'all in on some of the cool bird-y things I've found, with a focus on birding with kids.

I am truly a novice at all this, so every bit of information and advice I find really helps me. I'm learning this from the ground up and Ezra is right there with me--fascinated, excited and voracious. Andrew and the boys went to The Audubon Society last weekend and now we are official members! In addition to the membership, they also came home with a finch feeder, as that was one feeder missing from our collection (we now have a suet feeder, a hummingbird feeder and multi-perch feeder and a finch feeder). The finches haven't yet discovered it, but we're waiting...

The boys also came back with this book, which has already been a great help to us. Ezra and I have been wondering what kind of bird the brownish ones were; the ones that always seemed to be there with the red wing blackbirds. This book taught us that they are actually the female red wing blackbirds--with nothing red on them at all! Mystery solved.

We were over at a friend's house last week and I noticed that there suet feeder had a block of wood on the bottom. I asked what that was for and she told us that they were told (by the folks at The Backyard Bird Shop, a great local shop) that some birds like to press their tails against the wood block for leverage when pecking at the suet. Who knew? Our suet feeder gets lots of woodpeckers who don't seem to be bothered by the absence of a "tail rest", but I think we may try one to see if we attract some different woodpeckers.

I also liked this blog post from Imagine Childhood on making your own ornithology kit. I especially like the suggestion about making silhouette cards. I think we'll be doing that soon.

And, finally, I discovered that the perch feeder seems to attract more birds (especially the red wing blackbirds) when I buy the black sunflower seeds than when I buy the seed mix, which includes some sunflower seeds, but also has millet and other small seeds and grains.

What's been happening with the birds in your neck of the woods?