{"id":2245,"date":"2021-01-14T15:34:36","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T23:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/?p=2245"},"modified":"2021-01-20T17:32:49","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T01:32:49","slug":"backyard-birding-part-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackersearth.com\/blog\/backyard-birding-part-1-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Backyard Birding [Part 1 of 2]"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Make a Fine Feathered Friend<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Backyard Birding for Kids<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Are your kids missing their friends and family? Are they spending too much time sitting in front of a computer? Well, birds make great COVID companions, and they will only socialize with you outside! While it might seem odd to look for birds in the winter, it\u2019s actually a great time to see them. Fewer leaves for them to hide behind, plus birds don\u2019t hibernate. The ones that don\u2019t migrate are out and about all season long doing their bird things\u2026 eating bugs, drinking water, watching for predators, bathing, establishing territory, etc. To befriend the birds in your yard, or even out the window, all your kid needs is a little birdseed and some patience.\u00a0<\/p>

I\u2019m no ornithologist, but I do love watching birds, especially with my kids. Birds are some of the easiest animals to observe in the wild and also in the city. Using binoculars you can watch them from a distance or up close with your naked eyes as they eat, court, feed their young, and defend their territories. What other animal gives your kids such a fabulous opportunity for observing and learning? You can give your kids some basic birding information and fun Trackers Missions<\/strong>, then send them outside to observe and connect with their new fine feathered friends.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What Does it Look Like?<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The first step to befriending the birds in your backyard is figuring out who they are. You are going to need a bird guidebook for your area (recommendations at the end of the blog). To get started, you can use this Audubon list<\/a><\/strong> of the most common birds to look for in your backyard.<\/p>

Trackers Mission:<\/strong> Have your child write down or draw 3 birds they could find in their backyard in a Tracking Journal (any journal will do). You can also print out this awesome Trackers Backyard Bird Scavenger Hunt<\/a><\/strong> and turn bird identification into a fun game.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Smaller or Bigger than a Robin?<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The American robin is one of the most common and recognizable birds your kids will likely see. With its reddish-orange breast and grey body, it\u2019s hard to miss. It\u2019s also a great bird to compare sizes with. After all, birds won\u2019t let you go up and measure them. Answering the question \u201cWas it bigger or smaller than a robin?\u201d is an excellent baseline for kids to start identifying birds.<\/p>

Trackers Mission:<\/strong> Have your child look up how big a robin is (hint: about 10 inches long) and write it in their Tracking Journal. Then compare other birds they see to it, answering the question \u201cWas it bigger or smaller than a robin?\u201d They could even guess at each bird\u2019s size, based on the answer. By the way, if they\u2019re in your yard (which they probably are), a robin can be the first of their three birds!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Draw Its Silhouette<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Often you only see a bird in the shadows of a bush or high up in a tree with the sun backlighting it. Although this makes it hard to see colors and features, most birds have distinctive silhouettes. From the upturned tail of a wren to the vertical posture of a hawk, to the chubby cuteness of an owl, learning to draw bird silhouettes will help a child identify the bird by shape. Cornell University has some awesome birding resources for kids, including this webpage<\/strong><\/a> about how to identify birds from their silhouettes.\u00a0<\/p>

Trackers Mission:<\/strong> Have your child draw silhouettes of the 3 birds they are observing.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What are Its Field Marks? <\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cField marks\u201d are just a fancy way of saying a bird\u2019s unique patterns, colors, and features that are used to tell it apart from other birds. As in, crows are black, robins have a red breast, chickadees have a white stripe across their black face. One reason birds have field marks is so they can recognize members of their own species. We humans also use field marks to tell different kinds of birds apart. Field marks are features often tied to an evolutionary adaptation. The shape of the beak tells you what that bird eats. The shape of the feet help you figure out where it lives and how it forages or hunts. Coloring is related to camouflage or breeding and social behavior. Cornell University has another great webpage all about bird field marks<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>

Trackers Mission:<\/strong> Have your child write down as many field marks and features as they notice for the 3 birds they are observing. They can make a hypothesis about how those field marks and features might relate to each bird\u2019s particular adaptations. Lastly, they can check their guidebooks to see if their hypothesis was right.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Where Does it Live?<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Learning where<\/em> a bird lives can tell you a lot about how<\/em> it lives. Some birds live and nest close to the ground because that\u2019s where they forage. Other birds live high in the trees because they eat in the treetops. And still, other birds move between earth and sky, like a hawk that plucks its prey from the ground. Where a bird lives also determines what disruptions can trip their alarms. A ground-dwelling bird may alarm for a human or a dog. A bird in the trees may alarm for a raptor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Trackers Mission:<\/strong> In the backyard, have your kids look and listen and find where the birds are. There\u2019s one in a tree. There\u2019s one in a shrub. There\u2019s one on the ground. Write down where they saw each bird and think about why they might be in those locations. What kind of territory does each bird stay in? Draw a map in your Tracking Journal, a picture of your yard with each bird\u2019s territory marked. Kids can give each bird a number and if they see the same bird again, they put its number on the map again in the new spot. Eventually, they\u2019ll see the bird returning to the same spots day after day. The area those spots encompass can be its territory.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What Does it Sound Like?<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\tBirds are the eyes and ears of nature all around us. As birds go about their business of looking for food, water, and cover, they communicate with their bodies and their voices, which is called \"Bird Language\".\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Johnson, Trackers Guide<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Learning to understand bird language is a powerful tool for kids, unlocking many mysteries of the forest and fostering deeper connections with nature. Kids can learn about bird language right in their backyard. Start by noticing the difference between a song and a call. Songs are longer, more melodic, and are usually associated with territory and courtship. Many bird songs sound beautiful and make us happy. Bird calls, on the other hand, are terse and used for specific purposes, like mates calling each other while foraging, territorial aggression, nest protection, or to sound an alarm.<\/p>

When a bird is singing, that means things are at their \u201cbaseline\u201d (normal). There is no perceived threat in the bird world. Knowing a bird\u2019s song helps you identify it. But when a bird is calling \u2014 especially an alarm call \u2014 you know that there is a disruption in Birdland. This is an opportunity to be a bird detective, asking: What is amiss? Is there some danger lurking? What in tarnation is bothering that bird? \u201cWith practice and repetition,\u201d Ryan explains, \u201cBird Language becomes clearer and tells you more about your surroundings. The birds may be telling you there\u2019s a cat walking behind the fence. Or that a hawk is sitting atop a nearby tree. Or a bear is headed toward you on the path. Pay attention to this. This is bird language.\u201d<\/p>

By learning to understand bird language, kids can get clued in on the action happening all around them. After all, every neighborhood has deadly cats skulking around the bushes looking to kill unaware birds. Predators and prey… life and death struggles… all right there in our backyards. It\u2019s like a Mutual of Omaha episode (remember those!?!).<\/p>

Trackers Mission:<\/strong> Have your kids sit quietly while watching and listening to the birds. Observe the birds\u2019 body language. Do they seem tense and alert? Relaxed and happy? Listen to their voices. Do you think they are singing or calling? Encourage kids to make connections between what they see and hear from the birds and what is happening around them. Send them to the Cornell University bird sound database<\/a> <\/strong>to learn the songs and calls of their 3 birds.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Journal It!<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Every budding naturalist needs a blank journal to sketch their specimens, draw their maps, and record their observations. There are unending activities your kids can do outside with nothing more than a pencil and a blank journal. They can draw every bird they see, ID them, and write the bird\u2019s name. They can draw their silhouettes, sketch out their territory, and describe the sound of their call and song. They can record other cool facts they learn about each bird as they are doing this research.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Explore Resources<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Speaking of research, if your child has the makings of a true bird nerd, encourage them to dive deeper and learn more with these resources:<\/p>

Classes<\/strong><\/p>