Bird Watching

Posted by Elizabeth Yetter Jan 17, 2007

So far, we’ve talked about Feeding the Birds and making a Pinecone Feeder in the hopes of putting your field guide for birds to good use. Now it’s time to take the enjoyment of bird watching a step further: keeping a journal.

Keeping a bird journal is an important way to learn about the birds in your area. It also provides children with the thrill of scientific discovery as they learn how their neighborhood birds interact with the environment.

To start, you will need a notebook, pencil, field guide to birds, and binoculars. If your child enjoys drawing, include colored pencils.

The idea of the bird watching journal is to keep track of when and what kinds of birds visit. Write the date, approximate time, what the weather is like when you spot a bird. Write the type of bird you see or, if you don’t know, describe what the bird looks like. What is the bird doing? What sound does the bird make? Include how you feel about seeing the bird. This is your bird journal, include what you feel is important.

If you want, you can also include sketches of the bird. This will help you when you go to identify the bird using your field guide.