Bird Migration Map
We’re starting to hear and see more birds returning to the feeders around our yard. It’s one of the welcome signs that spring is on its way even in the face of waking up to freezing rain this morning. It will be at least another six weeks until we start to see all of the […]
How Birds Stay Warm in Winter – And How to Help Them
For the last few days it has been exceptionally cold here in Maine. Birds and squirrels keep showing up at our bird feeders despite the cold or perhaps because of the cold. While looking at the birds at our feeders yesterday my youngest daughter asked how the birds stay warm enough to not freeze their […]
Fun Facts About Turkeys – And a Digital Turkey Project
We frequently have wild turkeys come through our backyard. And almost as frequently one of my dogs will chase them until they fly off. I was recently telling a friend about this pattern and he said, “I didn’t know that turkeys can fly.” That’s actually a pretty common response if you don’t live where wild […]
DIY Maps of Bird Migration Patterns
Over the last handful of years I’ve become more and more fascinated with birds. I think that’s due in part to my daughters’ enjoyment of watching the many interesting birds that come to the feeders around our house. We’ve even taken to naming some of the birds that visit the feeders. For example, Hans is […]
Sherlock Bones – A Virtual Owl Pellet Dissection Activity
One of the great things about living where I do is that a walk in the woods is always just a few steps away. One of my favorite things about walking in the woods is finding all kinds of neat, natural things including dropped moose and deer antlers. While those are rare finds, I do […]
The Wall of Birds – Hear the Calls of Birds and See Their Ranges
We’re starting to see some birds returning to feeders around our house. Before too long we’ll be waking up to the sounds of bird calls. Seeing the birds return reminded me of a great resource from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. That resource is the Wall of Birds. The Wall of Birds is a neat site […]
Try Your Hand at Bird Identification With the Audubon Bird App
We have a bunch of bird feeders hanging outside of house. My daughters love seeing the various birds that visit our feeders. I particularly enjoy seeing orioles come to one of our feeders. My daughters (2 and 3 years old) are curious about the names of many of the birds that come to the feeders. […]
Short Lessons for the Arrival of Spring
The first chickadees and ducks of the spring have started to arrive in my neighborhood. Aside from the calendar, hearing the birds reminds us all that spring is almost here. If you’re tired of winter and looking for some spring-themed lesson ideas, take a look at the following resources. Last year The New York Times published an animated […]
How Birds Learn to Sing
Spring isn’t too far away and soon we’ll start to see and hear the songs of more birds around my home here in Maine. If you also live in a cold, northern climate the sounds of the birds is a welcome sign of spring. Why do birds sing? And how do they learn the songs […]
Project Feeder Watch – Contribute to Tracking Bird Migrations
Project Feeder Watch is a public project administered by the Cornell Ornithology Lab and Bird Studies Canada. Project Feeder Watch collects data from backyard bird observers across the United States and Canada. Data is collected from November through April. The data collected is used for a variety of purposes including providing the public with information about the birds that […]
Live Video of Owls, Ospreys, and More
Explore.org offers the largest collection of live nature webcams on the web. In the gallery of live webcams you will find video feeds featuring owls in their nests, ospreys in their nests, and bald eagles in nests, and video feeds featuring puffins. As it is spring in the northern hemisphere, the bird videos feeds are […]
An Interactive Mural of Birds
This afternoon while walking my dog, Max, I saw the first ducks of spring paddling around a small opening in the ice on a local pond. This reminded me of a neat resource from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Wall of Birds is an interactive mural of bird drawings. Clicking on a drawing will […]
One More Halloween-themed Lesson – 4 Fun Facts About Ravens
A couple of weeks ago I shared four Halloween-themed video lessons from SciShow Kids. This morning I discovered another SciShow Kids video that falls into the same category. In 4 Things You Didn’t Know About Ravens students can learn that crows and ravens are not the same bird and how to tell the difference. The […]
Why Do Some Birds Eat Dirt? – National Geographic Explains
National Geographic’s YouTube channel includes a fun playlist of short videos about interesting science facts. The playlist is called Today I Learned or TIL for short. In the playlist you will find videos that answer questions like “why is the ocean salty?” and “why do some birds eat dirt?” The answer to “why do some […]
Wall of Birds – Hear the Calls of Birds and See Their Ranges
Wall of Birds is a new site published by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Wall of Birds features a mural of 243 hand-painted birds. The mural’s backdrop is a map of the world. You can zoom and pan across the mural to see all of the birds. Clicking on a bird will open a […]