Author: Loree Burns

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2009 Great Backyard Bird Count


© Scott Weins, Eastern Screech Owl

No, we didn’t see any Eastern Screech Owls in our Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) on Saturday. But my beginning birders and I did see:

2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
4 Blue Jays
2 American Crows
3 Black-capped Chickadees
3 Tufted Titmice
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
4 American Robin
1 Northern Cardinal
1 House Finch
5 American Goldfinch

It was a glorious morning of sunshine, melting snow, and hands-on science. Ours was one of over 54,000 GBBC checklists submitted so far; you can find more 2009 GBBC stats and results here.

Hooray for citizen science!

 

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The Truro Bear and Other Adventures

I have been without internet access since Monday. Initially I stomped and grumped and whined. But a funny thing happened midweek: while trying to distract myself, I slipped deeply into a WIP. Very deeply. It felt so good. And as my working hours acquired a steady beat, I warmed to unplugged life. What a fine, unencumbered and productive feeling it is to work without the pull of the world wide web! Now that reconnection is imminent (if you are reading this, I am back online), I am searching for ways to reinforce this beautiful (and productive) rhythm I’ve found. What luck to have had this book on my nightstand:

THE TRURO BEAR AND OTHER ADVENTURES
By Mary Oliver
Beacon Press, 2008

I basked in Mary Oliver’s poems and essays as I learned to bask in the quiet these past few days. To me, this is a book about slowing down, about taking the time to see, about encountering awe in every cobweb, embracing it with your eyes and ears and mouth, with your hands and your head and your heart. My favorite entry is an essay called “Swoon”, which starts this way:

“In a corner of the stairwell of this rented house a most astonishing adventure is going on.”

And, oh yes!, it is astonishing. I am reminded of my friends Jean-Henri Fabre (who is quoted, to my delight, in the frontispiece of this volume) and Sue Hubbell. I am reminded, again, that in order to see incredible things one must look. Only look.

Here’s to looking and to embracing the quiet … in spite of the internet.

 

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Focus on Feeders

After the kids left on Saturday, I spent some time outside laying in the snow near the feeder, camera in hand. That’s when I saw the little fellow in the photo above, a pine siskin; another first for my backyard! Incredible what you will SEE when you actually take a minute to LOOK.

Anyway, I thought I’d share the Focus on Feeder report data that I am about to submit to MassAudubon. All told, we saw fourteen species of birds over the weekend:

4 American Goldfinch
6 Black-capped chicadees
2 Blue Jays
1 Carolina Wren
5 Dark-eyed Juncos
2 Downy Woodpeckers
2 Hairy Woodpeckers
6 House Finches
14 Mourning Doves
2 Northern Cardinals
2 Pine Siskins
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
2 Tufted Titmice
4 White-breasted nuthatches

Not bad for one backyard!

If all this bird talk and citizen science talk has got your juices flowing, visit the Great Backyard Bird Count webpage to learn how you can conduct a bird census of your own this weekend, February 13-16, 2009. We Burnses are in, which is why I am off to fill my feeders again …

 

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On Citizen Science

Long-time readers of this blog know that I am a fan of citizen science, science conducted by volunteers on behalf of professional scientists studying real world problems. How can you not be intrigued by the idea of a layperson—particularly a kid—making a big scientific discovery in their backyard? (For an example, read this.)

Equally appealing to me is the ability of citizen science projects to connect people with nature. Fostering this connection can be hard in the electronic age, and I know that citizen science is a great way to do it. That’s why I am writing the book CITIZEN SCIENTISTS (Henry Holt, 2011), and that’s why I participate in (and blog about) citizen science. Care for an example? The bird count I hosted this weekend in my backyard.

My count was attended by mostly eight-to-ten-year-olds, and they were well-rested (we met at 8am!) and excited to be together (they seemed to think our gathering was a party more than a science project). While they were all generally interested in birds, they were equally interested in the basement playroom. And the goodies I had baked. And the new computer my sons got for Christmas. They listened politely to my overview of the project, and to the tips given to them by our local birding expert, Professor Richard Quimby. But they weren’t hooked until we stepped out into the snow and saw what was going on outside …

The birds were having a party of their own, right at my feeders. We saw some regulars, of course: black-capped chickadees and tufted titmice and blue jays, birds the kids were familiar with. But it wasn’t until we saw three types of woodpecker on a single suet-festooned tree that the kids sucked in their collective breaths.

“What is that one?” someone whispered.

“I think it’s a woodpecker,” someone whispered back.

As we watched the threesome feast—one downy woodpecker, one hairy woodpecker and one red-bellied woodpecker—the kids became fascinated with the idea that they might see something else they’d never seen before. And, oh, did the birds cooperate! For the first time EVER, a Carolina wren made its appearance on a suet feeder. What a day to visit!

The kids eventually wandered off to play in the snow fort the Burns children had built out front. But they wandered back every so often, singly and in small groups, to see who was at the feeders. It was pretty cool. One of the parents even got into it, telling me that she planned to stop on the way home for some seed to fill her long-empty feeders.

“Do you think this many birds live around my house?” she asked me.

Yep. I sure do.

(Ten points if you can name the three birds in the photos above!)

 

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The Hunger Games

THE HUNGER GAMES
By Suzanne Collins
Scholastic, 2008

Category: Young adult science fiction

This past December I was on the hunt for a special book. It needed to be riveting. It needed to be thought provoking. It needed to appeal to me and, most importantly, it needed to appeal to my twelve-year-old friend Alison. I planned to give Alison a book for Christmas and I wanted it to be something we would both adore and want to talk about long after we’d finished reading. When I read this review by Kate Messner, I wondered if THE HUNGER GAMES might fit the bill.

It did!

I read the entire book in two sittings, ignoring some very important tasks (sleep, for one) in order to find out what would happen to Katniss Everdeen. I read the last page in the wee hours and heaved a huge sigh, wishing already for the next installment of the story. And then, thanks to a post at the new Kidlitosphere Central, I discovered that the second book will look like this … and that Advanced Reader Copies will be available at BEA in May.

!

I will be at BEA this May!

I will be at BEA this May with Kate Messner!

What do you say, Kate … shall we plan on hunting down an ARC of CATCHING FIRE together? You (and your son and your parents) and I (and Alison) can share it!

**Edited to Add**
Huge, sad sigh. Kate–who has a much better head for details than I do–reminded me that we will not be at BEA at all. I was thinking of an entirely different conference. I will have to wait and read CATCHING FIRE with the rest of the world. Repeat: huge, sad sigh.

 

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A Royal Cure for Winter Blues


© Loree Griffin Burns

Winter got you down?

Dreaming about meadows and sunshine?

Want to plan something outdoorsy and fun that doesn’t require four layers and heavy boots? (Maybe something like this or this?)

Well, then, I have good news for you. Tagging kits for the 2009 monarch tagging season are now available at the MonarchWatch Shop. Get ‘em now and start planning for the fall!

If you’re not sure what monarch tagging is all about, spend an afternoon cruising the MonarchWatch website; you’ll find everything you need to know. (You can also leave me a comment; I’m happy to answer whatever I can.)

And if you are a veteran monarch enthusiast, you’ll want to read this important update from MonarchWatch director, Dr. Chip Taylor. MonarchWatch needs our help.

 

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The Librarian Who Measured the Earth

THE LIBRARIAN WHO MEASURED THE EARTH
Written by Kathryn Lasky
Illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
(Little, Brown, 1994)

Category: Picture book biography

I re-read this favorite in honor of the Year of Science and its January theme of ‘Process and the Nature of Science’. Truth be told, I first read a number of books that tackle this theme in a straightforward manner, books for young readers that list the steps of the scientific method and define bold-print words like theory, experiment, and conclusion. As important as these books are, they just didn’t inspire a blog post.

THE LIBRARIAN WHO MEASURED THE EARTH, however, represents an entirely different approach to exploring the nature of science, one that gets me itching to blog: story. To get a better understanding of how one might tackle the enormous task of measuring the circumference of the earth, Lasky and Hawkes share the story of Eratosthenes, the Greek scholar who was the first man to do so. Readers learn the process he used (ingenius!), but they also learn about the boy he was (curious), the man he became (intense), the time he lived in (books were printed by hand, one at a time, on papyrus scrolls) and the success of his study (recent calculations reveal Eratosthenes’ estimated circumference—calculated two thousand years ago—was off by only two hundred miles). All this in a forty-eight page picture book!

For more books about the process and nature of science, check out the archives at Open Wide, Look Inside, a blog “about teaching elementary math, science and socials studies, with heavy emphasis on the integration of children’s literature across the curriculum.” Tricia Stohr-Hunt and her students consistently serves up thoughtful posts on excellent books.

You will also find an eclectic selection of blog posts on children’s nonfiction today (and every Monday!) at the Nonfiction Monday roundup, hosted today at Anastasia Suen’s Picture Book of the Day blog.

Happy Reading!

Happy Year of Science!

 

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Got Birdseed?


© Loree Griffin Burns

I spent part of today traipsing around the yard filling our seed feeders and suet holders. We’ve had an incredible diversity of bird species this year (fifteen at last count*) and I want to encourage all my avian visitors to stick around. I’ll need them during the next two weekends as I host two big citizen science activities here at the Burns homestead:

On Saturday, February 7 we’ll be counting birds for MassAudubon’s Focus on Feeders event. If you live in Massachusetts and you’d like to get involved in this simple citizen science project, here’s how.

On Saturday, February 14 we’ll be counting birds again, this time for National Audubon Society’s Great Backyard Bird Count. You can find more information here.

Both events are S-I-M-P-L-E: (1) go outside (2) for each species of bird you see, count the largest number of birds you see at any one time (3) record your data. Later, when you’re back inside sipping hot cocoa, you can compile and submit your data. These projects are designed for citizen scientists of any age or experience, so–QUICK!–get outside and fill your feeders.

*We’ve spotted these species in our yard this winter: cardinals, black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves, tufted titmice, goldfinches, blue jays, crows, chipping sparrow (I think!), purple finches (I think!), red-tailed hawks and our new favorite, a red-bellied woodpecker.

 

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Starstruck … and Ready to Work

I spent a couple hours last night at the Harvard Center for the Humanities listening to three amazing writers discuss ‘Nature and the Written Word’. The roundtable conversation was sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History and PEN New England and I, for one, could have listened to it all night.

John Elder talked gently and eloquently about natural history writing and the art of personal observation grounded in science. I was struck by how much emphasis he placed on the ‘personal’ part of that equation, and I was inspired by his dedication to journaling and field drawing as a part of his own process. This morning I am eyeing my (mostly unused) journal with a feeling akin to wonder.

Katy Payne—who, by they way, I first met in the pages of Aril Pulley Sayre’s SECRETS OF SOUND—was asked how she got be such a good writer. Do you know what she said? She said. “Oh, we read a lot. Our family read out loud all the time … WIND IN THE WILLOWS, The Laura Ingalls Wilder books, JUST-SO STORIES …” She suggested that story and cadence and all sorts of unconscious knowledge of her craft simply slipped into her bones while she was read to and, later, when she read to her own kids. I wanted to stop the program for a standing ovation.

Sy Montgomery pulled me up short with a simple assessment of the task at hand: inspire readers to love and appreciate ‘our good, green earth.’ I have admired Sy from afar since I first laid eyes on THE SNAKE SCIENTIST and it was a thrill to hear her talk about her adventures and her process and her good, good pig. In a fit of boldness, I introduced myself to Sy after the program and told her that I, too, wrote ‘Scientists in the Field’ books.

“Oh! Which ones?” she asked.

“TRACKING TRASH,” I told her.

She proceeded to take my hand and say kind and lovely things. So kind and so lovely, in fact, that I will remember them for all of my days. (I was a bit overwhelmed, and I am hoping against hope that I remembered to tell her she is an inspiration to me.)

And, so, as I settle in this morning with a cup of tea and my bee book (yes, it is back on my desk already), it is with an entirely new feeling. I am not merely making final edits. I am not simply trying to meet the next deadline. I am reaching out into the world and hoping to inspire people—young people—with a story about our natural world. This is a powerful perspective to have at this stage of the process, when I have read and re-read my own words hundreds of times, when I have tweaked and smoothed and tweaked ad nauseum. I’m excited to begin all over again … and I have John, Katy and Sy to thank.

I ♥ field trips!

 

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Epic Migrations

Did you catch The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies on NOVA last night?

Oh, my.

I’m a big fan of monarch butterflies. I’ve tagged them. I’m writing about them. And in less than a month I will be cavorting with them in the mountains of south central Mexico. Watching this documentary was a no-brainer for me.

But seriously? Even if you are only mildly acquainted with the monarch, this up-close look at their epic migration is worth watching. The photography is spectacular, from the eclosion of a butterfly in the opening scenes to the dramatic adventures of individual migrants along the way. It’s a spectacle. You’ll love it. Check the PBS website for local listings.


© Loree Griffin Burns

Meanwhile, I am trying to sift four years of high school Spanish out of the recesses of my brain as I prepare for my own epic migration south. I’m also pulling my various monarch books off the shelf and immersing myself. Here’s a look at my orange-and-black reading:

FOUR WINGS AND A PRAYER, by Sue Halpern (Vintage, 2001)
THE LAST MONARCH BUTTERFLY, by Phil Schappert (Firefly, 2004)
AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE, by Laurence Pringle and Bob Marstall (Orchard, 1997)

¡Feliz lectura!