© Ellen Harasimowicz
It’s that time of year again, folks: time to count birds in the name of science. I’ll be participating in MassAudubon’s Focus on Feeders event, along with a gaggle of fourth graders from our local elementary school. Got feeders in your backyard? Looking for an excuse to get ouside? Well then, by all means, join us …
If you live in Massachusetts, you can participate in MassAudubon’s Focus on Feeders event on February 6 and/or 7.
For those outside of Massachusetts, Audubon’s Great Backyard Bird Count will take place the weekend of February 12-15, 2010.
Both events are free and can, if necessary, be squeezed into an already busy weekend. Kids who participate learn to identify common backyard birds and get to practice field skills like observing wildlife and recording data. More importantly, at least to me, young birders are forced to slow down, breathe cool winter air, look closely at the trees and bushes growing in their backyards and wonder, perhaps for the first time, who might be living in them.
All the information you need to get started is available at the websites linked above. If you’ll be birding with kids, I highly recommend a general bird guide (one of my favorites is WHAT’S THAT BIRD?, by Joseph Choiniere and Claire Mowbray Golding) and a regional field guide specific to where you live (we use THE YOUNG BIRDER’S GUIDE TO BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA, by Bill Thompson III). And if you are really feeling crazy (like me!), you can gather materials for a simple and natural bird feeder that your young birders can make on the day of the event. Details on that little project in a separate post. Until then, Happy Birding!
OH! And don’t forget I’m raffling a copy of the picture book LIVING SUNLIGHT. Not many entrants yet, so you’re odds of winning are still pretty darn good.