Science: Birding

Last year, my daughter learned some basics about birds & how to identify the common species we see around our home. She has maintained an interest in birds, including often asking to look up a bird she heard about. We saw the movie "The Big Year" in March, which piqued her interest to see how many species she can find herself. In April, she went on a mini-hunt, and identified approximately twenty-five species over the course of two weeks. Her favorite bird-spotting moment? When a blue heron flew directly over her head on the way to the water!

Here are my favorite links for birding:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has photos along with information on each species.

The Maryland Ornithological Society and their Youth Division. Much of their information is better suited to older children or adults, but their Birding Basics has good information on the how-tos. Their Ethics page helped me introduce "ethics" as she begins to understand our responsibility in this particular endeavor.

WhatBird helps with using a variety of characteristics to identify different birds.

As a Science topic birding includes: exploring bird identification, anatomy, habitats, and behavior; environmental science, such as habitat protection; ethics, including proper behavior of the birder; other animals and plants found in the habitats; scientific classification and species names; and exploring endangered species, and how populations are affected. Math is used in a real-world manner through counting and estimating, grouping and categorizing. Language Arts skills include reading and comprehension, learning to research and write a report, keeping a journal, and using library and Internet (technology) skills. As for socialization, in our experience, birding has allowed us to meet with and talk to other adults and children we meet while out walking and observing.