Outside My Kitchen Window

Winter can get a bit boring sometimes, especially for kids. But don't despair! Buy the birds a bag of birdseed and set your kids up at the window with paper, pencil, and a book about birds - one with a lot of colorful pictures is best. Fill up your birdfeeder with your purchased seed or just scatter it on the ground. Most birds are looking for food either in the early morning or early evening - these are the best times to watch and write down what varieties have visited your yard. Teach your children to observe the behavior of the different birds at your feed site. Find out what types feed in flocks and whether or not they eat directly from the feeder or if they prefer to eat the scattered seeds. It's also interesting to observe bird temperment. For example: cardinals are quite shy and won't even approach the offered food if blue jays are around. This really is a fun activity - one that our family never grows tired of! We've had bob-whites, blue jays, cardinals, juncos, sparrows, cat birds, house wrens, and even a hawk. One year, our neighbor (whose back yard is visible from our picture window) had an Ibis visit his swimming pool!

This was a beautiful sight from my window this morning...


Thanks for reading!