Bird Crazy

Our new year started with the spotting and identifying two new birds at our bird feeder:

Bluebird (one of my favorites)

 

Blue-winged Warbler

I guess that really got everyone excited about birding.  Since then we have spotted and identified six more species of birds at our feeder, bringing the total up to 22!  On my birthday I took out the long lens and have being trying to get good pictures of them all.  The boys have joined with me in my quest and are having fun filming and identifying the new visitors to our backyard.  In an attempt to keep track of our discoveries I've added a new page to my blog called "Bird Watch".  Here we will list any new species we see and from this page you can follow the link the photo gallery of the visitors to our backyard.

We are working not only to identify the birds but also to learn about their behavior and songs.  We recently checked out the book "Backyard Birds of Winter" by Carol Lerner. I thought it was really neat how many of the connections and behaviors we had already observed and how many of the birds mentioned in her book we had already seen at our feeder.  

We went walking in Hemlock Bluff again last weekend (we need to do so more often its so close and peaceful) and the boys started another line of identification with Chris, trees, they've found in our "forest".  The boys have been working diligently to clear out the scrub each weekend with their father.  By spring I think we'll have quite the backyard.  Now I just need to find more books on Fauna LOL.