Bird watching

Bird watching. It’s what we do. Especially eldest boy, above. He’s the one that fills the feeders and makes the homemade suet.

Today we share some favorite backyard bird spottings for June:

The gold finches are back and they’ve found the sunflowers!

Two posing doves (makes me want to sing a Christmas song).

Then a house finch seems to say ‘me too.’

Carolina chickadee on mimosa.

Robin redbreast in the grass.

Brown-headed nuthatch in a classic pose.

Downy woodpecker with what looks like a juvenile mockingbird? (amidst the remnants of a backyard rope project of some sort).

Male cardinal with carolina chick-a-dee.

But the most fun we had watching birds was after the children tired of the backyard plastic pool, several afternoons in a row. Not long after we closed the back door, they came. It’s like they were just waiting for us to leave.

Families with babies.

They washed in the mud puddles.

They peeked into the pool. Not quite figuring out how to get the water.

Then fluffed on a nearby branch (juvenile brown thrasher). Made us realize we need to make sure our bird bath is ready for them.

We have been keeping track of our observations on the handy notebook page in the Handbook of Nature Study’s June newsletter. The pictures show the variety of observations. Birds on the feeder, birds perched in the tree, birds on the ground. But I love how the page above prompts us to observe a little more. To listen, to watch, to sit, to sketch.

Birds not pictured on our list:

• hummingbird buzzing an althea blossom
• titmouse
• chipping sparrows
• red bellied woodpecker

Then, one night after the littlest children were tucked in bed and the older children were off at a church youth event with Hodgepodgedad, Middle Girl and I stayed up a little longer and sketched. We chose from the bird photos above. She picked the pair of mourning doves. She noticed the brown and almost red of their heads. The definition of their eyes. The curve of their necks. The detail of their feathers.

Then she chose a Bible verse and a quote to add to her sketch.

The gold finch was my favorite. As I sketched that determined little guy, I was taken by the white highlights that stand out so well on his black wings. The bright orange of his beak and feet. And I really like that puff of a dandelion behind him.

Oh, all we noticed by spending the time sketching. Plus, it was fun girl time   🙂

A pleasure of a nature study in community with Outdoor Hour Challenges. Nature study in your own backyard.

Are you seeing baby birds splashing in mud puddles too?