Backyard Birding mega page Tips Information and tons of activities
My Birding Activities for Kids:
Birdwatching offers a gateway to exploration, science, and environmental awareness that can last a lifetime. Become a mentor by igniting children’s wonder and curiosity about birds. Introducing children to the world of birds with the birdwatching ideas above can be an enriching experience. It allows them to connect with nature, cultivating curiosity, observation skills, and a sense of appreciation for the diverse avian species around them.
Kids and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages enjoy watching and identifying birds to learn more about them. Whether you are a parent or a nature school teacher, grab your binoculars, head outdoors, and embark on a memorable birding journey with your kids or students with the birding activity ideas above. Doing so will foster a lifelong interest in nature and instill conservation and stewardship values in the next generation.
Binoculars (An Absolute Must)
Comfortable Shoes (An Absolute Must)
Backpack (An Absolute Must for Longer Trips)
Field Guide (An Absolute Must)
A Optional Camera (with a zoom lens)
Using this method, especially during early morning at edge habitats, helps identify birds effectively.
Use the "Merlin Bird ID" app: This free app helps with Identification in the field.
Compared to Regulars: Focus on knowing common neighborhood birds first to spot unusual ones.
Check the Edges: Birds often appear where two habitats meet, such as a forest edge and a meadow.
Look for feathers on the ground (birds are molting and feathers indicate species) Birds singing or bird calls (sometimes you hear birds before you see them) Look for bird nests—some are high in the trees, others on the ground Check out anthills—you may see birds lying near because ants leave traces of formic acid on their wings which repeals parasites Look by water—the birds may be bathing
Identifying wild bird eggs
If you are ever lucky enough to find any abandon wild bird eggs or egg shells then the Woodland Trust have a great free guide to identifying eggs here. However please don’t disturb any wild birds nests as that might then cause the parents to abandon the eggs. If you find any empty or broken egg shell pieces you can carefully collect them to take home and wash with antibacterial solution. If you find enough pieces you might even be able to glue them back together.
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Free Bird Watching Resources
A great way to stay in and enjoy nature is by bird watching! It is a year-round activity, bird watching can be done all over the world even in your own backyard. People of all ages and “skill” levels can learn and enjoy learning about birds and bird watching.
Winter is especially a great time to learn about migratory birds since they may be in your area for only a short time. It just so happens that the Great Backyard Bird Count happens each year in February! What a great way to learn about birds or get started in bird watching.
Bird Watching Supplies
What will you need? The cost of equipment can often be a concern when seeking to start a new hobby. Do not be afraid of bird watching since very little equipment is needed. You will need binoculars, bird guides, and a comfy place to watch birds. If you need to attract birds to your backyard then birdseed, peanut butter, suet cakes, meal warms, and a water source should be included in the list of supplies.
Child sized binoculars come in many shapes and sizes which you can read about the ones we own here- Binoculars: Which Ones are For You?
Bird Watching Resources
The Association of Field Ornithologists encourages students at all levels to become involved with the AFO and ornithology.
The American Birding Association represents the North American birding community and supports birders through publications, conferences, workshops, tours, partnerships, and networks.
Bird Cams free ways to watch birds from the comfort of your home or school.
Birding in Ohio tons of free resources
A Robin Cares For Her Baby Birds from HoneysLife
Bird Sleuth K-12 creates innovative resources that build science skills while inspiring young people to connect to local habitats, explore biodiversity, and engage in citizen science projects. WARNING: there are Evolutionary videos and curriculum found here.
Bird-Watching Project Planner great pdf to print and use to plan or track what you have learned while exploring birds and bird watching.
Celebrate Urban Birds is a year-round project developed and launched by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Its primary purpose is to reach diverse urban audiences who do not already participate in science or scientific investigation
Common Birds of Ohio Field Guide from Ohio DNR
CREATING A HEALTHY YARD– great article about preparing your yard to provide a year around place for birds.
Courses for the Public-eCornell offers a variety of free bird resources and videos.
Feathered Friends– a curriculum with nine monthly activities covering a new topic about birds each month. We also offered free webinars for educators to help them improve their personal knowledge about feeding birds and how to incorporate feeding birds into their education program. FEATHERED FRIENDS LINKS AND RESOURCES
The Homeschooler’s Guide to Project FeederWatch is a FREE eight-page document that contains ideas for families participating in Project FeederWatch.
FIRST-TIME BIRDING: How to take someone on their first bird walk
Live FalconCams-Ohio’s live, Web-based video streams of active peregrine falcon nests located on the 41st floor ledge of the Rhodes State Office Tower in Columbus, the bell tower of the Bowling Green Courthouse in Bowling Green, on the Chase Bank tower in Canton, and the University of Toledo Bell Tower
Identifying Birds in Your Area from Celebrate Urban Birds
NETWORKING WITH OTHER YOUNG BIRDERS– look for a Young Birders Club near you for ages 12-18. Offering camps, workshops, and events.
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory pays close attention to impacts on birds and their habitats and gathers crucial data specific to local bird populations. We also actively provide opportunities for people to be directly involved in the nature and science of the San Francisco Bay Area.
YardMap is a citizen science project designed to cultivate a richer understanding of bird habitat, for both professional scientists and people concerned with their local environments.
YBN Photos– This group is for young birders to share photos of interesting sightings with eBird’s Young Birders Network.
All About Birds :Your online guide to birds and bird watching
Backyard Bird Walk teaches kids how to find and observe birds' nests without harming them. It shows how to tell what a bird eats by looking at its bill and tells how to help an injured bird.
A Backyard Birding Adventure: What’s in Your Yard by Kermit Cummings
The Big Book of Birds by Yuval Zommer
The Most Popular Birds in North America: Bird Watching Guide for Kids by Nona Kid
Why Should I Walk? I Can Fly! By Ann Ingalls
Bird Builds a Nest: A First Science Storybook by Martin Jenkins
Backpack Explorer: Bird Watch: What Will You Find by Editors of Storey Publishing
Exploring Birds Activity Book for Kids by Kristine Rivers
The Little Book of Backyard Bird Songs by Andrea Pinnington
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Bird Guide App
Tips, tricks, and links to download!
Your tool for unlocking the world of birds, wherever you are
The Audubon Bird Guide is a free and complete field guide to over 800 species of North American birds, right in your pocket. Built for all experience levels, it will help you identify the birds around you, keep track of the birds you’ve seen, and get outside to find new birds near you.
Key Features
Bird ID
It's now easier than ever to identify a bird you just saw. Enter all you were able to observe—what color was it? How big? What did its tail look like?—and Bird ID will narrow down a list of possible matches for your location and date in real time.
Learn about the birds you love
Our field guide features over 3,000 photos, over eight hours of audio clips of songs and calls, multi-season range maps, and in-depth text by leading North American bird expert Kenn Kaufman.
Keep track of all the birds you see
With our completely redesigned Sightings feature, you can keep a record of every bird you encounter, whether you're hiking, sitting on the porch, or simply catching a glimpse of birds out the window. We'll even keep an updated life list for you.
Explore the birds around you
See where the birds are with nearby birding hotspots and real-time sightings from eBird.
Share photos
Post your photos to the Photo Feed so other Audubon Bird Guide users can see your best bird shots.
Download the Audubon Bird Guide App
Find our newly updated frequently asked questions, and instructions for how to contact customer support
10 Ways to Take Better Smartphone Photos
How to make the most out of the camera that you always have with you.
A powerful tool for tracking sightings can change the way you bird.
Birds are all around us.They’re huddling in the shrubs outside of our apartments, bopping around our backyards, and foraging at local parks and lakes. No matter where you live, birds are nearby, just waiting for you to notice them. And once you do, you might find it hard to stop. That’s because birding—the act of appreciating and observing birds—not only provides a new perspective on the natural world, but it also delivers an immense sense of joy and satisfaction. So what are you waiting for?
Explore More From Audubon
Planting gardens and landscaping your yard is one of the best ways to help birds as they seek out food sources, nesting habitat, protection, and more. Not only do plants provide food such as seeds, fruit, nectar, and sap, but they also provide habitat for insects, which are essential for birds and their young. Birds use trees and shrubs for cover and protection from predators, and use plant fibers for nesting material and nesting habitat. The quality of a habitat can greatly affect nesting success of birds.
'To attract birds and turn your yard into a year-round destination for your feathered friends, maintain a focus on their biggest three needs: food, water and shelter."
These tips will have your yard looking like a nature preserve in no time!
Birds
offer them nesting materials
make a birdseed wreath
hang a bird feeder
build a barn owl box
the ultimate dining guide for hummingbirds
Starting With What You Have
American Goldfinch on a purple coneflower by Jessica Kirste
Bird feeders and bird baths are a great way to attract birds to your yard. But it’s certainly not the only way! The plants, trees and shrubs you have around your home will also determine the types of birds that visit your yard. Not only do native plants provide food such as seeds, insects and berries, but they also provide shelter. Places to hide from predators, take cover in inclement weather, and suitable nesting habitat are all things birds are on the look out for. So let’s talk about what makes a plant attractive, and some specific examples of the types of plants that attract birds.
Landscaping for birds doesn’t have to involve buying expensive plants and maintaining a a wandering and lush garden. There are several things you can do with the habitat you already have to make it more bird friendly – and they all involve less work.
Leaving a designated area of your lawn unmowed is a great way to cultivate wildflowers and grass seeds, which birds and pollinators will love. Letting flowers go to seed and leaving leaves unraked in a portion of your yard will provide seeds for birds through the winter and attract insects, which will also attract birds. Having a “messy” yard (or at least messy areas) is excellent for birds!
Attracting Birds to Small Spaces
Consider adding a place for birds to bath and drink.
Enjoy a family DIY Upcycled birdbath project or we have a pedestal bird bath that was around $30. It’s light weight, holds water, and has held up ok. I did splurge and add in a solar fountain. Right now, I’m not super impressed. It floats around even when I’ve tried to anchor it with rocks and only works in direct sunlight. Four ways to keep ypur birds hydrated with water.
7 Types Of Flowers That Attract Birds
While we may think of flowers attracting hummingbirds by producing nectar, flowers can attract songbirds by bringing more insects to the yard, and producing seeds enjoyed by many species.
1. Sunflower
These large and beautiful flowers are the king of the seed world. Sunflower seeds are one of the best and most commonly used seeds in birdseed mixes for their nutritional value.
2. Purple Coneflower
These lovely blooms will attract pollinators and butterflies, and in the fall their seeds will attract finches and other birds.
3. Cornflower
Cornflower is an attractive plant for both birds and insects. It provides pollen, nectar, seeds and sap.
4. Black-Eyed Susan
A yard favorite for many, black-eyed susans produce seeds loved by small birds such as chickadees and finches.
5. Zinnia
Many gardeners collect zinnia seeds at the end of the season and keep them to re-plant next year. These pretty blooms produce plenty of seeds enjoyed by sparrows and finches.
6. Aster
Producing delicate purple color late in the season, asters produce seeds enjoyed by many small birds.
7. Marigold
These long-blooming flowers will keep your summer garden bright. Marigolds attract many insects, which in turn will attract many insect loving birds. Unfortunately sometimes blackbirds and other larger birds will trample and tear apart the blooms in their quest to find the bugs.
9 Common Shrubs & Bushes That Attract Birds
1. American Elderberry
A top shrub for attracting birds, elderberries are a great yard choice. Its spring blooms attract many insects, providing good foraging for the birds. Its main feature, however, is the clumps of purple berries it produces in the late summer. These berries are a bird favorite.
2. Juniper
Juniper is a great shrub for backyard birds. They are evergreens, which means their shelter extends through the winter and offers protection from the cold and wind. In the spring, birds enjoy the cover of junipers for nesting. Their waxy blue berries are available through the winter, providing an important food source during scarce times. (note: only pollinated females produce berries)
3. Arrowood Viburnum
In the spring this shrub attracts insects to its white flowers. In the late summer/early fall it produces dark colored berries that birds love. A great shrub for borders along fences or as a hedge row.
4. Serviceberry
Serviceberry has long been considered a top shrub for attracting wild birds. In the spring its white flowers attract many insects. In late spring – early summer it produces small reddish-purple fruits that are particularly juicy, sweet and nutrient dense. The birds love these so much they often pick them off the bush before they can fully ripen!
5. Blackberry & Raspberry
Fruiting shrubs both you AND the birds can enjoy! These shrubs attract many insects, which makes them good hunting grounds for birds. They grow in big tangled brambles, which is an attractive habitat to many birds for nesting and shelter. And of course, they love those delicious berries.
6. Northern Bayberry
Bayberries are a semi-evergreen shrub that have their silvery colored berries all year round. Aside from a reliable source of fruit, they also offer good shelter and nest sites.
7. Staghorn Sumac
The staghorn sumac has beautiful bright red foliage in the fall, and provides both seeds and fruit to wild birds. It is fall fruiting, which means it can provide a food source into the cold winter months.
8. Winterberry
A member of the holly family, this shrub provides many of the same “pros” as the holly tree. It’s hardy, provides good shelter, and the berries persist into the winter as an important food source.
9. Virginia Creeper
This vine may look a lot like poison ivy, but won’t harm your skin. The fruit produced by Virginia Creeper is an important food source for many birds during the winter.
Make a Bird’s Nest:
A STEAM Birding Activity for Kids
Creating a bird’s nest is a fun STEAM challenge for kids of all ages. Invite children to make a bird’s nest as an entertaining, educational birding activity. To do this birding activity, first encourage children to head outside and search for items a bird would use to build a nest.
Remind children that many birds build their nests in trees. And some don’t build a nest at all! Please encourage them to think creatively before starting this nest-building activity. Look through this fun, informative Birds, Nests, and Eggs birding book with children to help them learn how and where birds build their homes and all about their young. If you are curious and want to learn more about the fascinating variety of bird nests, check out the Peterson Field Guide to North American Bird Nests.
Next, invite them to use natural materials they collect to make a bird’s nest. Nest building is a self-motivated activity for our daughter; she has been making bird nests from nature’s scraps since she was a toddler. One of her many nests is pictured below. She has also fashioned a few nests in hollow logs, a clay mud nest on a wall, and some great ground nests in clumps of tall grass over the years.
The photograph above shares a simple bird’s nest my daughter made with natural items she found outdoors.
Make your feathery friends a nest to remember.
Birds spend hours searching for and collecting materials to make a cozy nest, so why not help them out? Lend them a hand -- or wing -- by trying this Build a Bird's Nest Activity.
What You'll Need:
Nature and human-made materials
Modeling clay
In addition to twigs and leaves, birds like to use bits of string, yarn, lint, and other human-made materials to build and furnish their homes.
Take a walk outside and pretend that you are a bird that needs to make a nest. See what building materials you can find. Look for natural materials like leaves and twigs, and also for human-made materials.
When you get back home, shape some modeling clay into a bird's nest. Line the inside and outside of the nest with the things you collected, until you come up with the perfect bird home. This makes a great piece of art for your home.
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Family Activities For Birding
Bird feeders are easy to make and will draw a variety of birds to your backyard.
There is no better way to cheer up your yard than with the sound of singing birds. One way to attract these wonderful creatures is to build a bird feeder. Fortunately, making them is easy -- with a few simple materials, and a little bit of patience, you can learn how to make bird feeders. Soon, birds will be singing to you all day long.
Whether you enjoy bird-watching or simply want to attract some feathered friends to your yard, you will surely find an effective and easy-to-make bird feeder in this article.
Follow the links below for instructions on how to make a variety of bird feeders:
Backyard Bird Rescue Bird Feeder
Birds get hungry, too -- and you can help feed them with this Backyard Bird Rescue Bird Feeder.
What You'll Need:
Disposable pie pans
String
Scissors
Birdseed
Sharp implement for punching holes
Step 1: Gather disposable pie pans, three equal-length pieces of string for each pan, and some birdseed to help keep birds' tiny tummies well fed.
Step 2: Have an adult help you punch holes in the outer edges of the pie pans. To place the holes correctly, imagine the pie pan is a clock face, and punch the holes at the four, eight, and twelve o'clock positions.
Step 3: Feed one end of a string through a hole from the top of the pan to the bottom, and tie a sturdy knot on the bottom side.
Step 4: Repeat with the other strings and holes. Now tie the ends of the strings together at the top of the pan. Repeat the process with the other pie pans.
Step 5: Fill the feeders with birdseed, and have an adult help you hang them from a high branch (safe from neighborhood cats).
Keep reading for more easy-to-make bird feeders.
Bird Cafeteria Bird Feeder
Bird Cafeteria Bird Feeder
Set out a feast for the birds and learn what they like best with the Bird Cafeteria Bird Feeder.
What You'll Need:
Bird feeders (purchased or homemade)
Thistle seeds
Cut-up fruit
Nail
Hammer
Dull knife
Whole coconut
Adult help
Drill
Cracked corn
Suet
Peanuts
String
Mesh bag
Try the following ways of offering foods and see what your birds like best:
Offer various seeds. You can buy special feeders for fine thistle seed and for larger sunflower seeds. Offer thistle in the summer when goldfinches are around. Sunflower seeds can be out all year.
Build or buy a table-style feeder on a post to offer peanuts and cut-up fruit (especially cherries).
Pound a slender nail into a tree and stick half an apple on it, or wedge apple slices between tree branches.
Cut an orange in half and hang the halves from a branch for orioles.
Cut a coconut in half. Drill a hole near the edge and hang from a tree branch. Small, seed-eating birds like to peck at the meat, and larger, more aggressive birds cannot get to it easily.
On a large flat rock, offer cracked corn to quail and doves.
Use a flat window feeder to offer cut-up suet from the meat counter. Make sure the window is high enough that dogs, cats, and rats cannot reach. Don't offer suet in the warmer months; it spoils quickly.
The next bird feeder is sure to attract some high-flying tenants.
Bird Condo Bird Feeder
Build a high-class, high-rise Bird Condo Bird Feeder for your feathered friends outdoors.
What You'll Need:
Plastic 1/2-gallon milk or orange juice container with handle
Scissors
Craft stick or small dowel
Newspaper
Sphagnum moss
Wire coat hanger
Step 1: Wash the container thoroughly with hot, soapy water. Let it dry.
Step 2: On the opposite side from the handle, about halfway down, cut a circular hole about two inches wide. Half an inch below the hole, poke the craft stick or small dowel about 1-1/2 inches into the container. This is the bird's perch.
Step 3: Spread out the newspaper, and stuff the sphagnum moss into the bottle until it comes up to the entry hole. (Birds like dryer lint, too.)
Step 4: Untwist the coat hanger, and wire the birdhouse, through the handle, to a tree limb not too close to the trunk. (You may need an adult's help to do this part.) Wire it tight enough so that the house doesn't sway too much in the wind. Wait for your bird friends to move in.
Help birds cool off with the bird feeder you'll learn about next.
Birdbath Bird Feeder
Birdbath Bird Feeder
Water is often in short supply in the wild. Give some feathered friends a hand by providing precious water with this Birdbath Bird Feeder.
What You'll Need:
Flat pan
Rock
PVC pipe (six inches wide)
Rope (1/4-inch thick)
Brick
Garbage can lid
For a simple birdbath:
Step 1: Lay a shallow pan of water on the ground.
Step 2: Put a rock in the pan to keep it from getting knocked over.
For a more permanent birdbath:
Step 1: With help from an adult, cut a four-foot length of six-inch diameter PVC pipe. Sink it about two feet into the ground.
Step 2: Cut a three-foot length of 1/4-inch rope. Tie one end of the rope to a heavy rock or brick. Tie the other end to the handle of a garbage can lid.
Step 3: Drop the rock or brick down the pipe. It should hang about halfway down. The weight of the hanging brick holds the garbage can lid in place upside-down.
Step 4: Fill the lid with water. To clean, simply lift the lid out and wash it.
The next bird feeder will help your feathered friends start the day right.
Bird Breakfast Bird Feeder
Bird Breakfast Bird Feeder
The breakfast in the Bird Breakfast Bird Feeder is strictly for the birds -- don't you taste it!
What You'll Need:
2 cups biscuit baking mix
Water
2 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
Measuring cup and spoons
Mixing bowl
Mixing spoon
Rolling pin
Cookie cutters
Spatula
Baking sheet
Straw
Small saucepan
Pastry brush
Fork
Cooling rack
Ribbon
Step 1: Ask an adult to preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Add enough water (just a few tablespoons) to the baking mix to form a soft dough.
Step 2: Roll out the dough to 3/4-inch thickness, and cut it into shapes with the cookie cutters.
Step 3: Using a spatula, put the shapes on a baking sheet. Use the straw to punch a hole in the top of each cookie.
Step 4: Ask an adult to melt the margarine. Brush the melted margarine over the dough. Sprinkle the seeds onto the dough, and press them in firmly with a fork.
Step 5: Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until light brown. Remove cookies with a spatula, and place them on a cooling rack.
Step 6: When the cookies are cool, thread brightly colored ribbon through the holes. Hang the bird snacks in a tree. Now wait for the birds to enjoy their breakfast.
(Note: If birds don't eat the biscuits right away, check after a few days to be sure the biscuits aren't moldy. If they are, remove them from the tree and make fresh ones.)
Continue reading to learn about a bird feeder that will draw hummingbirds to your yard.
Whip up some special food for these special birds with this Hummingbird Feeder.
What You'll Need:
Plastic bottle
Scissors
Sugar
Water
Pot
Craft glue
Decorative flowers
String
Hummingbirds can hover, fly backwards, and even fly upside down. They flap their wings up to 78 times per second. All that flapping burns up the calories, so hummingbirds have to eat half their weight in food every day. Of course, some only weigh about one-tenth of an ounce.
It should come as no surprise that hummingbirds don't eat the same things as other birds. They need high-energy foods, and one of their favorite foods is nectar collected from red flowers. They also love sugar syrup.
Here's how to make a hummingbird feeder:
Step 1: Wash a large, clear plastic soda bottle and remove the label.
Step 2: About one-fourth of the way from the bottom of the bottle, cut a square hole that is about one inch on each side. Make a crease in the front of the bottle, just above the hole.
Step 3: With an adult's help, boil 1/2 cup of sugar and two cups of water to make a syrup. Let the syrup cool.
Step 4: Use your finger to cover the hole in the bottle, and pour in the syrup. Put the lid on the bottle.
Step 5: Glue red plastic flowers on the bottle, especially near the hole.
Step 6: Tie a string around the top of the bottle, and use it to hang the feeder.
Continue reading for more easy-to-make bird feeders.
Milk Carton Meal Bird Feeder
Put those old milk cartons to good use with the Milk Carton Meal Bird Feeder.
What You'll Need:
Empty milk carton
Bird cakes
Hole puncher
String
If your yard is a little short on trees with bending branches, hang your bird cakes in special milk carton feeders.
Step 1: Make the bird cake recipe listed here.
Step 2: Instead of shaping the mixture into donuts, fill the bottom of a milk carton with the treat.
Step 3: Punch holes in the carton and run strings from corner to corner, tying them together where they meet at the top.
Step 4: Hang these treats from rain gutters or flagpoles to provide your birds a safe and delicious treat.
A few sticks are all you need to make the interesting bird feeder on the next page.
Twig Roof Bird Feeder
Be a friend to wildlife with this Twig Roof Bird Feeder. With its old-fashioned twig roof, it's fun to look at even before the wild birds visit for dinner.
What You'll Need:
Plastic bleach bottle, well cleaned
18-inch length of cord
Lots of dry twigs, about as thick as a pencil
Kitchen sponge
Acrylic paint: green, white
Tools:
Scrap paper
Pencil
Scissors
Drill
Pruning shears
Felt pen
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Paper plate
Have an adult help you when using a drill, pruning shears, and a glue gun.
Step 1: Be sure that the bottle you use is perfectly clean. Have an adult drill a small hole in the center of the bottle cap.
Step 2: Poke the cord through the hole, and tie a knot in the end so it won't pull through. Screw the lid back on the bottle.
Step 3: Draw the window shape on scrap paper and cut it out. Hold this paper against the bottle about two inches up from the bottom. Trace around the window; then trace another window on the back of the bottle.
Step 4: Carefully poke the scissors through the middle of the traced shape, then cut out the window. Repeat for the other window.
Step 5: Select a long, sturdy twig for the perch. Have an adult use the pruning shears to cut it six inches longer than the bottle is wide.
Step 6: Snip two holes in the plastic bottle, centered under each window. The holes should be just big enough for the perch to poke through when you push real hard. It will help to have someone hold the bottle while you push the perch through.
Step 7: Cut two leaf shapes out of the sponge: a large leaf about two inches long and a smaller leaf about one inch long.
Step 8: Spread dark green paint on a plate. Dab the large sponge leaf in the paint, then onto the sides of the bottle. Stamp six or seven dark leaves on each side of the bottle, then let them dry.
Step 9: Mix some white paint into the green to lighten it. Use the smaller sponge leaf to stamp light green leaves around and on top of the dark leaves.
Step 10: Clip a twig to fit from the bottle cap out over the side of the bottle -- about five inches long. Hold it against the bottle and notice where the twig touches the plastic. Apply hot glue to the bottle at these points, then lay the twig in place.
Step 11: Work around the top of the bottle, gluing twigs next to the bottle cap. Then cut shorter twigs and glue them between the first ones, until your roof is filled with sloping twigs.
Step 12: Fill the bottom of the bottle with birdseed.
Provide some watering holes for birds with the bird feeder on the next page.
Water Hole Bird Feeder
Water Hole Bird Feeder
This Water Hole Bird Feeder will attract more wildlife to your backyard by offering water all year round.
What You'll Need:
Hose with nozzle
Water
Pie pan
Pea gravel,
Garbage can lid,
Small, rigid-sided plastic wading pool, shovel, newspaper
Flat river rocks
If you were a bird, could you find enough places in your neighborhood to drink? Do your local water sources dry up or freeze? Make life easier for wildlife with a human-made oasis. For a garden stream:
Step 1: Put a fan-shaped nozzle on the end of a hose and lay the hose in a flower bed or garden that needs watering.
Step 2: Turn the hose on to make a slow, gentle stream.
Step 3: Let the water run across the garden. Birds will be attracted in the evening after a long, thirsty day.
For a pie-pan bird bath:
Step 1: Set a large pie pan on level ground.
Step 2: Pour a thin layer of fine gravel into the bottom and add a rock for birds to sit on and weigh the pan down.
Step 3: Pour in an inch of water.
For a garbage-can-lid bird bath:
Step 1: Excavate a shallow hole in the ground and set the lid in it.
Step 2: Sprinkle gravel in the bottom, add some rocks, and pour in an inch of water. During the winter, have an adult help you keep the water from icing over.
For a plastic wading-pool pond:
Step 1: Have an adult help dig a hole six inches wider and three inches deeper than the pool.
Step 2: Pour three inches of pea gravel in the bottom for drainage.
Step 3: Put an inch-thick layer of newspapers on the gravel to cushion the pond bottom.
Step 4: Set the wading pool in the hole. Add flat rocks on the bottom of the pool and rocks on one side to make a shallow bathing area.
Step 5: Fill the pool with water. Fill in around the outside of the pool with more gravel.
Step 6: Place rocks, small logs, and plants around the edge to make the pond attractive to wildlife.
The early bird catches the worm, and you can open your own early bird diner by following the bird feeder project on the next page.
Early Bird Diner Bird Feeder
Trace the window pattern onto all four sides of the carton.
Hang a restaurant in a tree or outside a window for the neighborhood birds to enjoy -- you can call it the Early Bird Diner Bird Feeder.
What You'll Need:
1 half-gallon cardboard milk carton
White spray paint
Acrylic paint: blue, red, black
Clear acrylic gloss spray
Yellow dimensional paint
White key tag
Tools:
Craft glue
Paper clips
Paper punch
Pencil
Craft knife
Paintbrushes
Black fine-point marker
Step 1: Glue the top edges of the milk carton together, and clip them together with paper clips until the glue sets. Punch a hole in the center of the top edge. (Squeeze hard to punch through both layers.)
Step 2: Trace the window pattern onto all four sides of the carton. Ask a grown-up to use the craft knife to cut out the windows.
Step 3: In a well-ventilated area, spray-paint the carton white to make it easier to decorate. Let it dry.
Step 4: Paint the top of the carton blue and the bottom red, leaving the columns between the windows white. When the paint has dried, use black paint and a small brush to paint stripes on the columns.
Step 5: Let dry, then finish with a coat of clear gloss spray. Let dry completely.
Step 6: With yellow dimensional paint, make dots around the top of each window and across the bottom of the windows and around the container. Let dry.
Step 7: Print the word "EAT" on the key tag. Slip the ring of the key tag through the hole in the top of the carton. Fill the bottom of the feeder with birdseed, and hang.
Bird Cake Bird Snacks
These Bird Cake Bird Snacks are sure to make your feathered friends happy.
What You'll Need:
Bread crumbs
Unsalted nuts
Raisins
Sugar
Corn meal
Flour
Bird seed
Peanut butter
Bacon drippings
String
Step 1: Begin with two cups of bread crumbs (use mom's old, dry bread crusts -- the birds won't mind, and mom will like the fact that they don't go to waste).
Step 2: Mix in a handful of unsalted nuts, two handfuls of raisins, one cup of sugar, a half-cup of corn meal, a half-cup of flour, and one cup of bird seed.
Step 3: Add eight ounces of peanut butter and some bacon drippings to hold the mix together.
Step 4: Shape the bird snack into "donuts" and freeze. Once they're frozen, carefully hang the bird cakes from your favorite trees and watch the birds chow down.
Keep reading to learn how to make more bird snacks.
Food for Flyers Bird Snacks
Birds can always use a helping hand to find food during the winter months. Help them out by creating this food for flyers bird snacks project.
What You'll Need:
Scrap wood
Saw
Outdoor paint
Metal brackets
Peanut butter
Lard or shortening
Pine cones or yogurt cups
Half-pint berry basket
String
Safe scissors
Whether you're setting up a backyard wildlife refuge or just want to attract a few birds, you'll enjoy having and maintaining bird feeders in your yard. To make a window feeder, cut a piece of scrap wood (with adult help) as wide as a window. Paint it, then use metal brackets to mount it underneath a window.
You can offer seeds, fruit, or cut-up suet on a table. You can also set out a shallow dish of water for the birds to drink.Straight peanut butter is too sticky for birds, but you can mix it with equal parts lard or shortening, then stir in corn meal and sunflower seeds until the mixture is stiff. Stuff the mix into pine cones and hang them up, or spoon into yogurt cups and hang the cups in trees.
To make a fruit feeder, tie long strings to the corners of a half-pint plastic berry basket. Tie the strings together and hang the basket from a tree branch. Put a few cut cherries, grapes, or other diced, brightly-colored fruit in the basket. Offer a small amount of fruit at a time and replace the fruit daily. Offer this in the summer when fruit-eating birds are active.On the next page you'll learn how to make a great bird snack for the holidays.
These Garlands Galore Bird Snacks are decorative, and birds love them.
What You'll Need:
Stale bread
Oranges
Knife
Yarn needle
Yarn
Step 1: Tear stale bread slices into fourths.
Step 2: Then slice the oranges into rounds, and cut the rounds into fourths.
Step 3: Thread the needle with the yarn, and string the bread and the oranges onto the yarn -- space them out along the yarn.
Step 4: Decorate an outdoor tree or bush with your garlands.
Continue reading for more bird snacks.
Seed and Feed Bird Snacks
Keep your favorite feathered friends from going hungry with these Seed and Feed Bird Snacks.
What You'll Need:
Bird seed
Stiff paper plates or recycled pie pans
Hole puncher
String
Safe scissors
Step 1: Go to your local pet or garden center and buy a bag of bird seed made just for the birds in your yard.
Step 2: Fill stiff paper plates or recycled pie pans with the seed.
Step 3: String them to lower branches of the trees to help make sure each tweeter gets enough to eat.
Birds will flock around the bird snack you'll learn about next.
Suet Bell Bird Snacks
Remove the yogurt container and hang the suet bell from a tree.
(Step 6)
All types of birds will love these tasty Suet Bell Bird Snacks.
What You'll Need:
Birdseed
Dried fruit
Bread crumbs
Suet
Lard or fat drippings
Yogurt container
String
Step 1: Gather birdseed, bread crumbs, and dried fruit. These ingredients are the "filler" for this project.
Step 2: Collect some suet, lard, or drippings from a roast or bacon. (You'll need about 1/2 pound of suet for every pound of filler.)
Step 3: Ask an adult to melt the suet in a saucepan and mix in the filler. Let the mixture cool a little.
Step 4: Poke a small hole in the bottom of a yogurt container. Tie a knot in a length of string and pull the string about halfway through the hole. Make sure there are several inches of string inside the container and several inches outside.
Step 5: Have an adult pour the suet and filler mixture into the yogurt container. Leave it overnight to harden.
Step 6: Carefully remove the yogurt container. Use the string to hang the suet bell in a tree where birds gather.
Use pine cones to make the bird snacks you'll learn about next.
Pine Cone Cafe Bird Snacks
Roll the pine cone in birdseed (Step 3)
A pine cone makes a natural "snack shop" for birds. Here's how to make Pine Cone Café Bird Snacks.
What You'll Need:
Large pine cone
String
Peanut butter
Birdseed
Step 1: Tie a string from the top of a pine cone.
Step 2: Smear lots of peanut butter all over the cone.
Step 3: Roll the cone in birdseed so the seeds stick in the peanut butter. It may not make your mouth water, but to birds, it's a treat.
Step 4: Hang the pine cone from a branch, and birds will begin stopping by for a snack.
Birds deserve a good holiday, too. Continue to the next page to learn how a snack can make a great holiday gift for birds.
Holiday Tree Bird Snacks
Holiday Tree Bird Snacks
Decorate a neighborhood tree with these wonderful Holiday Tree Bird Snacks.
What You'll Need:
Cookie cutters
Bread
Yarn
Peanut butter
Birdseed
Step 1: Use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of bread.
Step 2: Poke a piece of yarn through each shape.
Step 3: Spread peanut butter on the shapes, and press seeds into the peanut butter.
Step 4: Hang the shapes from an outdoor tree with the yarn, and watch the birds flock around.
The bird snacks craft on the following page is a great way to help out your neighborhood birds when food is scarce in the winter months.
Winter Bird Snacks
Winter Bird Snacks
When the weather gets cold, these Winter Bird Snacks give our feathered friends a much needed treat.
What You'll Need:
Ground suet (found at meat counters in grocery stores)
Two pans
Bowl
Water
Strainer
Birdseed
Aluminum foil
Disposable plastic food storage containers
Mesh onion sack
Peanut butter
Shortening
Whole wheat flour
Cornmeal
To make suet cakes:
Step 1: Put two pounds of ground suet in a large pan and add two quarts of water. Simmer until all the fat is melted.
Step 2: Strain into a bowl and let it cool, then put in the refrigerator until the fat is hard.
Step 3: Remove the hardened fat and put it into a small pan. Melt it over low heat. Add three or four cups of birdseed.
Step 4: Make molds by shaping two layers of aluminum foil over the outside of a plastic food container.
Step 5: Pour the suet-birdseed mix into the molds. (Two pounds of suet will make three four-inch by six-inch cakes.) You can put the cakes on a platform feeder out of reach of squirrels or hang them in a mesh onion sack.
Snowman Bird Snacks
Snowman Bird Snacks
When it gets cold, life is rough for birds. Next time it snows, make these Snowman Bird Snacks to help them out.
What You'll Need:
Snow
Bird treats
In winter, when many of the things that birds like to eat are covered with snow, the birds could use your help. Make a snowman (or snow person) and decorate it with things birds like to eat. That includes birdseed and fruit. Your snow creation is likely to have lots of feathered friends.
You can make several snow people -- or even a whole snow family! Use different kinds of food and see if you attract a variety of birds. You may also attract squirrels, rabbits, and other types of backyard wildlife.
How to Make Bird Houses
Learn to build Simple Bird Housesthat your backyard visitors will love!
Bird houses give our fun, feathered friends safe places to live and survive. Despite the fact that many migrating songbirds are protected by federal law, birds are still in danger from destruction of habitat, pollution, and even your neighborhood cats.
You and your kids can help the birds by learning how to make bird houses. It's a fun family activity that you can all work on together. And before you know it, birds will be flocking to your backyard. Kids will love to see who flies by for a visit!
Bird-Mart
How to Make a Bird-Mart
This bird house activity is essentially a "home supply" shop for busy birds. When nesting time arrives, transform your yard into bird central with this cardboard bird-nest superstore!
What You'll Need:
Large cardboard box
Safe scissors
String
Yarn
Dryer lint
Hair from combs and brushes
How to Make a Bird-Mart:
Step 1: Cut holes and notches in a large, sturdy cardboard box.
Step 2: Feed bits of string, yarn, dryer lint, and hair into those holes and notches.
Step 3: Place the box on a high table or on top of a flat roof, then wait and watch. Before you know it, dozens of backyard birds will land on your cardboard shop just to find special things for the nests they're building.
The next bird house activity will teach your kids how birds make their nests in springtime. Learn how to treat birds to a comfortable stay in the next section.
Guest in the Nest
If spring has sprung in your hometown, it's probably time for your local birds to start laying a few eggs. But even birdie babies require a nursery. This season, your kids can help indigenous birds feather their nests with this cool bird house activity.
What You'll Need:
Hair from a hairbrush
Cotton balls
Dryer lint
Bits of yarn
How to Make a Guest in the Nest:
Step 1: The next time your hairbrush gets crammed full of tangled tendrils, don't just pull the hair out and throw it away. Weave it into the branches of a tree that's a known hangout for birds.
Step 2: Have a few dusty cotton balls that are headed for the trash? Pull them apart and hook them onto the branches as well.
Step 3: Do the same with dryer lint and bits of yarn left over from a knitting spree.
Before you know it, those bits and pieces will mysteriously vanish from the trees. They will reappear, mixed with mud and branches, as the birds' nests take shape.
The next bird activity will have you and your kids making bird houses out of gourds and flower pots. Learn how to make simple bird houses in the next section.
Simple Bird Houses
How to Make a Simple Gourd Bird House
Put some of these simple bird houses out in the spring. Little ones will love to see what kinds of birds will set up housekeeping!
Since these houses can't be opened and cleaned easily, they are both one-season houses. You'll need to help your kids make these bird houses.
The easiest bird house to make is a gourd house. Buy or grow gourds that are at least four inches across, with a long neck.
What You'll Need:
Gourd
Carving knife
String
Drill
1/4-inch dowel (optional)
Craft glue (optional)
How to Make a Simple Gourd Bird House:
Step 1: Dry out the gourd, cut a one-inch hole in the round part, and hang it up by the neck.
Step 2: You can also add a perch. Drill a 1/4-inch hole under the larger hole. Then cut a two-inch length of dowel and insert it in the small hole. Glue in place.
What You'll Need:
Plastic flower pot
Flower pot base
Decorations (optional)
Craft glue (optional)
How to Make a Simple Flower Pot Bird House:
Step 1: Run some string through the holes on the bottom of the pot. Cut a one-inch hole in the side.
Step 2: Turn the pot over; glue it to a flower pot base that is larger than the mouth of the flower pot. Hang it up by the string. You and your kids can also use craft glue to decorate the bird house with dried flowers, popsicle sticks, or pine cones.
The Ultimate Bird Watcher Guide for Every Season
Watching birds brings new excitement every day throughout the year. Get our bird watcher checklists for season by season.
Palm warbler in spring
Seasonality is a strange thing. Those of us who live far from the equator integrate the seasons into our lives quite naturally. We are always aware of the change of the seasons—the shifts in light and temperature, the changes in the trees, flowers and crops in our gardens. For a bird watcher, these changes are even more dramatic, as each season brings its regular species, highlights and, yes, even periods of the doldrums.
Birds adjust not only their plumage, behavior and food based on the seasons, but they also make mind-bending migrations across continents and oceans in response to them. These movements and behaviors add a dimension to the year-round changes for those of us who watch birds. Each season brings something new, something different, something that demands that we sit up and pay attention.
Birdwatching for beginners: Learn how to start birding.
Watching Birds in Winter
A common redpoll sits on a branch with a dusting of snow.
Winter can seem dark, cold and lifeless for a bird watcher. Those of us who live in the northern part of the country (very far north in my case of Fairbanks, Alaska) are accustomed to snow, frigid temperatures and a landscape that can seem void of any living thing. From a winter birding perspective it can be monotonous. Common feeder birds flit in and out, the same few species, day in and day out. We long for the days of spring and summer.
But then, during one of our periodic glances out the window, something different appears. A pine grosbeak, perhaps, a northern shrike or a red-breasted nuthatch. The new bird flies into the branches, scattering a flurry of snow as it lands. The colors and patterns of the new arrival help us forget about the cold, the dark and the monochromatic landscape. We become entranced by the bird at hand.
This is winter birding for me in the interior of Alaska, but a similar story can be told by a bird watcher virtually anywhere. In western Washington state, where I attended college, winter was one of the finest times of year for birding as species from across the North congregated in the wetlands and estuaries. And although there was far more diversity in those wet coastal forests than here in Alaska, one trait remained constant: Things often seemed the same, day after day. Rain there, snow here. The species were usually the same, though there were far more of them. But the rarities and the surprises served to remind me that despite the apparent monotony, things were not always the same after all.
Discover 7 types of finch birds to look for in winter.
Winter Bird Watcher Checklist
Add an electric deicer to your birdbath, or buy a birdbath with a built-in heater. Birds need water every day, even when it’s cold out.
Notice robins and bluebirds that stick around in cold and snow. These birds don’t always head south in winter. But their habits may change—they often travel in flocks this time of year.
Brush snow and ice off your feeders and your flowers, and keep berry bushes clear. Birds are most vulnerable after a snowstorm or ice storm. You can also use part of your cleared driveway for ground feeding, so juncos can easily find their millet.
Look for irrupters—species that suddenly show up where they’re not usually seen in winter. Flocks of evening grosbeaks, pine siskins, redpolls and crossbills often do this.
Discover 5 foods you should feed birds in winter.
The Joys of Spring Birding
Spring birding is full of activity, including mating and nesting.
The pleasures of being a bird watcher really come to light during the changes of the seasons. Wherever you live in North America, the appearance of the first migrants is a cause for celebration. It is a sign that winter has lost its grip and the warmth of spring is not far away. Every spring day is a bit like Christmas because there is bound to be a new gift waiting, if one is willing to look for it. In the South, the first signs of spring may not be the arrival of a new species but the sudden absence of the winter residents. Meanwhile, farther north we wait for the arrival of those same species: snow buntings, juncos, longspurs or robins. Spring is a fleeting time of sudden and constant change. It forces our attention, incites the desire to step outside, to listen and to watch.
Spring is also a time of sudden and ephemeral abundance. Weather patterns and migration occasionally coincide to create what are known as “fall-outs.” Like construction on an interstate, bad weather can create a traffic jam of sorts along the migration route. Countless birds can be caught up behind the storms, waiting for their chance to move north once again. This phenomenon is particularly dramatic along the Gulf of Mexico and the Great Lakes, where flocks of migrants sometimes descend from the sky, decorating the shrubs and trees like colorful, living ornaments. Migration, of course, is not always so dramatic. Often it is as simple as backyards, recently silent, newly filled with the sounds of birds. Not all species arrive at the same time. The sparrows are often first, heralding the arrival of others. Birds arrive one species after another until the last wave of wings has flowed north up the continent.
When should you put out hummingbird feeders in spring?
Spring Birding Checklist
Make sure your birdhouses are ready to go. Bluebirds are among the earliest nesters. They use man-made housing and like it facing open fields. Mount the proper house about 5 feet high on a pole, and keep an eye on it to make sure house sparrows don’t move in. Learn how to make a DIY bluebird house.
Use cling decals on your windows to keep spring migrants from crashing into the glass. In spring and fall, more birds are on the move, making them more likely to die from run-ins with windows. Learn how to help a bird that flew into a window.
Remember that not all birdhouses are suited for your favorite fliers. Find our birdhouse guidelines, or check with a local backyard-bird store to find out which houses are suitable for your resident birds.
Offer birds nesting materials. Put these in a mesh bag or an empty suet cage—the birds will love it.
Get ready for baby birds with tips for bird nesting season.
Summer’s Flurry of Birding Activity
The colors of summer make watching birds especially fun.
When the blasts of heat arrive with summer, the birds change their tunes. They, like us, settle into a routine. Summer, so different from winter in many respects, surprisingly bears some similarities. It can be a time of apparent stagnation. But, unlike the cold months, it is the stagnation of a tropical lake. Still, yes, but filled with expanding life as nests are constructed, eggs laid and hatched, nestlings fed and eventually fledged. The species may not change all that much, but the birds are boisterous and multiplying.
The mottled browns and streaky plumage of the first juvenile sparrows challenge the identification skills of the most astute birder. Then as observers get a grasp on the sparrows, fledgling warblers and flycatchers appear, and the challenge begins anew. Confusing us more, adult birds look worn and tattered, like the tired parents they are, and seem to sulk in the brush, exhausted. Watching birds at this time is challenging and exciting. For a few weeks in July and August the trees are again filled, as fledglings disperse and adults start to fuel up for the molt into their winter plumage and the migration to follow.
Discover 9 easy tips for feeding birds in summer.
Summer Bird Watcher Checklist
Learn how to tell if you’re seeing a juvenile bird. By the time young birds leave the nest, they’re almost as big as their parents. So watch for clues—such as youngsters flapping their wings begging for food or looking rumpled as their feathers grow in.
Go on a nest hunt. See if you can spot a few nests hidden in the trees and shrubs.
Don’t assume young birds on the ground have been abandoned. In most cases, they don’t need our help at all. They’ve probably just left the nest, and the parents aren’t far away.
Keep an eye out for warblers and other fliers as they begin to head south for winter. Migration isn’t just a fall phenomenon. It starts in late summer.
Remember that not all birds will be in their typical spring plumage. Challenge yourself to identify the mystery fliers you see.
Meet the Vireo bird family: sweet summer singers.
Watching Birds During Fall Migration
In the fall, look to berry-producing trees and shrubs when bird watching for fruit-lovers like American robins and red-bellied woodpeckers.
One day in September a species or two goes missing. Like a party-goer who attends out of politeness or obligation, the last species to arrive is often the first to leave. Here in Alaska, the alder flycatcher, a species that spends only around 6 weeks on the breeding grounds, is the first to flee the North and start its journey to the far southern portion of South America. Soon another summer bird species follows, then another and another. By early September, in my neck of the woods, there is a veritable flurry of fluttering wings as one after another the migrants pick up and fly south, the first tendrils of winter brushing their retreating tails. As winter again grabs control of the landscape, left behind is a small cluster of resident birds breathing a sigh of relief as they reclaim the forests, fields and backyard feeders as their own.
Discover the top 5 birding hotspots for fall migration.
Fall Bird Watcher Checklist
Don’t forget to look for goldfinches. Even though they lose their familiar gold coloring in fall and winter, they’re still out there looking for seeds like thistle.
Watch for flickers eating ants and towhees searching for decaying matter before the ground freezes.
Keep track of your backyard visitors by writing them down. You can track patterns and behavior. Birds are creatures of habit. Next fall, you’ll have an even better idea of what you’ll see and when you’ll see it.
Check out the 9 best fall bird feeding tips
Here’s some perfect ways to get your kids to fall in love with nature play
Our Playing With Nature Series
How To Set Up A Backyard Bird-Watching Station For Kids
We’ve been really into bird-watching at our house! My girls have a little guide that shows us what kind of birds live in our area. I also bought several nature field guides that have lots of info about the birds native to our state. A few months back, I set up a backyard bird-watching station for them to watch the birds while we ate our breakfast and lunch.
We also have a lovely window near our dining room table that allows us to see directly out while we eat! So I thought I would share a quick post on how to set up a backyard bird-watching station for kids. Keep reading to see what you need!
How To Set Up A Backyard Bird-Watching Station For Kids
Where should you put your bird watching station?
A bird-watching station is such a great way to get a front row seat to bird activity! It’s helped us learn so many of the common birds in our area! We love watching them eat too! If you’re interested in setting up a birdwatching station, consider where you spend most of your time. Obviously, you’ll need it to be somewhere near a window. I’ve read that you want to hang it either close to the house (3 feet) or far away but still in the yard (10 feet) to make sure the birds feel safe and don’t accidentally fly into the house or windows. We have ours set up right outside our dining room window!
What do you need to set up a bird-watching station?
01. Bird feeder
There are several types of bird feeders. There are wild bird feeders, trays, and even hummingbird feeders. We picked up a wild bird feeder at our local hardware store, but if you’re ordering online this is almost the exact one we bought. It’s easy to use, and fairly easy to clean as well! It really comes down to the types of birds you’re hoping to see, so make sure you talk about that with your kids before you decide on one! Or you can just get one of each!
02. Bird food
If you have a wild bird feeder, you’ll want some wild bird food. This one is a good option. If you have a hummingbird feeder, you’ll want to get some sugar water! Either way, make sure you have something that the birds will actually want to eat!
03. Binoculars
You’ll want some good binoculars so you can see the birds up close! It’s a good idea to have a couple if you have multiple kids. The birds don’t stay for a long time, so having more to go around ensures everyone can see it before it flies away!
This is the backyard bird guide we have. It’s a very straightforward, and kid-friendly guide. I’ve actually learned a lot about backyard birds from reading it too! When you or your children spot a bird, look it up and read about it! You’d be surprised at how much they remember!
05. Nature Journal
Keep a notebook and some writing utensils near the space so that your family can record and draw what they see each time they spot a new bird. Maybe they write notes about the type of bird, or what it was doing. Maybe they write their own creative story about the birds that visit! The sky is the limit!
I hope this blog post about how to set up a backyard bird-watching station for kids was helpful to you! Thank you so much for reading!
How to Birdscape a Small Yard:
Tips and Tricks
Bird populations have declined by 54% in North America since 1970, largely due to habitat loss. This alarming trend highlights the need for sustainable solutions. One powerful idea is transforming traditional lawns into thriving habitats using native plants.
Research by Doug Tallamy shows that replacing half of U.S. lawns with native plants could create a 20-million-acre wildlife habitat. This space would be nine times the size of Yellowstone National Park. Such changes benefit not only birds but also bees, butterflies, and bats.
Traditional lawns consume 9 billion gallons of water daily and contribute to 5% of urban air pollution. By embracing birdscaping, you can create a climate-resilient backyard that supports nature and reduces environmental impact.
North American bird populations have declined by 54% since 1970.
Native plants can transform lawns into massive wildlife habitats.
Birdscaping benefits entire ecosystems, including pollinators.
Traditional lawns use 9 billion gallons of water daily.
Birdscaping is a sustainable alternative to traditional landscaping.
Introduction to Birdscaping
Birdscaping transforms ordinary spaces into vibrant wildlife sanctuaries. It’s about designing your backyard to support bird species by providing food, water, and shelter. This intentional approach mimics natural habitats, creating a haven for North American birds and other creatures.
Traditional lawns often lack the diversity needed to sustain nature. In contrast, birdscaping focuses on native plants that attract insects, which in turn feed birds. This approach not only beautifies your space but also supports regional biodiversity.
Programs like the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat initiative encourage homeowners to create bird-friendly yards. These certified spaces serve as mini-reserves, offering essential resources like water drinking stations and nesting sites.
Birdscaping also plays a crucial role in supporting migratory species. By connecting these spaces, we create corridors that help birds travel safely. This interconnectedness benefits entire ecosystems, from pollinators to larger wildlife.
Embracing birdscaping is more than a trend—it’s a commitment to preserving nature in our own backyards. By making small changes, we can have a big impact on the environment and the creatures that call it home.
How to Birdscape a Small Yard: Key Principles
Creating a bird-friendly space starts with understanding the essentials of habitat design. By focusing on native plants, water features, and shelter, you can transform your outdoor area into a thriving ecosystem. These elements work together to attract and support a variety of bird species.
Go Native with Plants
Native plants are the foundation of any bird-friendly yard. They provide food and shelter while supporting local insects, which are a crucial food source for birds. For example, native evergreens like juniper offer year-round cover and protected sites for nesting. Choosing plants native to your region ensures they thrive with minimal maintenance.
Incorporate Water Features
Water is essential for birds, especially during hot summers or dry seasons. Adding a birdbath, shallow pond, or even a small fountain can make your space more inviting. Ensure the water is clean and shallow enough for birds to drink and bathe safely.
Provide Shelter and Cover
Birds need safe spaces to rest, hide from predators, and build nests. Brush piles made from 3-foot base logs and loose branches create excellent ground cover, hosting 78% more ground-foraging species. Dead trees, or snags, are also vital, as 63% of nesting birds use cavities in them. If natural cover is limited, consider alternatives like roost boxes.
Leaving leaf litter in your yard supports 93% of moth larvae, which are a key food source for birds. These small changes can make a big difference in creating a welcoming habitat. For more tips, check out the Sierra Club’s guide on birdscaping.
Year-Round Birdscaping Strategies
Supporting bird populations throughout the year requires thoughtful planning and strategic choices. By adapting your backyard to meet their needs in every season, you can create a reliable food source and safe haven for birds.
Seasonal Plant Selection
Choosing the right plants for each season ensures your yard remains vibrant and inviting. In spring and summer, focus on flowering natives that attract insects, a crucial food source for birds. Fall and winter plants, like evergreens and berry-producing shrubs, provide shelter and sustenance during colder months.
Winter Feeding Tips
Winter can be challenging for birds, but high-fat diets boost survival rates by 40%. Offer suet cakes and seed mixes to provide essential energy. Avoid cheap filler seeds like milo, which are less nutritious.
Black-oil sunflower seeds are a universal favorite, attracting a wide variety of species.
Nyjer seeds are ideal for finches and other small birds.
Use squirrel-proof feeders, like the Brome Squirrel Solution, to keep food accessible to birds.
Place suet cages on the north side of your yard for shade and freshness.
Avoid bread and rice, which can expand in birds’ stomachs and cause harm.
Offer mealworms for bluebirds and insectivores, especially in colder months.
By implementing these strategies, you can ensure your backyard remains a thriving habitat for birds all year long.
Maximizing Small Spaces for Birdscaping
Even in limited areas, creating a bird-friendly environment is achievable with smart design. Small yards or patios can still become thriving habitats for diverse bird species. By focusing on strategic elements like container gardening and vertical space, you can maximize every square foot.
Container Gardening for Birds
Container gardening is an excellent way to bring nature into compact spaces. Use large pots for native shrubs like serviceberry or viburnum, which provide food and shelter. Pair them with groundcover plants like sedges for a layered effect. Wall-mounted planters are perfect for ferns or coral bells, adding greenery without taking up floor space.
Creative Use of Vertical Space
Vertical space is a game-changer for small yards. Ivy-covered trellises host 22% more nesting birds, while repurposed ladders can serve as plant stands. Install nest boxes at heights of 5-15 feet, with east-facing entries for optimal placement. Purple martin houses, mounted on 15-foot poles, are ideal for attracting specific bird species.
Tiered planting: Combine tall trees, mid-height shrubs, and groundcover for a multi-layered habitat.
Wall-mounted planters: Perfect for ferns, coral bells, and other shade-loving plants.
Nest box placement: Ensure boxes are 5-15 feet high with east-facing entries.
Repurposed ladders: Use as plant stands to save space.
Fire escape gardening: Check local laws for urban gardening opportunities.
By leveraging these strategies, you can transform even the smallest backyard into a haven for birds. Every detail, from plant selection to nest box placement, contributes to a thriving ecosystem.
Conclusion
Transforming your outdoor space into a certified wildlife habitat is a powerful way to help birds and support local ecosystems. By focusing on the five pillars—native plants, water, shelter, seasonal food, and space optimization—you can create a thriving haven for birds and other wildlife.
Consider certifying your yard through the National Wildlife Federation. This recognition ensures your space meets essential criteria like providing food, water, and sustainable practices. It’s a meaningful step toward making a difference in your region.
Be a good friend and build a birds nest.
For centuries man has been obsessed with birds and flight. These bird-watching activities for kids will help to increase knowledge about birds and their daily activities. And, more importantly, they're just plain fun to do!
These bird-watching activities are designed with kids in mind and can be easily completed in no time. Each activity is thoroughly explained, and once you complete one, you'll be flying high for more.
Bird's Little Helper Activity
In the springtime, birds are on the lookout for nesting material. Be a bird's little helper and give them a hand with this bird-friendly activity.
What You'll Need:
String
Scissors
Short strips of old rags
Other nest lining
You can encourage birds to nest in your area if you provide them with natural nesting materials or artificial materials that birds will accept as well as the natural ones.
Cut pieces of string into lengths no longer than three inches (or birds can get tangled in it). Short, narrow strips of rag are also useful to birds. Feathers from an old feather pillow are often acceptable as nest lining. If your family discards lawn clippings, save some to dry and give to the birds.
String, rags, and dried grass can be laid out on the ground or on branches of shrubs for birds to pick up. Hang a used berry basket up on a tree limb and fill it with bits of lint or with small feathers.
If you have swallows in your yard, try this trick: In the spring when the swallows first return, go outdoors in an area where you've seen swallows and hold afluffy white feather in your fingertips as high as you can.
The swallows will dive at the feather until one gets brave enough to snatch it from your fingers and take it home to its nest.
Ever wondered about the bird that left that feather in your backyard? Continue to the next page to learn about a fun feather activity.
Search for Birds' Feathers Activity
Who does that feather belong to?
Finding a feather is a wonderful treat. So why not try this search for birds' feathers activity and find a natural treasure in your own backyard?
Grab a paper lunch sack, slip on your sneakers, and head outside.
What You'll Need:
Brown paper lunch bag
Gardening gloves (optional)
Walking stick
Spiral notebook
Tape
Markers
Keep your eyes peeled. Remember that feathers are light and easily caught by the wind, so carefully use your gloves and walking stick to rummage through piles of natural debris blown against large stones or fallen logs.
When you find your feathers, slip them into your paper bag for safekeeping until you get home. Once you do, ask your parents or adult neighbors if they can help you identify what bird lost each feather.
Use library books or the Internet to find pictures of the birds. Tape the feathers inside a spiral notebook and make a few notes about what secrets
each one revealed.
Be sure to wash your hands with soap and warm water whenever you handle wild feathers of any kind. Feathers can carry germs.
Read on to the next page and learn about how to build a bird's nest, you'll be glad you did.
Animal Treats in a Tree Activity
This activity will leave your neighborhood animals appreciating your creativity and your generosity. Follow the instructions in this Animal Treats in a Tree Activity to give local animals a well-deserved treat!
What You'll Need:
Tree
Animal treats
Rake
This activity is fun to do in winter time, but you can do it any time. Pick a tree in a somewhat secluded spot. In the afternoon, decorate the tree with edible treats for animals.
You could use fruit (pieces of apple, pear, or banana; grapes), nuts, bread smeared with peanut butter, vegetables, chunks of cheese, or anything else you think animals would enjoy.
After you've finished, rake the ground around the tree until it is smooth.
Come back the next morning to see what treats were eaten and what tracks were left.
If you can find an adult who will come with you, you can visit your tree at night and see the animals that come there.
To find out how you can stay as warm as a bird in winter, continue on to the next project.
Feather Down Activity
Can you stay as warm as this little fellow?
How warm are our feathered friends? Try this feather down activity and see for yourself.
What You'll Need:
Down jacket or comforter
Regular jacket or comforter
It's hard to believe feathers keep a bird so warm even when rain falls
and snow flies. You can find out how it works by wrapping yourself in it. What is down? In simple terms, down is a layer of feathers.
On a bird, down is the term for its fluffy little feathers, rather than its long, spiny quills. In coats and bedspreads, down is a stuffing of small feathers, whether fluffy or not.
No matter what the definition, the way down works remains the same. Layers of natural feathers hold warmth in. So wrap up warmly in a down jacket or bedspread (ask permission before you use the bedspread) and head out into a frosty winter day.
Stand in the cold for a few minutes. Now go inside and change into a regular jacket or wrap up in an ordinary cotton blanket. Spend a few moments in the same cold. Which wrap kept you warmer? Nine times out of ten, down will win.
Goin' South
In the winter, most birds migrate to warmer temperatures -- in the United States, that means they go hundreds or even thousands of miles toward the south, where down coats aren't needed.
Do you eat like a bird? Continue reading to the next page to find out!
Eat Like a Bird Activity
Can you eat as much as birds do?
Think birds don't eat very much? Try this eat like a bird activity and think again. When people say, "You eat like a bird," they often mean you hardly eat anything at all. But modern bird scientists (called "ornithologists") have a different perspective.
They say that although birds do eat tiny mouthfuls of food, they do so hundreds and hundreds of times each day. They have to eat a lot just to keep their energetic little bodies moving.
What You'll Need:
Ordinary meals broken up into about two dozen tiny meals
One free day
So why not try a bird's eating habits for size? You might not want to feast on invertebrates (bugs & worms), but you can try to eat your food gradually, one tiny bite at a time.
See how it affects your energy levels. See how it affects those hunger pains you usually feel three times a day. You may never look at birds the same way again.
Continue reading to the next page to find out if you can keep a nest nice and warm just like a bird.
Warm Bird's Nest Activity
Can you keep these eggs nice and warm?
It may look easy to be a mother bird. After all, all they do is sit, right? Wrong. Experts say bird embryos undergo 42 different stages of growth inside the egg. If the mother doesn't turn and care for each egg, the chick might not survive.
So if you've ever wondered what it takes to change a nest full of eggs into baby birds, check out this warm bird's nest activity and find out by warming a nest of your own!
What You'll Need:
Large "nest" of straw or leaves
Plastic Easter eggs
Companion
Make a nest out of straw and leaves and then sit still on a few plastic eggs of your own. Keep all the eggs warm to the touch. Turn them all over at least once or twice an hour.
And don't forget, you'll need a friend or pretend bird mate to bring you food and give you potty breaks if you're going to pull this experiment off.
Sit for three or four hours to get an idea of how much it takes to raise a baby bird. You'll understand just how important a mother bird is to her unborn babies.
Raising Chicks
Not all birds raise their babies the same way. In some species of birds, both mothers and fathers take care of the little ones, but most birds rely more on the female to handle the rearing and the male to find food.
Is your night vision as good as an owl's? Find out with this fun owl eyes activity.
Owl Eyes Activity
Is your night vision as good as an owl's?
Can an owl really see better than you at night? Try this owl eyes activity and shed some light on your night vision.
What You'll Need:
Binoculars
When it's almost dark, go outside and try your best to see. (Go to an area where there are no outdoor lights.) Pay attention to how much you can see: the outline of a tree or house? A cat moving?
Now, look through binoculars. Can you see more?
You can see better through binoculars because they take in more light than your eyes can. But even with binoculars, you're no match for an owl. Owls' eyes take in about 100 times more light than yours, so they can see quite well at night.
Continue to the next page and learn how to grow a plant for your bird friends.
Plant For Your Birdies Activity
Make a happy new home for your bird friends.
Why not plan your gardens around the birds you want to attract? Studies show birds prefer these five types of plants when searching for the ideal place to nest and live.
What You'll Need:
Seeds
Tree saplings
Flower starts
Evergreens provide cover, winter shelter, and summer nesting sites. Grass (especially if not mowed during nesting season) provides cover for ground-nesting birds. Nectar-producing plants (especially red blossoms) attract hummingbirds and orioles.
Fruiting trees and bushes, like cherry trees and grapevines, attract dozens of species of birds for obvious (and tasty) reasons. Be sure to plant trees or bushes that bear fruit every season.
Nut and acorn plants, such as oaks, chestnuts, walnuts, and hazelnuts, are good for birds to eat and provide good nesting sites.
Continue reading to the next page to learn how to help out your bird friends with a fun "ring the bells" activity.
Ring the Bells Activity
Domestic house cats on the prowl instinctively hunt birds, and even though it's a part of nature, they are responsible for the decline of many American songbirds. You can help even the odds with this Ring the Bells Activity.
What You'll Need:
Large jingle bells
String
Safe scissors
Ladder
Go to your local craft store and buy the kind of jingle bells you might use during the holiday season. With adult help, tie the bells (on strings) to the lower branches of your songbirds' favorite roost.
When cats climb or jump to the lower branches, the birds will have a little extra warning -- and time to escape.
Want to learn how to make some delicious egg treats? Continue to the next page and find out.
Robin's Egg Treats Activity
These robin's egg treats are yummy and delicious!
Real Robin eggs might not taste like jellybeans, but the eggs in this Robin's egg treats activity do!
What You'll Need:
11/3 cups flaked coconut
Cookie sheets
3 bowls
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon orange peel
Shortening
1 cup small jellybeans
Be sure to have an adult help you with this project.
HOW TO MAKE ROBIN'S EGG TREATS:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spread coconut on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until coconut begins to brown; stir occasionally.
Step 2: Put toasted coconut in a bowl.
Step 3: Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy. Add egg and lemon extract; beat until smooth.
Step 4: Combine flour, salt, and orange peel in a medium bowl. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; blend.
Step 5: Separate dough into 36 small balls; roll each ball in toasted coconut until completely covered. Place each dough ball 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.
Step 6: Using your thumb, make a dent in the center of each ball.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the coconut is golden brown. Remove to wire racks and cool completely. Put jellybean "eggs" in the indentations of cooled cookies. Makes 3 dozen treats.
Continue to the next page and learn how to make your own birdbath -- the neighborhood birds will love it!
Birdbath Activity
Splish-splash, this birdie is enjoying his bath.
Birds like bathing in shallow water, and you can make the perfect bath for them using an upturned garbage can lid.
What You'll Need:
Garbage can lid
Pebbles
Water
Terra cotta flowerpot (optional)
Fill the lid with a layer of pebbles so that it's weighted down and will stay put. Set the garbage can lid on top of a stump in your yard or on top of a terra cotta flowerpot. Fill the lid with water, and wait for all those birdies!
Ever wondered how fast it takes for a bird to reach the sky? Continue to the next page for an activity that will help you find out.
Stopwatch Bird Activity
How long does it take the average bird to go from land to air? It depends on the bird, but you can do your own personal study to find out more. Take your stopwatch outside to your favorite bird sanctuary.
What You'll Need:
Stopwatch
Paper
Pencil or pen
The instant you see a bird take off, hit the "start" button. Stop timing when the bird reaches a clear sky. Make a note of the time you've logged and the kind of bird that set that pace.
Now search for another kind of bird and repeat the process. When you compare notes, you'll be amazed by the individual start-to-finish potential of different birds.
Birds and balloons -- what could be more fun? Learn how to make your very own elegant balloon swan on the next page.
Fun & Easy Ways To Get Kids Into Birding
Get them started on a lifelong hobby.
You can watch and wonder about birds whether you’re age 2 or 92. Birding is a fantastic hobby for all ages, and relates to science, literacy, and math. It’s flexible to many different settings—even a window will do—but encourages a connection to nature, regardless. It also encourages slowing down to look and listen carefully—good for all of us to practice!
Best of all, it’s easy to get into birding. Here are plenty of simple entry points to get kids interested in birds at school or home, along with our favorite bird books and educational materials.
Just a heads up, WeAreTeachers may collect a share of sales from the links on this page. We only recommend items our team loves!
1. Pique interest with a great book.
The best nature books both answer kids’ questions and get them asking new ones. We love Curious About Birds by Cathryn Sill to introduce bird behaviors and types to younger kiddos, or Feathers: Not Just for Flying by Melissa Stewart for getting older kids to think about what makes birds unique.
2. Learn about common birds.
Birding becomes more intriguing and satisfying when you know what you’re looking at. We love to share Every Day Birds by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater to help kids get to know some of the most frequent fliers. Older kids can peruse the post Get to Know These 15 Common Birds from Audubon, too.
3. Go on a bird walk.
Birding is a great excuse to get out for a stroll. Even if kids are reluctant walkers, many are more eager to head out to meet a birding challenge. Introduce the idea of walking with a bird-related purpose with Ruby’s Birds by Mya Thompson, a story about a girl who learns about birding on a walk through Central Park.
4. Tally Your bird Sightings
Focusing on a bird’s location can be simpler than looking for specific types of birds. This free printable invites kids to tally birds they see on the ground, in the air, in the water and on trees.
5. Try “bird listening.”
It can often be easier to hear birds than see them, and even very young kids can learn to listen for and identify bird songs. Noisy Bird Sing-Along by John Himmelman gives kids a simple introduction to bird calls. Or, browse Audubon’s Guide to North American Birds website to play samples of calls of birds found in your area.
6. Practice using binoculars.
While using binoculars can be challenging for kids, having tools of the trade can go a long way to making a birding experience feel legit. A reliable set made for kids is a good place to start. We love Playco Binoculars for Kids. This tip from Audubon’s “The Birdist” is also helpful to share with kids: “Lock onto the bird with your bare eyes, slowly raise the binoculars up without moving, and you will be looking in the right place.”
7. Or make your own pair!
Source: @small_world_dayhome
DIY “binoculars” are perfect for getting kids into the birding spirit. Provide simple materials and see how they tackle the task or give them specific directions to follow.
8. Set up a birding spot.
All you really need is a window or a quiet corner outdoors. (You could add binoculars and an observation journal or checklist to make it feel more official, of course.) Challenge kids to patiently wait, watch, and share their findings.
9. Draw or photograph the birds you see.
Birding connects so naturally to scientific drawing. Start with a basic lesson on how to draw a bird, such as this one from SuperSimpleDraw. Then ask kids to choose a bird they saw and draw it. Add labels or descriptive sentences for a literacy connection!
10. Study birds’ nests.
If you’re lucky enough to find an accessible bird’s nest to observe over time, of course, do it. Otherwise, there are plenty of nest-related books like Robbins!: How They Grow Up by Eileen Christelow or The Nest That Wren Built by Randi Sonenshine. We love a simple invitation for kids to try making their own nests , too.
11. Put up a feeder.
Feeders are a great way to attract birds for convenient viewing. You can even attach one like this to your window! Project FeederWatch at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a great interactive list of common feeder birds to help kids learn who’s visiting their feeders.
12. Or make a feeder!
Source: @clarkandbell.play
There are endless ways to make DIY bird feeders; you can keep it super-simple with a toilet paper tube spread with peanut butter and dipped in birdseed, or check out 32 homemade birdfeeder ideas from Happy Hooligans.
13. Look for what birds left behind.
Kids love to be bird detectives. Even if you can’t find birds, kids can hunt for signs birds have been somewhere, like feathers, cracked seeds, nests … and yes, even poop.
14. Play bird bingo.
We love a good bingo game to build background knowledge and interest. This one from Laurence King publishing is a fave. After playing, try to spot some of the birds in real life!
15. Go “birding” inside.
Source: @the.silvan.reverie
Is your weather or location not conducive to actual birding? Make it an indoor game instead. Grab a set of bird flashcards and hang some up around the room. Give kids clues or a scavenger hunt list and ask them to find specific birds. We love Backyard Birds Flashcards from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology or David Allen Sibley’s Backyard Birding Flashcards. For more indoor birdwatching-related activities, Birding Adventures for Kids: Activities and Ideas for Watching, Feeding, and Housing our Feathered Friends by Elissa Wolfson has a whole chapter on the topic!
16. Use a field guide.
There are tons of great bird field guides for kids. For carrying with us while birding, we love Stan Tekiela’s Quick Adventure Guides, which are organized by bird color for ease of use. For more information, we like Peterson Field Guides’ The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America by Bill Thompson III.
17. Use a birding app.
Source: Audubon Birds of North America
There are lots of bird ID and checklist apps available that kids love to use. Our favorites are Audubon Birds of North America and eBird.
18. Join a citizen science project.
There are citizen science efforts of all shapes and sizes related to counting and protecting birds. This list for educators from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology shares several notable ones.
To introduce bird-related citizen science, we love to read aloud Bird Count by Susan Edwards Richmond. This personal narrative is based on the author’s experience participating in Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count throughout her childhood. The enthusiasm it conveys for participating in a bird count is definitely contagious!
19. Contribute to a conservation effort.
Kids have a natural instinct to want to protect their feathered friends. Have them research bird conservation tips relevant to your area, such as these for
How to Become a Bird-Friendly Beach Goer
. Involve them to make signage to teach others, or adapt their own behavior to help keep birds safe. One of our favorite bird books,
Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf
by kid-author and illustrator Olivia Bouler, shows kids how even young people can have a big impact.
Plus, the best outdoor toys for kids.
How to Identify Birds:
Teaching yourself how to identify birds is one of the best ways to learn more about them. This birding activity can keep children busy for hours as they look for field marks and other identifying characteristics to identify the birds they see and look up the birds they don’t know in a bird field guide.
Identifying birds requires keen observation and attention to detail. Start by noting the bird’s size, shape, appearance, coloration, and distinctive markings. Field marks are physical characteristics such as color, size, shape, the type of beak or bill, and other identifying markings that make each bird unique.
Pay attention to specific features such as bill shape, wing shape, and tail length, as these field marks can vary significantly between bird species. It’s also a good idea to note the bird’s behavior, habitat, and the time of year and location where you spotted it, as these factors can provide valuable clues for identification.
Listening to the bird’s calls and songs can also help narrow down its species. Utilize field guides, birding apps, or online resources to compare your observations and confirm the bird’s identity. With practice and patience, you and your children or students will become more adept at confidently identifying birds. The recommended resources below can help:
Best Online Bird Guides and Apps for Identifying Birds:
The National Audubon Society has an online guide to help children identify birds, available HERE.
All About Birds by Cornell Lab of Ornithology is another excellent online bird guide available HERE.
Merlin Bird Idand eBird are fantastic free birding apps you can use to help identify birds you see and hear.
Backyard Bird Watching Observation Activity Ideas:
Thesebird-watching printables are an excellent nature study resource for kids and adults alike. The printable birding log book pages can help you count and record the number of birds you observe daily, weekly, or monthly. My daughter and I like to keep them in our homemade nature journals.
Photography & Some Just for Fun Birding Activities
photography While Birding
How to Photograph Birds
With a Smartphone
April 21, 2016 — You already own a powerful tool for snapping birds. Here’s how to make the most of it.
10 Tips for Photographing Birds
January 16, 2014 — A professional photographer, and past Audubon Magazine Photo Awards winner, offers advice for capturing stunning bird shots.
Six Tips for Photographing Birds from Boats
June 05, 2018 — For stunning shots of alcids and other ocean-loving species, get in their element.
Zoom Out: Tips for Photographing Birds in their Landscapes
Put down the telephoto lens, and you might just enhance your art.
Photographing Birds From a Boat:
A Guide to the Basics
For a whole new perspective, try a trip where you float.
How to Get the Right Exposure for Photographing Birds
July 07, 2016 — Mastering basic DSLR techniques like f-stops and shutter speeds will make your images stand out.
Why Closer Is Not Always Better When Photographing Birds
February 03, 2017 — The impulse to shoot your subject at close range can be powerful, but there are several reasons why that's not best for the animal—or the image.
10 Ways to Take Better Smartphone Photos
How to make the most out of the camera that you always have with you.
The Ultimate Guide to Nature and Outdoor Photography
Take control of your camera & capture stunning photos for the more
get the guide now!
How to Share Your
Kids’ Photographs
Kids’ Photographs
These apps, tools, and tips will connect your budding photographer to a broader community of bird enthusiasts.
Maybe your child took some great shots of neotropical migrants during your family birding vacation in Costa Rica. Or she’s successfully captured the story of the robins hatching and fledging in your backyard. What do you do with the photos now, so that they don't fade into obscurity on your home computer? Here are some ways to preserve and present them, either to your friends and family or to the broader community or birding world.
Preserve for Friends and Family
Print and frame the favorites. You can do this on a home printer using photo paper, or order prints in any size from an online service. Or you can turn a particularly vibrant image into something even more creative. The website Big Huge Labs lets you design all kinds of products, such as trading cards, jigsaw puzzles, and magazine covers (you can produce your own Audubon cover!).
Kodak Fun for Kids features DIY projects, such as a memory card game, that parents and children can make together using printed photos. Along with instructions, the site lists suggested skill levels, materials needed, and time requirements.
Share With Your Local Community
If your child has photos that tell the story of a birding trip, or a portfolio of images of local birds that they're excited about sharing with others, consider encouraging him or her to put together a slideshow. Google Slides is free to use and fairly intuitive. Venues such as a local school, public library, or Audubon chapter will likely welcome the presentation and provide the projector and screen.
Alternately, Animoto enables you to turn photos and video clips into stunning HD videos; you can even set them to music. Smilebox offers another way to create animated slideshows (and greeting cards, too). Your creations can then be emailed, posted to Facebook, or burned onto DVDs. Both sites offer a free trial period if you want to check them out before purchasing a year’s subscription.
Consider putting together a photo display that could be mounted at a local community center or as part of an event, like an Earth Day celebration. Are there nature centers in your area that could use photos to promote education and awareness about local wildlife?
Establish a school photography club to help your child and others link up to share their photos. Inquire at the school to see if there’s interest; the art teacher is often a good place to start. eBird also offers some tips on How to Start a New Club. Though aimed expressly at birding, its “Young Birders Club Toolkit” can be tailored to form a club that focuses on bird photography as well.
Share With an Online Community
Contribute to science and conservation by sharing photos of birds while also reporting sightings to the eBird database. eBird is both a real-time, online checklist program and a global citizen-science project. The observations provide scientists, educators, and conservation biologists with data about bird distribution and abundance around the world. The data have been used in a wide variety of applications, from highlighting the importance of public lands to studies on evolution. Plus, eBird is a great way to kickstart a conversation with your child about conservation and maintain his or her own individual checklist.
There are a number of blogging sites geared specifically toward kids. Kidblog, Doodlekit, and Edublogs are three good options. These all enable parents or a teacher to control who can view and comment. The website Kids Learn to Blog offers resources for both children and parents to lead them through the process, with helpful guides such as How to Start a Blog for Kids Under 13 and videos on how to blog for those more visually oriented. You can find a great collection of blogs maintained by young birders at Ebird’s Young Birders’ Blogs.
While social media may give some parents pause, developers have created a couple of photo-sharing apps explicitly for young users. PopJam, otherwise known as ‘Instagram for kids,’ allows children under the age of 13 to comment and share photos, as well as draw doodles in response to each other. With Kuddle, kids can add captions to their photos but can't comment or tag in order to prevent bullying.
If your child is 13 or older, he or she can create Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter accounts to share images and network with other young photographers. Instagram is a particularly good platform for highlighting bird photography; tagging the species and location will help catch the attention of like-minded Instagrammers.
Look Up! Bird-Watching
in Your Own Backyard
Birds are by far the easiest to see of all wild creatures – no matter where you live or how big or small (or nonexistent) your backyard might be. Which makes bird watching one of the easiest ways for kids to connect with nature right at home.But is bird watching really fun? If you’re not convinced yet, you need to check out Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard. I was … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Invite Birds to Your Yard
If you haven’t heard by now, let me be the first to share with you an idea for outdoor fun with the kids this weekend: Participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). It starts Fri., Feb. 15 and runs through Mon., Feb. 18, 2013. I’ll be talking more specifics about the GBBC later this week. But for today, I want to focus on a few ways you can invite birds to your yard. … [Read more...]
Day 21: Watch Backyard Birds
Welcome to Day 21 of 31 Days of Backyard Nature Fun, a month-long series offering simple ways to get outside exploring the natural world. To see activities from earlier this month, head here. One of the activities I recommended earlier this month was making a pinecone birdfeeder – in part as a way to get to know the birds that call your backyard home. Now it’s time to … [Read more...]
Backyard Nature Fun – Day 5:
Make a pinecone birdfeeder
I’m excited that so many of you are enjoying the ideas I’ve been sharing here during our 31 Days of Backyard Nature Fun. I’m hopeful that you’ll feel inspired to head outside and into nature this weekend with your kiddos. Start simple: Make a goal to spend at least 15 minutes exploring the natural world right outside your back door. Do you know what critters call your backyard … [Read more...]
Birdseed Ornaments
Nature fun idea No. 4 on our Countdown to Christmas list was to design birdseed ornaments.This is a great activity for cold winter days when you’re looking for an indoor activity that connects kids to nature. Kids will enjoy mixing up the ingredients, but know that molding the birdseed ornaments is a slow process – it’ll take several hours to an entire evening before these … [Read more...]
String Fresh Garland for the Birds
Nature fun idea No. 1 on our Countdown to Christmas list was to string popcorn and cranberry garland for the birds. This is one of those activities best done slowly. There’s no reason to rush. The fun is in sitting together, connecting and trying to see what kind of creations you can come up with. Allow anywhere from 15 minutes to much longer, depending on your child’s … [Read more...]
Kid-Friendly Tips for Backyard Bird Watching
In case you haven’t heard, this year’s Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) took place this past weekend. The annual four-day event encourages bird watchers of all ages to count birds in their own backyard. The goal: To create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent.If you missed the big event, don’t worry! You can go bird watching with kids in your … [Read more...]
Fun Friday: Bird Watching Scavenger Hunt
Fun Friday activities are quick-and-simple ways to explore nature in your own backyard. Last weekend’s family nature club adventure found us bird watching at Malibu Lagoon State Beach. I thought a bird watching scavenger hunt was in order, so I created one. A scavenger hunt is a great way to make bird watching fun, especially for younger kids and those new to bird … [Read more...]
9 Tips for Bird Watching With Kids
I can’t believe I’m writing this post. Before I started this blog, I had zero interest in birds. In fact, I used to joke that I loved watching wildlife – except when it came to the birds. It wasn’t until I started actually inviting birds into our backyard and watching them more closely that I became such a huge fan. I love that they’re one aspect of nature we can enjoy … [Read more...]
Fun Friday: Start a Bird Book or Journal
Fun Friday activities are quick-and-simple ways to explore nature in your own backyard. (Use photographs if your kids can not or do not enjoy drawing.) After our birdwatching adventure last weekend, the big explorer and I were gushing about all of our favorite sightings. It seemed like the perfect time to start writing them down. Hence the idea for a bird book. We decided we should start with the birds we see … [Read more...]
Fun Friday: Make a Pinecone Birdfeeder
Fun Friday activities are quick-and-simple ways to explore nature in your own backyard. The idea: Create an eco-friendly birdfeeder using string, peanut butter and pinecones.This idea was inspired by fellow nature-loving blogger, Marghanita of the Little Humbugs. She even posted a great video on collecting pinecones and making the feeders, which is how we knew what to … [Read more...]
Fun Friday: Backyard Bird Watching
Consider this Fun Friday 2.0: I’ll still be sharing simple, quick ideas for nature play, but in a slightly new-and-improved format. Thought you might find it entertaining (and hopefully, helpful) to hear how each of the activities I recommend fared with my own little explorers. Here goes …The idea: Head out to your backyard to bird watch.Our notes from the field: A few weeks … [Read more...]
