a gypsy caravan

ruby throated hummingbirds

The kids and I have enjoyed watching, feeding, studying and sketching birds this spring and summer.  I wish I had the time or expertise to post elaborate bird study lesson plans, complete with bird crafts, picture books and bird related food items but I am just a simple (very pregnant) woman with limited time and energy. :)  Fact is we are reading one bird here and there from Comstock's book, looking it up in a field guide (I like the St. Martin's press pocket guides) and then sketching it in our nature notebooks.  Nothing fancy but we are all learning nonetheless.

We have set up two hummingbird feeders near our front porch and have visitors at least once or twice per minute.  We were surprised to find out that of the many species of hummingbirds, only one lives east of the Rocky Mountains.  The Ruby Throated Hummingbird is our only visitor, though we have plenty of variety between males, females and younglings. They are hard to catch on my camera and because the feeders are in the shade but I managed to catch an image of a female visitor the other day.

 

Here are some of the children's drawings: Christopher (10), Mary (7) and Benjamin (13)

 

Sorry that the photos of the drawings are a bit blurry but I am without a scanner so I had to photograph the drawings with my camera. We have so enjoyed the bird study so far.  It has been a nice, relaxing way to learn together. We sit together in our screened front porch and sketch.  It is cool in there, with a nice breeze, which has been a lifesaver on these hot, muggy Ohio summer days. 

Hope you all are enjoying the summer with your families!

red winged blackbird drawings

The kids and I will be very casually studying birds this summer.  We last studied them when Ben was in about second grade.  My plans are simply to read about a bird from the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock once or twice a week, try to spot one in nature and then sketch the bird in our nature notebooks.   Our new home is such a great source for bird watching, because of the woods, pond and creek. We have several feeders around the property so it shouldn't be hard to spot a variety of species at any given time. 

For a little inspiration to start off our bird sketching, I read aloud The Boy Who Drew Birds which is a picture book about John James Audubon.  As usually happens with this type of study, we also learned a few other things and got to talking about migration, bird banding and the art of John James Audubon.  

I will probably post their drawings each week, just for my own enjoyment and record keeping.  I hope you enjoy them, too.