Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Great Backyard Bird Count


Birdwatching is very popular in our house. Especially in the winter months when it's hard to go outside sometimes because of temperatures that are too low or high winds. So this year we are going to use one of our favorite activites to help scientists in gaining an overview of birds in our area. The Great Backyard Bird Watch starts on Friday February 15 and continues through the 18th. It takes as little as 15 minutes to participate. During that time you write down the birds you see and then turn them in here.


At the main site you'll find a page devoted to kids activities. There are also lots of online guides and tools here. The whole site has lots of interesting information so I urge you to check it out.


If birdwatching and study interests you and you'd like to continue there are lots of resources on line to help you. We have a bird book for our area and some binoculars next to the window we look out most. Some days my kids will draw pictures of a bird they saw in their nature notebook with the date and bird's name. If you want to get fancy, Notebookingpages.com is currently giving away a really nice Bird Study set with great pages for kids to fill in information about birds in general as well as the specific birds they see. Just go to their site and join their newsletter and you can receive the link for free.


Whether or not you take part in the GBBC I hope you will encourage your children to learn more about the birds in your area. It's a great winter time activity!

Valentine's Day


The Collectible Valentine Index at About.com is a treasure trove of images and information for collectible Valentine's. Also on About.com find activites for babies and toddlers (and older children too) for Valentine's Day here.