Backyard Birding

Homeschooling clearly comes with its difficult days. My children and I, we have no walls between us. We are vulnerable to our weakest points with each other. In this, I find so much beauty. I love that they can whine with me. Did you sense the sarcasm? Math againnnnnnnn? I am chuckling a little writing this. So, this is why when we found a learning process that brought joy on all fronts I just had to share it with you. Birds.

Yes, apparently creating a bar graph about birds creates an exciting stir during our schooling year. I just fell into birds.

"The Burgess Bird Book for Children" by Thorton W. Burgess is an amazing recommendation. The book shares details of birds, their habitat, their sounds, their colours, and their personalities all in a beautiful story taking place on an orchard farm. It's the start of spring and Peter Rabbit is greeting all his missed friends from the winter migration. There's Jenny Wren, the Mrs. Know-it-all of the orchard, Sally Sly the Cowbird who is un-welcomed at the orchard for her laziness in not making her own nest she goes and lays her eggs in other birds' nest, and so on. As I read out loud, the children (age 4, 7, and 8) colour in a picture of one the birds being described. We search through our bird guides and Bird Encyclopedia in order to truly appreciate the beautiful details of colours described and we also search on YouTube for a listen to their beautiful songs.

One of the best things about the interest around birds is that it can be a year long or many years of study. All throughout the seasons (we started this adventure in the Fall) during nature walks and attending planned conservatory activities (such as at The Riverwood Conservatory here in Mississauga), we have been drawing, colouring, writing, and creating. We even made a pinecone, spread with shortening and stuck black seeds. We hung it by our backyard bird feeder where we got to see a red-breasted nuthatch, a black eyed junco, a red cardinal, a black capped chickadee, and also those naughty and determined squirrels. After living in our house for 10 years, this would be the first time we are paying close attention to who visits our backyard. Isn't that so special?

There's a local bird store called "Urban Nature Store" at 3055 Dundas Street West in Mississauga that can provide a lot of fun details about birds and where you can support locals in purchasing bird sounds, games, seeds and even bird houses and feeders.

I was never so fascinated about birds; in fact I, never thought I would be okay with a Downy Woodpecker eating out of my hand but it was awesome! So, go grab your binoculars and bundle up (since it's winter) and go on an adventure (pack some seeds in your pocket) for truly there is nothing more exciting than discovering nature as the Lord designed it so wonderfully and beautifully for us.

By: Mariam Guirguis