"Gwown-up Iggle"

Using the avian potential of holidays is a very effective way of getting kids interested in birds. An excited young man demontrated the power of this method on July 5th.

Every summer, I work with younger students with developmental disabilities. Due to their special needs, these students need to work throughout the summer or else they will lose the skills attained during the year.

For the first time, our summer program started BEFORE 4th of July. FOr the first few days I incorporated patriotic themes into our lessons. We focused on two important symbols of our country: the flag and, of course, Bald Eagles!

One of the activities was coloring in Bald Eagle pictures that the students sould use to decorate their houses for the holiday. Initially, two of my little cherubs used only brown to color the eagle. I explained that "baby" eagles can be all brown but "grown-up" eagles have white heads and white tails. After coloring their second bird, they were pleased to have both "grown-up" and "baby" eagles.

Our next day of school was July 5th. As soon as the kids bound off the bus, I heard a 6 year-old voice exclaim, "I saw a gwown-up iggle yestuhday!!!"

He provided a very detailed explanation of his family's close encounter with the Bald Eagle at the Philadelphia Zoo. When I asked, "how did you know it was a grown up eagle?" His answer was not impeded by even the slightest hesitation, "it had a white head and tail not bwown like a baby iggle".

This was a very impressive show of communication skills for this particular student.

It was also a good show of birdership for such a young child!

Thank you to E.J. Peiker for use of his eagle photos. You can se emore of his amazing photography at www.ejphoto.com.