Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Vacation Scavenger Hunt

One of my coworkers has recently divulged to me that his 7 year old son has a budding interest in birds. As you would expect, I outlined all the benefits birding can have for his son academically, physically, and socially. Mike quickly understood that his best course of action would be to encourage his son's birding endeavors. We are trying to arrange a few excursion before summer's end but . . .

They will be on vacation in coastal North Carolina for several weeks. I offered Mike some binoculars and a field guide for the trip. While he did not want to risk damaging the bins, he eagerly took me up on borrowing a field guide.

My wife and I put together a short scavenger hunt of "cool" birds they may encounter on the trip. We included several easy to find birds such as brown pelicans and ospreys. We added Royal and Sandwich Terns for a bit more of a challenge. For sheer beauty, we listed Painted Buntings but explained the difficulty of finding them. Next to each species, we included the page on which it could be found in the field guide. We delivered the package to the family mailbox the evening before their 4 am departure.

I called the next afternoon to confirm receipt of the field guide. The embarrassed voice on the other end explained that he forgot to grab the guide from the mailbox. Within a minute of hanging up, my cell phone rang. It was Mike again.

Apparently, there was a vaild reason for his forgetfulness. His son saw me put the field guide in the box the night before and excitedly took it out seconds later. He stayed up late studying the guide and secured it in his own bag for the trip!

I can't wait to hear how the scavenger hunt turns out!!

I'll keep you posted.