I make it a habit to invite my children on every bird outing. It's always an invitation, never a decree. If birding is forced on kids, this great hobby becomes about as tempting as liver or spinach.
If they come, we will have a terrific time. If they choose to stay home, no guilt trip is given. Besides, I will be able to find, and actually watch, more birds.
In recent weeks, two requests truly warmed my heart.
A Roseate Spoonbill was found in Forsythe NWR on July 12th. When I told my daughter about this extremely rare NJ bird, she asked to go see it. (She has loved looking at spoonbills in my field guides since I returned from a trip to the Keys in March.)
Naturally, I had already decided on trekking down to Brigantine for this one.
I packed up her and her brother. Unfortunately, my wife had other plans for the evening. The kids had a blast looking at shorebirds, herons, terns, and butterflies. When she saw HER bird, she positively giddy. She was so excited that . . .
The next morning, she begged to go back so we could show mommy the spoonbill. Again, it didn't take much to convince me.
That was the first request. The next one didn't have a marguee name like Roseate Spoonbill attached to it.
I was heading out to search for migrating shorebirds. The routine invitation was made but neither of the little ones jumped on board. Shortly after my departure, my wife called to explain that our son was upset that daddy left without him. Guilt started to set in but I was past the point of no return. By the time I returned home, he was in full blown nap time - drool and all.
My wife and daughter left to visit some friends. I used the quiet time to get some work done. An hour later, my sleepy eyed, bed-headed toddler toddles over to me with his best puppy-dog face as he groans "Buhds - dada - look faw buhds - peese."
The first thing on his mind after a nap was going out with Daddy to look for birds!!!
After a short Q-n-A, I understood that he wanted to walk trails and look for big birds by the water. Our early evening outing was very nice even though we didn't find any of the herons or egrets we had his heart set on. He laughed at the swallows, loved the Fowler's Toads, and was fascinated by the dragonflies.
Birdwatching Daddydom is great!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
"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.
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.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
School Birding Pride
Another school year was completed on June 19th!
Every year I give my students a brief survey that involves them critiquing my yteaching style and reflecting on their own performances over the course of the year.
Many of this year's responses dealt with birds and birding. Some examples are . . .
Most Memorable Moment:
- "having a party for Mr, Mag seeing so many birds in Key West"- when asked about this, the student repeated some of the birds we talked about from that trip including Loggerhead Kingbird, Roseate Spoonbills, and Magnificent Frigatebird.
- "seeing the owl puke with bones in it!" - Rummaging through owl pellets was a big hit with many of the students!
Most Enjoyable Activity:
- "looking for birds in the morning" - this from a student who throughout the year claimed to not be a morning person but was happy to come almost an hour rearly to school for birding!
Your Proudest Moment of the Year:
- "being part of the WSB" - our World Series of Birding team led to a sisterhood of the hardcore young female birders.
- "seeing a Mississippi Kite in Voorhees on the World Series of Birding" - no explanation necessary!
It was a good year for birding with my students. Kids were coming in with birding questions almost every day. Our morning bird walks have been become exponentially more popular. The Zhumell optics from binoculars.com have allowed to accomodate more birders on each outing.
Several of the kids have asked to go on trips over the summer as well!
I look forward to expanding our birding club next year.
Every year I give my students a brief survey that involves them critiquing my yteaching style and reflecting on their own performances over the course of the year.
Many of this year's responses dealt with birds and birding. Some examples are . . .
Most Memorable Moment:
- "having a party for Mr, Mag seeing so many birds in Key West"- when asked about this, the student repeated some of the birds we talked about from that trip including Loggerhead Kingbird, Roseate Spoonbills, and Magnificent Frigatebird.
- "seeing the owl puke with bones in it!" - Rummaging through owl pellets was a big hit with many of the students!
Most Enjoyable Activity:
- "looking for birds in the morning" - this from a student who throughout the year claimed to not be a morning person but was happy to come almost an hour rearly to school for birding!
Your Proudest Moment of the Year:
- "being part of the WSB" - our World Series of Birding team led to a sisterhood of the hardcore young female birders.
- "seeing a Mississippi Kite in Voorhees on the World Series of Birding" - no explanation necessary!
It was a good year for birding with my students. Kids were coming in with birding questions almost every day. Our morning bird walks have been become exponentially more popular. The Zhumell optics from binoculars.com have allowed to accomodate more birders on each outing.
Several of the kids have asked to go on trips over the summer as well!
I look forward to expanding our birding club next year.
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