Starting an Animal Survey: Winter Birds and Friends

Watching Our Birds, All Year Long

We love to watch our birds. With each season, we change our offerings to suit the birds that come with that season: suet for the woodpeckers in the winter; berries and peanuts for the bluebirds in the spring; oranges for the orioles in June; hummingbird nectar for the hummers in July.

It is exciting to see those birds (and other creatures) that signal changes in the seasons. To chronicle the visitors in our yard, we started a year-long animal survey to usher in 2013.

Our survey sheet -- good for a year of viewing! (c) Kim M. Bennett, 2012

We put together an animal survey sheet, where we can list the visitors to our bird feeders, brush pile and water sources, then check off which months we have observed them. To mark shifts in populations, we are entering a number to show the greatest number of each species observed at any given time (similar to what is done to measure relative quantities of birds in Cornell's Project Feeder Watch).

(Click on link to download a copy for your own study.)

The First Week of Our Survey

The first week of January was a busy one. Here is our list of animal visitors (not counting our own pets, of course -- wild animals, only!), in decreasing order of their abundance (NOTE: We noted the maximum number of each animal that was seen at a given time, to monitor the relative abundance of the species for each month):

Dark-eyed juncos were our most abundant visitors this week.

• Dark-eyed junco (7)
• Black-capped chickadee (6)
• Tufted titmouse (4)
• White-tailed deer (4)
• White-throat sparrow (4)
• Blue jay (2)
• Great horned owl (2)
• Mourning dove (2)
• Carolina wren (2)
• Northern cardinal (2)
• Chipping sparrow (2)
• Gray squirrel (2)
• White-breasted nuthatch (1)
• Red-bellied woodpecker (1)
• Downy woodpecker (1)
• Northern flicker (1)
• White-crowned sparrow (1)

 

Nifty Sightings for the Week

Click on the link for more information.

I always love having the chickadees perch inches from my nose and scold me when the feeder runs out of seeds. But there were some other noteworthy observations this week:

... the junco with leucism -- partial albinism that caused its head and cheek feathers to be completely white, and its sides to be tan in color {my youngest son and I spent a lot of time trying to identify it with our field guides before I found a web article about this form of albinism};
... the great horned owls who perched in the hickory overlooking the feeding area during the night time hours and into the dawn, hooting and hunting {our cats are not happy about being kept in at night the past few weeks};
... the pair of wrens that we watched exploring the inner depths of a folded camp chair on our front porch (you know they'll nest anywhere). {My eldest son and I sat in the car after going to the gym, so we wouldn't disturb the busy pair}

What We Offered Our Feathered and Furry Friends

Click on the link for more information.

We had run out of black thistle seed, so we had filled both our tube feeder and the regular feeder with mixed seed, and placed some stale pancakes in a suet feeder (as an alternative to putting them on the ground, which attracts our own dog before the outdoor critters get to the food). We bought some berry-flavored suet dough (loved by the titmice), and threw bread crusts out on the ground.

Read-Alouds to Go With Your Studies

Our two favorite animal books, the Burgess Bird Book for Children and the Burgess Animal Book for Children, are shown here. Click on the links in the captions for more information about these wonderful classics.

[This post was linked to the following blog carnivals:]

Outdoor Hour Challenge ~ Winter Bird: Chickadee
Simple Science Strategies:  Patterns
A Carnival of Homeschooling
 

Just Another Fall Day

Just a short note with some weekend updates:

See my web article, Bird Migration: A Study of Robins and Other Thrushes, for a description of our September study on the American Robin and other migrating thrushes that we see in our location.

We wrote it up as a Squidoo article instead of a blog entry, because it was a much larger project than our typical blog posts. Lots of possibilities for both homeschool and the science classroom.
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We tried some new recipes this month.  Perhaps they would appeal to your folks in your house, too:

• Easy Pecan pie (from the back of the Karo syrup jar)
• A fresh tomato salsa (can't remember where we got the recipe)
• BBQ chicken - corn tortilla pizzas (from Rachael Ray magazine)
• Creamy Cholate Tofu Mousse (from Rachael Ray, also) -- delicious!
• Eggplant and Zucchini parmesan (Rachael Ray)

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We are excited about the Lego KidsFest at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford, December 2-4, 2011. See the Lego KidsFest website for the dates the event will be in your area (NOTE: the tour begins this week in Raleigh, NC, so don't delay!).
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The new office/homeschool "learning space" (as my youngest son calls it) has a new ceiling (finally!). The room is painted (walls and trim), ceiling-ed, and the floor has been shopvacced and washed. Floor painting will begin this evening. We'll keep you posted! We are very excited to have our own space, now.

Walls, trim and ceiling - done!

September Study 3: Migration

I don't know what the weather's like where you live this week, but it's been unseasonably warm and tropical here in Connecticut, and, right now, it is pouring. Despite the warm turn, we see the flora and fauna around us listening to a different message, as they begin to prepare for cold weather which is soon to come.

September is an excellent opportunity to begin a year-long study of migration.  Here is a suggested outline for the fall portion of a migration study, with ideas on how to follow it up in the spring.


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Background Information
The Handbook of Nature Study has an overview of bird migration on pages 35-37; for information on the migration of monarch butterflies, check page 305.

An excellent research to consult all year is American Robin: Journey North, a collection of pages with photographs of the robin lifecycle, range and migration maps, downloadable recording sheets for classroom use, newsletters and more. Even if you decide to study an animal other than the American Robin, you will get a lot of ideas on how to organize a year-long migration study.

Migration Basics, by the National Parks Service, is an excellent overview of migration, and covers many kinds of animals besides birds and monarchs. There are also many links to activities for home and classroom.
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Beginning the Study in September

1. Choose an animal to study.

First, do some research to find out what animals that live near you migrate in the fall. One of the best sources of information is your wildlife field guide. Find a creature that you see regularly in the summer, and look up its range on the range map in the field guide. If your creature has separate winter and summer ranges, it migrates. Some animals migrate incredible distances, while others move just enough to keep up with their food supply.

• Look up migration online or in a book from the library. What animals migrate where you live? What animals in other parts of the world migrate?
• Do these animals all migrate for the same reason?

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2. Watch for signs of impending movement:

Animals usually change their behavior when migration is imminent. For example, many migrating birds will begin to congregate in large groups. Begin by counting the number of the creature you see in your yard each day. You should see that the number increases, or you will start seeing large groups gathering in parks, school yards, or other open areas. You may notice a large group of birds coming into your yard to eat berries or other foods that you have in the yard.

• What animals do you see gathering in larger numbers than in the summer?
• What are they doing when they're in the large group? When do they gather? Do they gather all day, or just in the evening to roost?
• Are there males, females and young birds? Or are the males and females separate?
• When did you begin to see them gather?

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3. Start noticing the weather:

Scientists don't know all the things that trigger migration instincts in animals. But we do know that changes in the seasons are connected. Vultures will often take flight on a warm, sunny day after a cold spell, because they ride "thermals," columns of warm air that rise from the ground, to get to soaring heights. You will see several all spiraling slowly into the sky in a column -- very cool to see. So start keeping track of the weather. 

• What's the weather like when they gather? Is it warmer and sunnier than usual, or colder? Did the weather change suddenly?
• Was the weather cold for a period of days before you noticed the animals gathering?

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Collect Data



Create a data table. Count the number of your animal you see each day (your dependent variable), and some other factor that you think has something to do with migration (your independent variable -- ideas include air temperature, sunny/cloudy weather, day length...).

Some sites, like American Robin, include places for "citizen scientists" to submit their data. Also check out Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology for projects that involve volunteer data collectors who watch bird movements throughout the year.

Don't forget to sketch, take photographs and journal about your observations. Enchanted Learning has migrating animal printables to add to your notebook. The American Robin site has Resources to Explore that include many items that can be used in a homeschool or classroom migration study.

Use a migration study as an opportunity to do some map work. Incorporate range and sightings maps into math and geography. Calculate distances traveled for math. Practice using a map key, a map scale and legends.
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Extend Your Learning
Do more research about your animal:

• Where does your animal go when it leaves your area? 
• Find your home and the animal's winter home on a map. How far does your animal travel?
• What does the animal do when it gets to its winter home? 
• Does your animal change color before or after it migrates? Why or why not?
• When the animal returns in the spring, do the males and females come back at the same time?

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Share Your Study

When you finish your September observations of your migrating species, tell us how you documented your study. Post the link to your blog in Mr. Linky, and submit your blog post to The Little Green Corner Blog Carnival (see the sidebar to the right).

New Monthly Newsletter: "The Little Green Corner"

I first started this blog, A Child's Garden, to chronicle the nature study activities of my family as we ventured into the new arena of homeschooling about two years ago.  It has been a fun activity for us, to consider what parts of our little day might be fun for others to see, to converse with our youngest son about what parts of his day he found most interesting, and to decide, as a group, what makes learning the most fun.

One thing that I have discovered, in these past couple of years, is that not only homeschoolers, but classroom teachers, as well, have been following this blog, looking for ways to get more nature study and science integrated into their already-packed, high-stakes day.

For this reason, I have decided to create "The Little Green Corner," a newsletter companion to this blog, which will be available the first of each month, via this blog, and my business blog, "Tip of the Month" 
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Here is a little background history of where I got the name for the newsletter:

I began my teaching career in Columbus, Ohio, 30 years ago, teaching three distinct groups of students:

• I taught at the university level, instructing students at the Ohio State University in basic plant science classes (plant identification, plant propagation, basic botany). Many of my students in these classes were country kids, who took days off from class to plant soybeans.
• I also taught classes at a regional vocational agriculture program. Some kids there were from the city, some were from the country. Many had families who owned farms, nurseries or garden centers, and were familiar with country living.
• I had the opportunity to be a visiting teacher in a number of schools right in the city. All of the students in these schools were from urban areas. Their schools were in the heart of Columbus, and were surrounded by blacktop. My kids in these schools, when reading a story set at the seaside, imagined the water park at King's Island, because it was the closest they had ever been to the ocean.

Fast forward about 20 years, to Connecticut, where my teaching career took me full circle. Once, again, I had three groups of students, much like I had 20 years before, in Ohio:

• I taught  at the university level, instructing 2-year vocational agriculture classes at The University of Connecticut. Most of my students already worked in the agriculture industry, and were attending classes to pass their state certification exams, get a raise or promotion at work, or to start their own business.
• My second group of students was a preschool class in the country. The town was situated in a rural area, and we were surrounded by ponds, woods and meadows for the students to explore daily.
• I had the pleasure of teaching third grade for seven years in one of Connecticut's urban districts. Our school was in the country, but my students were from the city. Here, I first began intentionally planning for nature walks, outdoor observations and inside nature opportunities, to build my kids' background knowledge in science and the natural world, and engage them in inquiry about the world around them. As part of this effort, I created a nature table in my classroom, which became an on-going learning center -- my "little green corner" of the classroom. It was always full of interesting rock collections, bug cages, magnifying glasses and other fun things.

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What I've learned from all these experiences is that there is something about the out-of-doors that we can take for granted  when we live in the country or suburbs. I can remember the wonder in my students' eyes when the first snowflakes began to fall -- many of them came from lands where they only had seen snow on television, and didn't have wide-open spaces to sled in, where they lived. As you can imagine, spelling and fractions were put to one side, so we could go outside and make snowmen and melt snowflakes on our tongues. What part of the lessons do you think engaged the students the most?

I have worked with teachers from all settings, rural, suburban and urban, in recent years, and have heard the challenges they have in fitting science instruction into a day full of reading, writing and math. The pressures of high-stakes testing have pushed science (and social studies, for that matter) to the edges of the day, or, in many cases, right out of the schedule, entirely. Yet teachers know that these are the very topics which get kids of all ages (and their teachers!) excited about school.

Why wouldn't the 15-minute nature studies advocated by Anna Botsford Comstock in Handbook of Nature Study work for the classroom, too? Can't classroom teachers use the same principles to engage students, incorporate rich content and teach deep thinking processes in children?
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A Child's Garden presents...

The Little Green Corner

September, 2011 Edition

 

In the premier issue of The Little Green Corner (Sept 2011), you will find the following features:

• Strategy of the Month: Using Your Senses
• September Nature Study Ideas: Ants, Mushrooms, Moonwatching and Migration
• September Specials and Links
• For Your Library: The One Small Square Series, by Donald Silver
• Skill of the Month: Observation
• Organizer of the Month: The Bubble Map
• Thematic Learning Centers Ideas

Each newsletter edition, which will be published on this blog on the first of each month, will contain these features, links to downloadable resources, and links to online resources for lesson planning.  These newsletters will be followed up by individual posts on the nature study ideas, for those who would like more details on how to study that topic and connect it to other content areas.

The newsletter can be downloaded and printed, or viewed online (when viewed online, you will be able to follow the many hyperlinks to other documents, web activities and printables).


Please let me know how you used the nature study ideas in your homeschool or classroom. Use the ideas in the newsletter and blog, or find your own topics. Then make sure that you share the link to your blog or website in Mr. Linky on my blog page, as well as The Little Green Corner Blog Carnival, so others can see.

Coming on September 9, 2011: The Ants Go Marching...


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