Birds & The John James Audubon Center

Welcome to A TRUE GOOD BEAUTIFUL LIFE podcast! 

In this week’s episode, we are going to take a deep dive into one of Charlotte Mason’s classic subjects: Nature Study. In one of my earlier episodes, I chatted with my friend Stephanie Newcomb about the benefits of nature study and some of our favorite resources. Today, I am fortunate to talk to one of my sister-in-laws who comes to us from South Carolina! Megan Tolosa is an avid birder and knows so much about these creatures that I am always impressed by her knowledge and skills. So for our TRUE segment of the show, we are going to discuss various aspects of birds, for this month is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count and so I thought it would be perfect to focus on birds and how we can begin to identify them and in our GOOD segment of the show, how to care for them and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Finally, at the end of the show for our BEAUTIFUL segment, I will share with you my daughter’s and my field trip to the John James Audubon Center, here in Pennsylvania. So it’s over an hour all about birds! I hope you will stick with us for it’s going to be great!

 

ON THIS EPISODE

Together Megan and I will share with you the 8 clues you can use to help you identify what bird it is you are seeing, how and when to use binoculars, different types of bird feeders and food you should offer them, and some activities to help impress upon the minds of your students the wonderful nature of these creatures.

The 8 Characteristics to look for are the following:

1. Group
2. Shape
3. Size
4. Behavior
5. Habitat
6. Season
7. Field Marks
8. Voice

Suggested seed: sunflower and safflower

Suggested bird feeder: the Squirrel Buster

Favorite Resources:

• The Great Backyard Bird Count
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Cornell University Bird Academy
• Project Feeder Watch poster
• John James Audubon Center
• The Boy Who Drew Birds, by Davies and Sweet 
• National Audubon Society First Field Guide: Birds
• National Audubon Society North American Birdfeeder Handbook by Robert Burton
• Peterson Field Guides: Feeder Birds - Eastern North America
• Peterson Field Guides: Birds of Eastern and Central North America
• National Geographic: Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern North America
• Sibley Birds East
• Thunder Birds: Nature's Flying Predators by Jim Arnosky
• Fine Feathered Friends: All About Birds by Tish Rabe
• The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature by Stan & Jan Berenstain
• Birds by Kevin Henkes (board book)
• Mrs. Peanuckle's Bird Alphabet (board book)
• My Colors: Early Birds Book by Patricia Mitter
• Baby's First Book of Birds and Colors by Phyllis Tildes
• Stinky Owl by Melanie Burgess
• ABC of Birds by Roger Tory Peterson
• Ducks Don't Get Wet by Augusta Goldin
• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
• An Egg is Quiet by Dianne Hutts Aston
• Usborne Discovery: Birds
• About Birds: A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill
• Stokes Bird Feeder Book by Donald & Lillian Stokes
• Virginia Bird Watching: A Year Round Guide by Bill Thompson
• Identifying and Feeding Birds by Bill Thompson
• Better Birdwatching in Virginia & West Virginia - DVD Field Guide
• Bird Bingo Match a Pair of Birds Memory Game
• Hoot Owl Hoot (board game)
• Sibley Backyard Birding Bingo
• What Bird am I: The Bird Identification Game
• Birds of North America - 100 Piece Memory Card Game
• The Little Book of Backyard Birdsongs
• The Little Book of Woodland Birdsongs
• The Backyard Birdsong Guide by Donald Kroodsma
• Peterson Field Guides: Bird Songs: Eastern/Central
• Sibley's Backyard Birds poster
• Sibley's Raptors of North America poster
• Sibley's Owls of Eastern (or Western) North America poster  
• On Wings of Song: Poems about birds, Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets
• Birders: The Central Park Effect: A Film About Birds and People (DVD)
• Winged Migration by Jacques Perrin (DVD)
• The Big Year (DVD-movie)
• Hawk Mountain, PA
• Cape May, NJ

 

COMMONPLACE QUOTES

First and chiefest is the knowledge of God, to be got at most directly through the Bible, then comes the knowledge of Man, to be got through history, literature, art, civics, ethics, biography, the drama, and languages; and lastly, so much knowledge of the universe as shall explain to some extent the phenomenon we are familiar with and give a naming acquaintance at any rate with birds and flowers, stars and stones; nor can this knowledge of the universe be carried far in any direction without the ordering of mathematics. - Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education, p. 254

 

Knowledge is that which we know; and the learner knows only by a definite act of knowing which he performs for himself. (Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education, p. 254)

 

. . . give a child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information . . . - Charlotte Mason, Volume 1: Home Education, p. 174

 

APPLICATION

1. Sign up and participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. Consider making your own bird feeder and suet together as a class or family.
2. Craft a mosaic bird bath using a terracota planter saucer and glass pieces.
3. Begin a field guide collecton and practice drawing 3 of your favorite birds using pencil, watercolor, or soft pastels and note facts about them.