7.14.2010

Summer School :: Water Birds


Image copyright 2008: Arthur Morris (birdsasart.com)
I felt like we hit the birdwatching lottery last week when we caught sight of some Roseate Spoonbills wading around a lake near our produce market. In all my life as a Florida resident, I'd never seen these in the wild. At the same spot, we saw Wood Storks, Great Egrets, Ibis, and an Anhinga (snake bird). The sighting was made all the more special by the fact that "water birds" were our summer-school-at-home theme for the week!
Living on the west coast of Florida, we share our natural home with all sorts of gorgeous wading, swimming, sea and shore birds. In our travels last week, we also observed a Great Blue Heron (our backyard), Sandhill Cranes (a freshwater marsh), a Brown Pelican (the Bay), ducks (a pond) and Laughing Gulls (the beach).

Aside from birdwatching, we made origami water birds, read lots of books, studied field guides and attended a local author's reading of What Do You See, Mrs. Night Heron?, a poetic book inspired by our local bird population. Finally, a Bird Detective workbook produced by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission served as a great resource for Selby to practice her skills, including reading, writing, sorting, problem solving and charting.
What kind of birds are in your neck of the woods?

2 comments:

Liquid Pen said...

Those spoonbills are really something....so sweetly pink

catching caterpillars said...

ohhh wow! this is really great! I love that you're teaching your sweet girls so many fun things this summer! it's so fantastic! such a lovely summer!