KidTip: watching & tracking birds

It all started when my son hollered from the kitchen, "Mom! You have to see this bird!"

I was pretty sure it was a dove, which is not a common sight in our backyard, so I understood his excitement. Luckily, several years ago I placed a copy of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds (Western Region) in our kitchen for quick reference. I can probably count the number of times we've actually used it. No that's not true -- there was a six-month period when we used it daily to whack the top of our television set in order to get a clear picture. Let me tell you, this book is PERFECT for that job. It fits nicely in your hand and has a solid heft, perfect for smacking household electronics. Ever since we replaced the TV, the book has languished on the sideboard collecting dust. Until the appearance of the dove -- the Mourning Dove I should specify. Zenaida macroura.

My son started leafing through the photos in the bird book and spotted the large, black-headed blue-bodied bird we'd snarlingly referred to as that 'old mean blue jay.' Wrong! It's actually a Stellar's Jay. Huh. We looked at each other in wonderment. What else could this magical book teach us? So we started watching the birds at the feeder and in the treetops and making a list. Eventually the list turned into homemade bird books (just like the birthday kit books) for each child and myself. So now we keep a running list of birds we spy in the yard and reference in the book, and then together we sketch pictures of the birds to help us remember what they are. We sit at the table, a bin of colored pencils and the bird book between us, and draw our birds. I can't tell you how joyous this is.

I'm no artist. My drawing style has not changed since the third grade. Sometimes my people don't have feet, and my houses always have paned windows and a chimney puffing out curlicues of smoke. But it's okay because the act of drawing with my kids and the camaraderie it produces makes me so happy. It makes all of us happy. (Soule Mama just blogged about this yesterday and inspired me in her book The Creative Family.) Plus we're actually learning about the natural world together. I love knowing the names of some of these birds I see now, and I love that my kids know them, too.

Portlanders, there's a great opportunity this weekend to learn more about the birds in our region: the Festival of the Birds at Sellwood Park, Saturday from 10am-3pm. Guided viewing walks in Oaks Bottom Wildife Refuge, arts and crafts, storytelling and live music (and it's supposed to be sunny). See you there!?