Birding 101: Know Your Bird Parts

The first time we attempted to bird watch, we all felt frustrated. We tried to approach it as a learn-as-you-go type activity. We went to the lake and plodded around, heavily laden with binoculars, field guides, audio recordings and devices, and a backpack each filled with journals and colored pencils. We were going to watch and listen and look up and match calls to our recordings. Then we were going to write lists and draw pictures of all the birds we found, just like good bird watchers should do.

What happened, however, was we couldn't find anything through our binoculars. By the time we even noticed a bird, it was flying off. If we did get a good look, we couldn't find it in the field guide. If we heard it, we couldn't match it to any sound recording. By the time we had listened to three recordings, we had forgotten what the actual bird had sounded like. Everyone got tired of carrying their stuff around. I got frustrated. The boys lost interest. If you had seen them that day, you would not have thought they were champion birders-in-the-making.

We had to take some time indoors to prepare ourselves for the outdoors, learning in small segments and then heading out to practice what we knew. The place we began was learning how to examine the bird, looking at color, size, shape, and distinguishing marks, or field marks. I chose ten birds that are very common in our area. I knew that we were almost guaranteed to see these birds if we visited our local lake. They were blue jay, cardinal, brown thrasher, American crow, mallard duck, eastern bluebird, double-crested cormorant, common grackle, robin, and european starling.

The first lesson I did with them was to learn the parts of the bird. We labeled a diagram similar to this one and played some drill games (I say a part and you point to it). I also bought them an Audubon plush toy each (2 of the first 10 birds to master). They pointed out the body parts on the plush toys and described the color, size, shapes, and field marks on each.

The boys also created their own field guide pages for each of these birds from Notebooking Pages Nature collection. These pages made it easy for them to determine what the distinguishing traits were, particularly with the birds that are similar like the crow and the grackle. We referenced the pictures in our real field guides and noted what set the birds apart from each other, discussing each bird's characteristics as we colored.

Once they knew how to identify these birds, we took a trip to the lake and looked specifically for these. If we saw a bird not on this list, we would look at it and appreciate it, maybe discuss distinguishing features, but did not focus on identifying it. In fact, we did not take field guides or other equipment with us. We focused on finding the birds we knew and being excited about being able to identify them.

I repeated this activity for a few weeks, adding in five new birds each week. Within a month, the boys could identify 25 birds without the use of a field guide. They were also able to distinguish between sizes, colors, shapes, and families of birds… a skill set which prepared them for the next step, familiarizing themselves with their field guides.

Next time, I will share a few tips on learning to use your field guide with ease. I may not post again for two weeks since Orville competes in the Bible Bee next weekend. We are working extra hours each day to prepare him, and my blogging time is very limited right now.

Until next time, happy birding!

Blessings,

Dawn