Grab your clip boards! It’s time to stop talking about birds and go find some! We spent one afternoon last week hiking along our nature trail in search of common, local birds. On each board, the children had images of twelve birds they might see.
Now, imagine you are with a group of 15 four and five-year-olds who are honestly trying to creep quietly along the path. The birds are chirping loudly all around. Someone yells, “I think I hear a cardinal!” Pandemonium ensues.
Although we never again coaxed all 15 into quiet listening again, we did see many of the birds on our lists. We even had to add the Mourning Dove since it wasn’t on the list originally. The only unusual sighting was that of a “vulture”. Though we tend not to have too many vultures here in Western PA, at least three children claimed to have seen one. Mrs. Pless and I couldn’t verify the sighting, but we decided that at this stage, even birdwatching invisible birds was teaching them lessons in patience, observation, note taking, and natural wonder.
