Posted in Birds on April 13, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
All those caterpillars we’ve been seeing around lately? Guess who likes to eat them! This American Robin and its mate were recently seen searching for caterpillars and other yummy creatures on the Caraway grounds.
American Robins winter in Texas but travel north to breed. Have a safe trip, Mr. and Mrs. Robin!
Posted in Birds on February 8, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
From the Great Backyard Bird Count website:
The 2011 GBBC will take place Friday, February 18, through Monday, February 21. Please join us!
The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds. We’ll be adding updated GBBC materials for the next count as they become available.
Participants count birds anywhere for as little or as long as they wish during the four-day period. They tally the highest number of birds of each species seen together at any one time. To report their counts, they fill out an online checklist at the Great Backyard Bird Count website.
As the count progresses, anyone with Internet access can explore what is being reported from their own towns or anywhere in the United States and Canada. They can also see how this year’s numbers compare with those from previous years. Participants may also send in photographs of the birds they see. A selection of images is posted in the online photo gallery.
Why Count Birds?
Scientists and bird enthusiasts can learn a lot by knowing where the birds are. Bird populations are dynamic; they are constantly in flux. No single scientist or team of scientists could hope to document the complex distribution and movements of so many species in such a short time. Your counts can help us answer many questions about bird populations and their changes.
We need your help. Make sure the birds from your community are well represented in the count. It doesn’t matter whether you report the 5 species coming to your backyard feeder or the 75 species you see during a day’s outing to a wildlife refuge. Kids can help, too! This is a great project for families, Scouts, and school classes.
Posted in Activities for Kids, Birds on November 30, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Just before Thanksgiving I found myself with extra pine cones and other materials leftover from the National Wildlife Federation workshop at the Savvy Kids Conference (thank you, Marya!), so about 40 of our Caraway students had a chance to make some special holiday treats for the birds.
They spread a peanut butter/cornmeal mixture onto pine cones and then covered the pine cones in birdseed.
Then we helped them wrap up their pine cones for home transport.
Each pine cone has a string on it for easy attachment to a tree branch.
Would you like to make your own bird treats at home? It’s easy and fun! Just make sure you don’t use scented pine cones — the cinnamon oil is toxic. Just stick with good ol’ natural plain ones.
Materials:
Pine Cones
1 cup Peanut Butter (chunky is great)
1 cup Lard or Suet (optional, but preferred)
2 1/2 cups coarse yellow cornmeal
1 box of raisins, cranberries, or other dried fruit bits
1 bag of Bird Seed
1 roll of ribbon
Tie a length of ribbon to the base of the pine cone for easy hanging on a tree branch. Mix the food ingredients in a bowl. Spread the mixture onto the pine cone, then roll it in the birdseed. You can press extra seeds onto the feeder to really pack them on. Then hang your feeder from the tree. It’s as easy as that!
These kinds of feeders are important for seed- and berry-eating birds in the winter. Because food is scarce in the winter, they need sources of fat, protein, and high-energy carbohydrates. Some birds you might see enjoying your pine cone feeders include chickadees, cardinals, mockingbirds, woodpeckers, titmice, and more.
Have fun with your treats and tweets!
Posted in Birds on September 29, 2010 | 1 Comment »
If you haven’t seen it yet — take a glance over at our detention pond on the Oak View side of the school. Our new 24-gourd Purple Martin house system is up and ready for Purple Martin season in the spring! The system was installed by Purple Martin Propagators and made possible by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife grant we received in the spring for our habitat.
Our gourd system has the new tunnel gourds– designed to be cooler and to help keep sparrows and starlings, both invasive species, from nesting in the gourds.
Right now the gourds are closed because Purple Martins do not arrive in our area until spring, and we want to keep out any invasive birds. We’ll open them up around Valentine’s Day. Hopefully it won’t take long for the Purple Martins to find and start to colonize our gourds!
