A Coloring Plan for The Burgess Bird Book for Children

The Burgess Bird Book for Children

by Thornton W. Burgess

Mater Amabilis™Level 1A recommends The Burgess Bird Book for Children as one of the books for year 1 (2nd grade) science, a focus on nature study. I tried reading this book to First Son and we made it through most of it but he often found it tedious. First Daughter read it to herself but didn't enjoy it very much.

Second Daughter, though, loves birds and is the best at bird identification in the family. I knew she would love this book, but I also knew she would not want to read it herself. I wanted her to be able to color pictures for each of the birds. There are lots of websites out there with links to all sorts of pictures for each bird in the book. I found these pictures to be troublesome to print because they're all over the internet and, for the same reason, they were often of uneven quality. (Any accomplished bird artists out there? I think you could make good money on a coloring book of the Burgess birds; all you need are line drawings of all the birds in the books in one PDF and a site to sell it.)

Anyway, I thought I could purchase a coloring book that would get me 90% of the birds at a fraction of the hassle and ordered the Peterson Field Guide Coloring Book: Birds.
The main problem with my plan was the unexpected lack of an index in the coloring book. I therefore had to go through and look page by page for each bird. You don't have to, though, because I've typed it up below. This list is only useful if you have a copy of the Burgess Bird Book and this exact Peterson guide; I can't make promises for other Peterson guides because I don't have any others in front of me.

I read one chapter a week to First Daughter, which means this book carried over into the third grade year. (I gave her the option to finish it herself, but she preferred to double up on science for a while.) Each week, she'd find the birds in the guidebook (I gave her the page number) then color it to match the Peterson sticker while I read the chapter. Then she'd narrate for me. With interest and time, we would check a few other resources, too:

• YouTube for videos of the bird (there are some playlists, but I found it easier to just search)
• All About Birds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (particularly good for listening to the birds)
• The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots (obviously, choose a guide for your area, but we love this one and use it all the time)

Integrating the Peterson Field Guide Coloring Book: Birds with The Burgess Bird Book for Children

• Chapter 1: house wren p 43
• Chapter 2: English or house sparrow p 55
• Chapter 3: song sparrow, white-throated sparrow, fox sparrow - all on p 64
• Chapter 4: chipping sparrow and tree sparrow on p 63 (no vesper sparrow)
• Chapter 5: bluebird (eastern) p 45, robin on p 47
• Chapter 6: phoebe on p 38 (no least flycatcher)
• Chapter 7: kingbird p 37, great crested flycatcher p 38
• Chapter 8: peewee p 38
• Chapter 9: woodcock p 27, spotted sandpiper on p 25 and 27
• Chapter 10: red-winged blackbird p 56, northern flicker p 36
• Chapter 11: downy and red-headed woodpeckers p 37, hairy woodpecker p 36
• Chapter 12: brown-headed cowbird p 57, Baltimore oriole p 57 and 47
• Chapter 13: orchard oriole p 57, bobolink p 56
• Chapter 14: northern bobwhite p 22, eastern meadowlark p 56
• Chapter 15: chimney swift p 35, tree swallow p 39
• Chapter 16: purple martin p 39, barn swallow p 40
• Chapter 17: American crow p 41, blue jay p 47
• Chapter 18: red-tailed hawk p 20, ovenbird p 52
• Chapter 19: ruffed grouse p 22, common grackle p 57
• Chapter 20: osprey p 19, bald eagle p 21
• Chapter 21: great blue heron p 9, belted kingfisher p 35
• Chapter 22: bank swallow p 39, American kestrel p 22 (sparrow-hawk)
• Chapter 23: common nighthawk p 34 (no whip-poor-will or chuck-wills-widow)
• Chapter 24: yellow warbler p 50, American redstart p 55
• Chapter 25: black and white warbler p 49, yellow-throated warbler p 53, yellow-breasted chat p 55
• Chapter 26: northern parula p 50, magnolia warbler p 50, yellow rumped myrtle warbler p 51
• Chapter 27: gray catbird p 44, cardinal p 47
• Chapter 28: scarlet tanager p 58, rose-breasted grosbeak p 59
• Chapter 29: red-eyed vireo p 49, warbling vireo p 49 (no yellow-throated vireo)
• Chapter 30: brown thrasher p 44, northern mockingbird p 47
• Chapter 31: wood thrush p 44, hermit thrush p 45 (no Wilson's or tawny thrush)
• Chapter 32: indigo bunting p 59, eastern towhee p 62
• Chapter 33: American goldfinch p 61 and 63, purple finch p 60
• Chapter 34: mourning dove p 32, yellow-billed cuckoo p 33
• Chapter 35: ruby-throated hummingbird p 35, loggerhead shrike p 48
• Chapter 36: European starling p 47, cedar waxwing p 48
• Chapter 37: black-capped chickadee p 41 (could also include the Carolina chickadee, same page)
• Chapter 38: common loon p 8, Canada goose p 12
• Chapter 39: brown creeper p 42, white-breasted nuthatch p 42 (red-breasted on p 43)
• Chapter 40: dark-eyed junco p 63 (tree sparrow done earlier)
• Chapter 41: horned lark p 63, snow bunting p 63
• Chapter 42: screech owl p 34
• Chapter 43: red crossbill p 61
• Chapter 44: common redpoll p 62 (no pine grosbeak)
• Chapter 45: great horned owl p 34 (no goshawk)

There are lots of birds left to color now that we're finished with The Burgess Bird Book.  I thought a bunch might be in The Burgess Seashore Book which we already own, but it appears there are only a handful in that book. I plan to let Second Daughter just color the rest of the birds on her own.

This is the copy of The Burgess Bird Book we have, which was pricey at about $20 when I bought it in 2010. I wanted the full color illustrations, which were indeed nice and helped my oldest son focus while we were reading. I think the addition of the Peterson Guide, though, makes the illustrations less important. If I were looking for a copy today, I'd probably get the Dover one above. Be careful about some of the print on demand options as they often have minuscule text, no page numbers, or limited margins. The Dover one has a complete index which includes the common name of the birds as well as the nicknames used in the text.

Links above to Amazon are affiliate links. I received nothing in exchange for this post.

Homeschool Record: Our 2015-2016 Poetry

We read from a book of poetry about once a week just for beauty and enjoyment as part of our cultural studies loop.

Just for the blog record, here are the books of poetry we read during the 2015-2016 school year (6th grade, 3rd grade, 1st grade, pre-kindergarten).

The Dragons are Singing Tonight by Jack Prelutsky, pictures by Peter Sis - This is a whole book of poems in the voice of different dragons. Some are silly or clever. The children enjoyed them all. The illustrations were adequate for the poems, though I prefer other illustrators to Sis. (library copy)

The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems edited by Donald Hall - This is a wonderful anthology covering nearly all of America's historical periods. The illustrations vary, matched with contemporary poems. (library copy)

Is It Far to Zanzibar? Poems about Tanzania  by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Betsy Lewin - A delightful collection of poetry sharing life in the African country of Tanzania with wonderful illustrations.  This is a great book to include if you're Reading Around the World and want to cover Africa. (library copy)

Carnival of the Animals with new verses by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by Mary GrandPre - We were revisiting poetry by Jack Prelutsky because my children enjoy his poems tremendously. This particular book is fun because it celebrates the Carnival of the Animals with new lyrics. It includes a CD of the music by Camille Saint-Saens. (library copy)

Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up by Lisa Westberg Peters, pictures by Cathie Felstead - I loved this quirky book of geology poems, illustrated with bold colors and swirls. (library copy)

Goodnight Songs by Margaret Wise Brown is a book of twelve quiet poems illustrated by twelve different respected children's book illustrators like Jonathan Bean and Melissa Sweet. Tom Proutt and Emily Gary set each of the poems to music, available on the included CD. My children listened to the poems when I read them, enjoying the illustrations, but the younger ones loved the CD. They even asked me to add a couple of the songs to their playlist on Spotify. (library copy)

The Children's Own Longfellow, poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which I wrote about here. (library copy, but now we have our own copy from  PaperBackSwap.com)

America the Beautiful in the Words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - an older book with photographs of different American scenes to illustrated some of Longfellow's poetry. The kids were not as interested in this book. (library copy, one which they no longer have)


The Cuckoo's Haiku: and Other Birding Poems by Micheal J. Rosen, illustrated by Stan Fellows, provides about seven poems about different birds for each of the seasons. I am not a good judge of haiku, but the illustrations are lovely examples of nature study journals. I loved this book of poems. (library copy)

My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States collected by Lee Bennett Hopkins - We finished the year with this book as a complement to First Daughter's third grade state study. We didn't quite finish it and picked it back up in the fall. I like this collection of poems that highlights a few characteristics of the areas of the United States. We've checked it out from the library numerous times, but now we have our own copy thanks to PaperBackSwap.com.

Timely Thrasher

Today, Second Daughter and I read about the Brown Thrasher in The Burgess Bird Book for Children. A few hours later, I watched a pair them outside the window, one of which was digging in the leaves and earth, throwing bits of debris all over.

2017 February and March Bird Lists

American Dipper in Wyoming, not Kansas

We have recently acquired a stand for more bird feeders and have been enjoying the increased traffic outside our kitchen windows. We added a little finch feeder (like these) and a suet feeder. (The bird bath, however, blew away within a day or two in the our breezy Kansas country.) Second Daughter has also been delightedly choosing recipes from Cooking for the Birds.

Here are some of the bird sightings we've had:

February

• the ubiquitous red-tailed hawk
• red-bellied woodpecker
• blue jay
• cardinal
• house finch
• house sparrow
• song sparrow
• white-crowned sparrow (These are usually seen in brushy areas adjacent to open country rather than a backyard bird feeder, but you can apparently attract them if you keep the areas near your house brushy and wild, as we have done.)
• Harris's sparrow
• ruby-crowned kinglet
• Eastern meadowlark (only heard near home; but spotted along the roadside)

March - much of the same and also...

• horned lark (wandering the yard, not at our feeder)
• red-winged blackbirds
• robins (usually in our backyard rather than the feeder)
• Northern mockingbird
• Eastern bluebird
• downy woodpecker (at Grammy's house)
• purple finch (along the roadside)
• goldfinch (within a day of putting up our finch feeder)
• golden eagle (a regular though unusual sight in March along a bit of road we traveled regularly)
• common grackle

We always see a few bluebirds in the spring but they haven't stuck around. I'm contemplating installing a bluebird house or two over the winter so we might be able to attract some to nest next year.

Don't go bird watching in Kansas without The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hotspots, one of my favorite books! (Our library has lots of copies for local folks.)

Second Daughter's Wood Duck

Second Daughter (age 7) spent an afternoon drawing a wood duck after the most recent issue of Nature Friend arrived. She's certainly the one who enjoys our subscription the most, but I always hope the others will flip through it as well. I learned some interesting tidbits myself about the house wren in April's issue.

You can try some of the drawing lessons yourself here, and if you enjoy it, consider a subscription. (I receive nothing if you decide to subscribe.)

Prepare for the Spring Migration!

A few weeks ago, Kansas Dad put out a bird feeder for us. It's just outside our kitchen window and near a scraggly bush I grudgingly allow because the birds love to nestle in its branches.

As the birds discovered and accepted the feeder, we've seen new birds regularly and have come to know some of them quite well. It's been a delight to all of us, but especially Second Daughter, who adores birds. Many of the birds we've met in The Burgess Bird Book for Children have been fluttering around just outside our window as we read.

Here's our list since early February:

House Sparrows
Cardinals
Eastern Bluebird
White-crowned Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Blue Jay
Song Sparrow
House Finch
Red-winged Blackbird
Eurasian Collared Dove

We keep a list on a clipboard hanging next to the window so it's easy to note any new birds. We also keep The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots nearby.

The spring migration is just beginning and I anticipate many new birds at our feeder in the next few weeks and months. We're all excited! (Except maybe Kansas Dad, who jokes often with Second Daughter that her birds are eating us out of house and home. At least, I think he's joking.)

Reading Around the World in Picture Books 2013-2014: Central and South America

I'm behind on posting our selections for Reading Around the World in Picture Books. These are the books we read in 2013-2014 (two years ago!), when First Daughter was in first grade, Second Daughter was a five-year-old preschooler, and Second Son was three. First Son was in fourth grade, studying Central and South American in his People and Places studies. I selected picture books to coordinate with his studies. Even if he didn't snuggle up with us to hear the story (and sometimes he did), the books were floating around the house, perhaps offering additional inspiration for him.

** I've marked our favorites with two asterisks.

Unless otherwise noted, all of these books were library books.

** Erandi's Braids by Antonia Hernandez-Madrigal, illustrated by Tomie dePaola (Mexico), is the story of a young girl who sacrifices her beautiful hair so her mother can buy a new fishing net.

** Blue Frog: The Legend of Chocolate by Dianne De Las Casas, illustrated by Holly Stone-Barker (Mexico, Aztec), is a retelling of the myth of the blue frog that stole the secret of chocolate from the Sun God to impart it to the people on earth.

Abuela's Weave by Omar S. Castaneda, illustrated by Enrique O. Sanchez (Guatemala), shows a young girl who weaves beautiful fabrics with her grandmother then travels to the city to sell them for the benefit of the family.

Borreguita and the Coyote retold by Verna Aardema, illustrated by Petra Mathers (Mexico), tells of a lamb that escapes coyote's hunger through trickery and, in the end, surprising strength.

** Musicians of the Sun by Gerald McDermott (Aztec) is the tale of a gray world transformed by the release of the musicians of the sun. It's brilliant and stunning. A group of elementary students performed a version of the book using shadow puppets you can watch on YouTube.

The First Tortilla: A Bilingual Story by Rudolfo Anaya, illustrated by Amy Cordova (Mexico), relates the legend of a great famine. A young girl struggles on a quest to take a gift to the Mountain Spirit so it will send rain. This bilingual story has more text than some of the others. It also requires a bit of explanation about myths and gods of the people before they learned of Christianity, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

** Sopa de frijoles/Bean Soup and Arroz con leche/Rice Pudding: Un poema para cocinar/A Cooking Poem by Jorge Argueta, pictures by Rafael Yockteng (Bean Soup) and Fernando Vilela (Rice Pudding) (El Salvador), were wonderful additions to our study. I was excited to find anything from El Salvador because my sister-in-law was born and lived there until she was seven. These books are poems, written in English and Spanish, celebrating the food of El Salvador. Intermingled with the recipes are the kinds of comments and conversations that go on in homes where families cook together, talking of history and mythology and the world. There are a whole series of books by Jorge Argueta, Biligual Cooking Poems, all with different illustrators, presumably chosen to best reflect the style of the home country of the food.



Juan Bobo Goes to Work: A Puerto Rican Folk Tale retold by Marisa Montes, illustrated by Joe Cepeda (Puerto Rico), is one of many silly stories you can find of Juan Bobo whose foolishness benefits his family in the end.
 
** Tap-Tap by Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Catherine Stock
(Haiti), is a delightful tale of a young girl in Haiti who wants to ride the bus home. I always love the illustrations of Catherine Stock. Our library no longer has a copy of this book and I desperately want to buy one for our home library.

Josias, Hold the Book by Jennifer Riesmeyer Elvgren, illustrated by Nicole Tadgell (Haiti) - When a teacher has a book that can solve his agricultural problem, Josias convinces his father to let him attend school and "hold the book." The bean field resolution, while probably correct, is not convincingly told in the story, but it's interesting for American children to read about children in other countries who must struggle for the ability to go to school.

** A Gift of Gracias by Julia Alvarez, illustrated by Beatrix Vidal (Dominican Republic), is the Dominican legend of Our Lady of Altagracia. It's lovely and my girls always enjoy it. (owned)

** Cendrillon: A Caribbean Cinderella by Robert D. San Souci, illustrated by Brian Pinkney (Creole / Martinique), is a Cinderella tale illustrated by the fantastic Pinkney. I love it, and so did my girls.

** Martina the Beautiful Cockroach retold by Carmen Agra Deedy, illustrated by Michael Austin (Cuba), is the story of a beautiful cockroach awaiting her suitors who receives unexpected advice from her abuela: to spill coffee on each one. Hilarity and wisdom!

Red Knot: A Shorebird's Incredible Journey by Nancy Carol Willis (spans North and South America), follows a single red knot on her round-trip journey from the southern tip of South America to the northern tip of North America and back again. (owned)

Miro in the Kingdom of the Sun by Jane Kurtz, woodcuts by David Frampton, (Inca) is the story of a young girl who saves her brother and the prince with courage and help from the birds, her friends. 

Chaska and the Golden Doll by Ellen Alexander (Peru) is based on the true story of Chaska, a young girl who longs to go to school but whose village school is too small to hold all of the children. When she finds an old Incan idol, she is allowed to decide what to do with it.

** My Name is Gabriela/Me llamo Gabriela by Monica Brown, illustrated by John Parra (Chile), is a story of Gabriela Mistral written in both English and Spanish. It is one of my favorite picture books.

Mia's Story, a sketchbook of hopes and dreams by Micheal Foreman (Chile, Andes Mountains) - Mia, a young girl whose village is essentially in a garbage dump, befriends a dog who runs away. While searching for him, she discovers a beautiful place high in the mountains and gathers armfuls of flowers to remind herself of it. She and her father then sell the flowers in the marketplace. The illustrations are wonderful though I imagine her home is less idyllic than the book shows. I like how the people are just people and the story isn't about poverty; it's exactly what it says: a story about Mia. I wonder, though, if the publisher and author/illustrator shared any of the proceeds with Mia's family.

 
** Love and Roast Chicken: A Trickster Tale from the Andes Mountains by Barbara Knutson (Andes Mountains) is a delightfully hilarious book in the trickster tradition. Cuy the Guinea Pig tricks the Fox. To escape his wrath, he ingratiates himself with the farmer but ends up in trouble again when he is caught by the farmer's trick. Will he escape a second time? The illustrations are rich and colorful, just as enjoyable as the story.

Mariana and the Merchild: A Folk Tale from Chile by Caroline Pitcher, illustrated by Jackie Morris (Chile), is a tale of a lonely woman who cares for a merchild. The merchild becomes a bond between her and the children of her people that comforts her when the merchild must return to the sea.

** Peter Claver, Patron Saint of Slaves/Pedro Claver, Santo Patrono de los Esclavos by Julia Durango, illustrations by Rebecca Garcia-Franco (Colombia), one of my favorite picture books, is about St. Peter Claver, a courageous example of dedicating your life to the poor and weak. (owned)

** The Pied Piper of Peru by Ann Tompert, illustrated by Kestutis Kasparavicius (Peru), tells the legend of how St. Martin de Porres led all the mice from his monastery without hurting any of them but to the satisfaction of the monks who were disinclined to live with mice. St. Martin de Porres is one of my absolute favorite saints and any Catholic family traveling around South America should read about him. Martin de Porres: The Rose in the Desert by Gary D. Schmidt and illustrated by David Diaz is another delightful book about the saint, one I learned of after our study (and which we now own). He's also one of the two saints on my favorite Glory Story audio CD. (I purchased this CD; this is not an affiliate link.) It's funny, even for parents, and neither of the saints featured is martyred for the faith. (Those stories are good, too, but they always make me cry.)

My Mama's Little Ranch on the Pampas by Maria Cristina Brusca tells of a young girl's experiences on the small ranch her mother buys and runs in Argentina. It's a companion to On the Pampas by the same author. Both of these books give a wonderful light-hearted look at the hard work on a Pampas ranch. We read My Mama's Little Ranch on the Pampas together and they read On the Pampas on their own.

Animal Poems of the Iguazú: Animalario del Iguazú poems by Francisco X. Alarcon, illustrated by Maya Christina Gonzalez (Argentina), is a wonderful book of bilingual poems written by the poet (mostly) while visiting the Iguazu Waterfalls. It was a fantastic addition to our study.

The Farmyard Jamboree by Margaret Read MacDonald, illustrated by Sophie Fatus (Chile), is the simple tale of animals. It was fun for the little ones to hear the different animal sounds. It's definitely better for younger children.


** Waiting for the Biblioburro by Monica Brown, illustrations by John Parra (Colombia), is another of my favorite picture books. We've read this book many times together. When First Son (now 12) saw it over my shoulder while I was writing this post, he asked me to request it from the library again.

So Say the Little Monkeys by Nancy Van Laan, pictures by Yumi Heo (Brazil), is an origin tale of tiny monkeys who live along the Amazon but never make a permanent home. Second Daughter loved this book. The rhyming text is full of noises and silly sounds, perfect for young listeners.

Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme
 by Marianne Berkes, illustrated by Jeanette Canyon (rainforest) - It's Over in the Meadow, but in a rainforest, and not so beautifully illustrated (though I'm partial to Keats in general). This was nice for the little ones.

The Umbrella by Jan Brett (rainforest setting) is just as you'd expect from Jan Brett. The children enjoyed it.

Looking for Jaguar: And Other Rain Forest Poems by Susan Katz, pictures by Lee Christiansen (rainforest), is a book of poetry on animals of the rain forest. I enjoyed the illustrations in this book; they reminded me of paintings. A few pages at the end give more information on the animals.

Dancing Turtle: A Folktale from Brazil by Pleasant DeSpain, illustrated by David Boston (Brazil), is the tale of a turtle destined for soup who tricks a boy and his sister into helping her escape.

Mira and the Stone Tortoise: A Kulina Tale retold by Melinda Lilly, illustrated by Charles Reasoner (Brazil), is also a tale of a dancing turtle. I like both the text and the illustrations better in this version than in Dancing Turtle (above), but it's a lot of text for little ones.

We're Roaming in the Rainforest by Laurie Krebs and Anne Wilson (Amazon rainforest) shows a group of three differently-shaded children observing wildlife in the Amazonian rainforest. The brightly colored illustrations and rhyming text are well-suited to young listeners.

The Pot That Juan Built by Nancy Andrews-Ceobel, pictures by David Diaz (Mexico), is written in the same style as "The House that Jack Built." Longer text (in a smaller font) on each page gives a more developed biography of Juan Quezada, a potter who revived an ancient process and style. An afterward includes more details on the process and photographs of a beautiful completed pot.

A Mango in the Hand: A Story Told Through Proverbs by Antonio Sacre, illustrated by Sabastia Serra (unspecified country but Spanish-speaking), tells the story of Francisco and his quest to procure mangoes for his name-day feast. Proverbs (like "Better one mango in the hand than a hundred in the tree") appear throughout the story.

First Daughter will be in fourth grade next year, so we'll read many of these books again with the younger two. It will be fun to revisit them!

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Listening Loop: Science Songs of 2015-2016

unrelated to our science studies, but taken at a science museum

I wrote about our loop scheduling a few days ago. You can read that post here.

The Science Songs of our Listening Loop grew out of a regret. I purchased the book and CD for Lyrical Life Science Volume 1 (used on Cathswap) but we didn't listen to it for a full year. That sort of thing is typical in my experience. We might not do everything on my list, but I rarely remember resources that aren't in the lesson plans.

To rectify that omission, this year, I pulled together some science songs, songs that suited the science for First Son and First Daughter, and we play them at the appropriate time in our loop. Here's our science playlist for 2015-2016.

• from The Elements
• Bonding Song
• Chemical Compounds Song
• Periodic Table Jumping Song
• from Here Comes Science by They Might Be Giants (I wrote about this CD many years ago.)
• Meet the Elements
• What Is a Shooting Star?
• How Many Planets?
• Why Does the Sun Shine?
• Why Does the Sun Really Shine?
• Solid Liquid Gas
• Put It to the Test
• Photosynthesis
• from Lyrical Life Science Volume 1
• Birds
• Algae, Fungi, and Nonvascular Plants
• Vascular Plants 
•  Scientific Method

I purchased The Elements (new, directly from the author) and Lyrical Life Science Volume 1 (used on Cathswap), copied them to my computer, and then imported them into Spotify where this playlist lives.

First Son (sixth grade) is following the Level 3 Year 1 plans at Mater Amabilis: astronomy and plants. First Daughter (third grade) is starting the year with The Elements and then moving on to other chemistry with a conglomeration of materials I cobbled together because I like them. Second Daughter's science (first grade) is Birds so she only had the one contribution. They are also all studying some form of geology this year, but I didn't look for any geological options. These were songs I had or knew already. If you have other suggestions, please share them!

The italic print: Links to Amazon above are affiliate links. If you click on one, put something in your cart, and make a purchase (any purchase) within Amazon's time frame, I receive a small commission. My checking account thanks you!

Links to the Basement Workshop Store and Spotify are not affiliate links. I receive nothing from them, but perhaps you'll find them useful. I highly recommend the paid subscription to Spotify as some of the commercials are not family-friendly.

Cardinals Outside the Window

In the spring, we had a pair of cardinals nest just outside our kitchen window. The children could sit at the table and look down into the nest. It was fantastic, and the source of many prayers from Kansas Mom and Dad that the neighbor cats wouldn't disrupt the nest.

Second Daughter documented the saga in her book entitled, appropriately if predictably, Cardinals.

In the beginning, there was a male cardinal and a female cardinal.

They fell in love and the female showed off her beautiful eggs.

The eggs hatched. The cardinals diligently fed the hungry chicks.

Then the chicks grew up and went their merry way.

The End

Sighted

In the past week: a Baltimore Oriole and a Scarlet Tanager.

Today, I watched a Red-Headed Woodpecker off and on for most of the morning. It's particularly stunning in flight.

My copy of The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hot Spots is already seeing some use!