by Alex and James

“Wow!  What is that big blue bird by the birdfeeder?”

“Let’s look in the bird identification guide.”

One of our favorite parts of our room is the giant window along one whole wall.  We have birdfeeders right outside our window.  We observe the birds as they come to feed, and today our first chickadee came.

We went into our field guides, using the index to find a picture of the chickadee.  The field guide told us they are strong birds that eat a lot and fluff up so they can survive the tough winters.  It even told us what their song sounds like!

If you don’t know the name of a bird you are looking at, look at the pictures in the field guide until you find the kinds of colors, beaks, shapes of bodies or other characteristics that match your bird.  We found the blue jay that way.  We used our observation skills to help us.

In our class bird journal we write down what we see outside whenever there is something new or noteworthy.  So far we have seen three bluejays, two chickadees, one chipmunk (also known as Chip), and about three crows.  Chip ate the most, but he’s hibernating now.  We were really interested in knowing when the first birds came so we can compare it to other years.  This year is later than usual, so we’re wondering if that means there is still really good food in the forest or if it’s because Miss Blessing put out the food later than usual to discourage any bears from visiting.

Chick-a-dee-dee-dee!