WhatBird | identify birds | bird identification guide | north america:
'via Blog this'
My grandson and I have been enjoying watching the birds at our two feeders this winter from the living room windows. In an effort to identify them I purchased the app iBird for my new iPhone 4 and my Kindle Fire. And I can get even more information online at the WhatBird.com website. So far I've identified 19, most from our feeder but a couple (Barred Owl and American Robin) from the garden and backyard forest. The app is so great because you can put search "attributes" in (size, state, color, head pattern, etc.) and then it will match those with possible birds. I found the Northern Flicker that way which I had thought might be a woodpecker.
This app is perfect for me, a novice birdwatcher. The one app for iPhone is for the Midwest. The Kindle Fire app is North America. So when we are out and about I can easily look up the birds I see.
This will be a fun activity for us for a long time. Obviously he is just nine months now, so he just looks and points and enjoys. Someday he can learn the names of the birds.
Never thought I'd be a "birdwatcher" or "birder!" I used to be very afraid of birds near me. There was a bad incident in my childhood when my toddler little brother was attacked by a rooster. It was summer, he was in diapers only, playing in the gravel on the driveway in front of our friends' house in the country, when the rooster (maybe two?) jumped on him, pecking and clawing him, and knocking him to the ground. He was rescued quickly and cleaned up. He had scratches only. Wouldn't you know, my brother was never afraid of birds. However, since I witnessed it (I was four at the time) I was the one with the bird phobia. Over the years it has lessened, to the point where when I was teaching I could hold the baby chicks every spring (in kindergarten through second grade the classes hatched chicks). I guess adult chickens are still not much in my comfort-zone! However small birds are. In fact when I was teaching I even thought about getting two finches for the library. The kids would have loved them!
We have a snow day in Columbia, Missouri! As a teacher, these days were always welcome. And as a parent, I'd wish like the kids that school would be cancelled. This school year has had no snow days until today. And it's really coming down, plus we have thunder and even a little lightening. I don't recall hearing thunder with snow very often before. I am happy to be sitting in a warm, cozy chair in the living room, watching the snow and our bird feeders through our large windows.
When our kids were young, we'd always have a special snow day breakfast. So it was nice when my husband requested it today! It's an apple oatmeal "pilaf" we've eaten for breakfast. It takes longer to make than regular oatmeal. It is yummy!
We had another tradition for the first snow of the winter. I did this as a kid too. We listened to the song "Sleigh Ride" on vinyl and now on DVD or Rhapsody. Always had to play it several times.
On Facebook I read last night that many kids and teachers were doing the things that are supposed to bring a no school snow day. They were wearing their PJ's inside out, and putting a spoon under their pillow! One friend from Iowa originally said she'd never heard of these methods or myths until she moved to Columbia, Missouri. Me either.
I recall as a child not having many snow days. Guess we were tougher then? My grade school years were split between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Prairie Village, Kansas. In Wyoming we were used to snow. In Kansas not as much. I think it was in early grade school that one snow day my father was home with us, and he helped us make molasses taffy! Another time it was vinegar taffy. We mainly helped with the pulling and eating. He did the hot stove cooking. It always turned out closer to hard candy than soft chewy taffy. Still, we loved it! And of course we loved that it was our Dad making it with us. I wonder if anyone makes taffy at home anymore?
On stormy days my mother would tell me when she was young they used to play paper dolls especially on rainy days when they had to stay in the house. I did have paper dolls as a child, and yes, would get them out on rainy days. I even made them a house, with an open box (no lid) and furnishings from the Sears catalog, cut out and glued to the sides of the box. It was fun.
Maybe some day when our grandkids are a little older I'll be able to do some of these old-fashioned, fun projects with them! I know I did them with our daughters way back when. It will be fun to continue these traditions.
