Birds: Activity Ideas & A Reading List

Have you ever participated in an annual bird count? In 2021, I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count for the first time. (That is, I sat by the window and counted all the birds at my feeder for about 20 minutes. We had snow that day, so most of the birds were either at the feeder or hiding somewhere else.) That bird count happens in mid-February. Winter might seem like a dull time when most birds have left and only juncos or sparrows are left, huddled around a feeder, trying to survive the cold. If you start watching, though, you might find more than you would expect. Some birds even nest during late winter and early spring. (Great horned owl chicks hatch in January and February, for example). Plus, now that the weather is warming up, more birds are migrating back to begin their own nesting routines. Here are some of my favorite picture books about birds, along with some activity pages and other resources. You can use this list to build a unit study on birds, or just turn the