Birding

Every month on the first Saturday usually, I like to go with other bird watchers along the Sand Creek trail behind Bethel College to look and listen for birds.

The first bird we saw was a sharp-shinned hawk (I think) 

It is an accipiter, a genus of birds of prey.  

(I'm learning new words - I'm such a novice, 

but it is fun to try to learn these things!  

If I mess up on the name of the bird, well, I just screwed up, that's all.)

Looky!  A blue-headed runner!

Cardinal

Yellow rumped warbler

 We hear way more birds than we see.  And as the leaves fill out on the trees, we will see fewer.  This past month, Greg and the others heard 22 species of birds!

Some of the calls of the birds are distinct but I still can't figure out many of them!
I am trying to identify the various calls though!
I'm learning slowly from these professional birders!
The "teakettle" sound of the carolina wren,
            the trill of a junco,
                   the rattle of a king fisher.
It is amazing how these birders can tell what the bird is from their cries!

Cooper - it has a bigger head that sticks out further.

Often young children come along and they have a great time!

Spotting birds in the brush.

I enjoy birdwatching around my home too....
       along the path around the lake and in my own backyard.

The purple martins have begun arriving and we put out our martin house.

We've had to remove the sparrows nests regularly as they want to "rent" the space!

The other day I mentioned to Claire (age 3) that I was disappointed with the numbers of starlings and sparrows and wished we had more pretty birds, like the woodpeckers.  She went outside on the deck and began to call.

 "Woodpeckers!  Woodpeckers! 

 Come and eat the food at Nana's!"

This morning I had 2 arrive!   Perhaps they heard the call!

If you want to come birding with us, please come to the Kauffman Museum 

parking lot tomorrow, April 2, 7:30 am at the Kauffman Museum!