Bird walk with kids

It's no secret that I enjoy birds.    So when I offered to watch some kids from church one afternoon,  the mom suggested I take her kids on a nature/bird walk.

First I told them a "kamishibai" story.  A kamishibai is a paper play story and my mom had this one from her years in Japan as a kindergarten teacher and missionary.  Now I am enjoying sharing it with little children.

The story is on the back of page after it.  You keep flipping pages as you tell the story.

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"  Matt. 6:26

I had made bird books for the kids and we marked off which birds we saw or heard.

 Al and I had planted trees in our neighborhood and I had the kids help me water them.  We have been so dry here in Kansas!!  There is a possibility of rain this coming weekend.  A good soaking rain.  We surely do hope so!  I know the wheat farmers are hoping for that too!

 We saw several crows.

 The forest swing is always fun!

I had baked some bird shaped cookies and the kids colored the frosting and frosted their bird cookies.

"Wait, it needs sprinkles!"

Then we made a snack for the hummingbirds and orioles that will be arriving soon!

 I generally make the hummingbird nectar with 1 part sugar with 4 parts water.  No need to add red coloring.  In fact, they say you shouldn't.  But I had a premixed package that needed using (it came with the feeder) so I used that.

The oriole is 1 part sugar to 6 parts water.  

And an orange half.

And some grape jelly!

Anticipation of their arrival!

We had a good afternoon!  

And the kids learned a little bit about birds.

The birds upon the tree tops sing their song;
The angels chant their chorus all day long;
The flowers in the garden blend their hue,
So why shouldn't I, why shouldn't you praise Him too?

Spring, isn't it?

We were beginning to see signs of spring.

 People usually associate robins with spring, but actually, we have robins year round here in Kansas.  The ones we have in the winter, however, summer up in Canada while the ones we have here during spring and summer come from the south.

 The juncos, our winter birds, have not left yet.  They will shortly.

 Time to put up the purple martin house!

No, Mr. Starling, this house is not for you.

No, Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow, you are not welcome either.

We closed up the middle hole.  We had read that the purple martins are territorial and don't like their fellow martins next door.  In past years, the sparrows have nested in the middle holes.  We are hoping this year to have it ONLY for the purple martins.  

 The first Mr. and Mrs. Purple martin have arrived.  We are having to clean up the sparrows nests and hope to keep them at bay.

We will be needing a new house soon.  There are many kinds of houses!

These have dividers between the holes.

Look at this mansion!

Speaking of new houses, the area south of us will be getting some action soon.  New builds.  They were burning the hedge row that they'd cut down to get the area ready.  Mixed feelings.  The original plans had been for a pond that I could look at from my kitchen window, but now the pond has been moved to be east of the new homes.  We'll enjoy getting to know some new neighbors, but I do like to see nature.

Red wing blackbirds 

 Must have been a windy day when I took this picture.  Look at Mr. Cardinals "hair"!

 Goldfinch

 Dove

Foggy morning over the pond

What in the world? 

"Out on a limb"

 Blue-winged teal

You can't tell it from this picture unless you look closely, but this nest had blue string intertwined among the grasses.  Perhaps some Easter basket straw?  They will be the envy of the bird neighborhood!

Someone else has his eyes on the little birdies in our area!

And just when we think Spring is arriving, the temps dip in the teens and we get a little snow.

The day prior, it had been in the 70's.  That is Kansas.