bird research worksheet

The Audubon Guide to Birding Binoculars

The premiere birding book publisher offers its tips and advice on finding quality bird binoculars. (Avoid the cheap “Get in the Game” category.)

Birding Cameras

Family Camera Guide

A good camera is a bit more of an investment but has many other family uses beyond birding.

You’ll also need

• A field guide or bird identification book or apps for your phones
• A bird journal or notebook
• Snacks and water
• Sturdy clothing including hat, rain gear and waterproof boots
• Bug repellant and sunscreen
• First aid kit or Band-Aids
• Your cell phone

A Few Words About Safety

Shocking bird loss since 1970

Feral peacocks, the unmanageable invasive species

About the author.

Joy Thurlow

Hi, I'm Joy Thurlow. Watching birds in the back yard is a favorite hobby of mine. My mission with Joy of Birdwatching is to share (accurate) information about birds, birding and useful products to help everyone connect with nature and enjoy the birds while we still have them. Thanks for reading!

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• Attract Wild Birds 1
• Best Bird Feeders For… 1
• Binoculars 1
• Bird Bath Basics 3
• Bird Baths 1
• Birdy Quirks 5
• Camera (Smart Bird Feeders 3
• Cardinals 2
• Feeding Birds 5
• For Beginners 1
• Heating A Bird Bath 1
• How To Watch Birds 1
• Hummingbirds 1
• Identifying Birds 1
• Kids & Birds 2
• Popular Topics 4
• Problem Birds 1
• Squirrel-proofing 7
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• What to Feed Birds 1

I n many ways every child is born a scientist—exploring their world, leading small experiments, asking questions, searching for answers. That innate curiosity and drive to inquiry is what Rachel Carson, the groundbreaking conservationist and author, called a sense of wonder. “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement,” she wrote. © “It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.”

ɋ This page aims to bring together activities from across Audubon’s national network of environmental educators, including the classroom curriculum  Audubon Adventures , plus related DIY activities and content from  Audubon ’s editors. These activities can be done at home or in a yard or park, sometimes with the help of a computer. The goal isn’t to teach a child how to name and identify bird species, but rather to give them space to explore and feel connected to the natural world. If you’re a parent or caretaker, that means you don’t need to worry about your own knowledge of birds or plants. All you need to be is a companion to your child’s curiosity.

Get to Know Birds

All about owls, birds on the move, plants and birds, hummingbirds, wading birds, share the shore, get to know birds.

Do you love animals, including wildlife? Then you just might want to get to know the wildlife you probably see every day: birds. There are many special things about birds. For one, they have feathers. No other animal has them. Birds come in an amazing variety of colors and sizes. That’s another special thing about birds—diversity.

How do you describe a bird? You may describe its colors and color pattern, the size and shape of the beak, or what its legs and feet look like. These are called field marks. Field marks are clues that people use to help them identify a bird. When you become comfortable recognizing field mark clues, you can begin to identify specific kinds of birds. So, grab a field guide or open an app, or go outside if you can. When you spot a bird, take a closer look.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch a  Black-capped Chickadee —a teeny, acrobatic songbird. Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

a characteristic that helps identify a bird, such as color, color pattern, size, tail shape, leg length, size and shape of beak, kind of feet, and so on

wild animals living in nature

a group of plants or animals that share certain characteristics and are able to breed and reproduce their own kind

the condition of having many different kinds of things, such as people, plants, and animals

the hard, horny part of a bird’s mouth; also called bill

for birds, to settle down to rest or sleep; a place where birds settle down to rest or sleep

With this DIY bird feeder, you can welcome more birds into your backyard by repurposing your empty milk cartons. This quick and easy project is fun for you and will provide a good food source for your avian visitors.

After learning some tips about how birds are named, kids use their imaginations to "invent" a new bird, draw it, and give it a name.

A bird’s beak and feet can tell you a lot about what that bird eats and where it finds its food.

You can learn a lot from watching pigeons! After observing pigeons from a window, park bench, or using online videos, kids use a checklist to spot different behaviors and color morphs.

All about owls

When it comes to birds, owls are big attention-getters, with their huge eyes, razor-sharp beak, and powerful feet with piercing talons. Their haunting calls echoing through the dark give us chills. Owls are also symbols of wisdom, making them popular characters in ancient myths and modern stories.

Owls are categorized as raptors, or birds of prey. They are predators, and the animals they catch and feed on are prey. In other words, they’re hunters. Their diets range from insects and worms to small mammals, reptiles, fish, crustaceans, and even other birds. Like other raptors—eagles, hawks, falcons, kites—owls grab their prey with their feet. Their hunting skills are enhanced by their keen eyesight, excellent hearing, and special feathers on the edges of their wings for flying silently.

After looking at pictures of North American owls, kids learn the differences between five kinds of owl by playfully probing their sounds and size.

After reading a story about a Burrowing Owl’s adventures, kids write and illustrate their own stories about an owl that comes into their lives.

With a whimsical idea and a dollop of paint, your child can create handprint owls, flamingos, or any other feathered favorite.

The John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove is home to fascinating resident owls. These birds are badly injured and unable to survive in the wild, so now they are part of Audubon Pennsylvania's education program. Get to know the owls with Audubon staffers Carrie Barron and Christine Lin in this video series, starting with this episode on owl anatomy. Watch  Episode 1  to see an Eastern Screech Owl eat a mouse. Our hosts dissect an owl pellet in  Episode 2 .

Unravel a bit of the mystery shrouding these amazing birds of prey.

These owls may wear the same game face, but when it comes to personality, they’re as different as day and night.

After reading Audubon Adventures' "Owl Prowl" magazine, test your knowledge with this fun online quiz.

Quiz yourself to learn your North American owl species by sight!

Click on an owl’s photo to see the species name on the back.

Burrowing Owl

Eastern Screech-Owl

Great Gray Owl

Great Horned Owl

Northern Saw-whet Owl

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch an  Eastern Screech-Owl . Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

Every year in spring and fall, millions of birds migrate, taking to the air to travel between their summer and winter homes. It’s a relatively short trip for some. Others travel thousands of miles, sometimes flying for days without landing. Different birds use different skills to get where they need to go. Some learn from their parents. Others use landmarks, sound, the sun and stars, or Earth’s magnetic field to find their way.

No matter where you live, birds migrate through or to your neighborhood. They may stay for a short time, stopping to rest and refuel on their way to someplace else. Or your neighborhood may be the destination for certain species, where they will nest and raise their young in spring and summer, or pass the cold months of fall and winter in a warmer climate.

Kids play an interactive game following the migration journeys of five species. Then, they write their own migration story.

After learning which migratory flyway they live in, kids create invitations that promote the local area as a good place for birds to stop or stay.

Help your feathered friends through their journey with an easy DIY project.

Create a fun pair of paper binoculars using materials from around the house. Now your child is ready for a birding adventure!

to relocate from one habitat to another in a regular cycle

the route birds follow as they migrate

a place in which an organism is normally able to find the resources it needs for survival

a place where migratory animals spend time during their migration

to find the way from one place to another

the natural behavior of an animal in response to environmental factors or other influences

From a tiny bird that makes an epic trek to mileage measured in trips to the moon, these are impressive birds.

Kids are natural explorers. Here are some tips and games to encourage that impulse from Audubon experts.

After reading Audubon Adventures' "Birds on the Move" magazine, test your knowledge with this fun online quiz.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch an  Arctic Tern . Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

Plants Are for the Birds!

A healthy habitat with native trees and plants—the ones that have evolved in that place along with the other living things there—is key to making birds feel at home. Plants provide protection from weather and predators, and offer places to roost at night. Seeds, nuts, fruit, and flower nectar are food sources all year long. And when it comes time to lay eggs, birds use trees and plants to build nests—and hide them, too.

But there’s more! Trees host the protein-rich insects that baby birds need to grow. Science has shown that native trees and plants support far more insects than non-native species. Bottom line, a healthy habitat dominated by native trees and other plants means birds and other wildlife can thrive, and the same is true for another organism: human beings.

Play a classic game of “I Spy,” with a twist. Look for plants and animals inside and outside the home.

Kids make a seed-starting pot out of paper, then plant seeds, see them sprout, and transplant them to a bigger pot or the ground.

An bird's name is often a clue that tells you something about where it lives.

Dark-eyed Junco: Searches the ground for insects in summer and seeds in winter.

Northern Cardinal: Eats most kinds of seeds, insects, berries, and wild fruit—and even flowers!

Blue Jay: Eats many nuts, seeds, fruit, and insects. Stores acorns in holes in the ground.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: Pecks at tree bark to feed on sap. Also finds ants and other insects.

Lesser Goldfinch: Mostly seeds, especially from the daisy family. Eats a few insects.

Mountain Chickadee: Hunts for insects high in treetops. Also eats seeds and berries.

Yellow-rumped Warbler: Seeks insects in foliage or catches them in midair. Eats berries, too.

Baltimore Oriole: Insects, berries, nectar. Will even eat the hairy caterpillars!

This year's Audubon Photography Awards introduced a new category that requires entrants to know their fauna and their flora.

With this simple DIY, you can spread the power of native plants far and wide.

After reading Audubon Adventures' "Plants Are for the Birds!" magazine, test your knowledge with this fun online quiz.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch an  American Goldfinch. Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

Hooray for Hummingbirds!

It’s like a fast-moving, flying, whirring, shimmering jewel. What could it be? A hummingbird! When you see a hummingbird, you know instantly what it is.

Hummingbirds are flying acrobats. They can hover in one spot, fly forward and backwards, side to side, straight up and down, and even upside-down.

Hummingbirds are small. The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest bird in the world—about two inches from bill to tail.

Hummingbirds hum . . . sort of. That buzzy/hummy sound you hear when a hummingbird flies by comes from its rapidly beating wings—between 20 and almost 100 times per second.

In this video, filmed at Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs, Mississippi, hummingbirds flit around and drink from a nectar feeder. Put on some headphones or turn up the volume and take a few minutes to relax and enjoy the sounds of hummingbirds!

In this activity, kids pretend to be a hummingbird visiting flowers to drink nectar—and accidentally become pollinators!

In this activity, kids see if they can flap their arms as fast as a hummingbird flaps its wings. All you need is a stopwatch.

In a few easy steps, you can bring these nectar-loving birds to your feeder.

Allen's Hummingbird

Calliope Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Costa's Hummingbird

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird

Rufous Hummingbird

Broadtailed Hummingbird

About 1 flap per second

Meet the "puffleg” birds of the Latin American tropics, covered in feathers all the way down.

Have some fun coloring an online image of an Allen's Hummingbird.

After reading Audubon Adventures' "Hooray for Hummingbirds" issue, test your knowledge with this fun online quiz.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch a  Ruby-throated Hummingbird. . Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

Raptors! The Birds of Prey

Hawks, eagles, falcons, ospreys, owls, harriers: These are the raptors, also known as birds of prey. “Prey” refers to the fact that these birds are hunters. But what sets them apart from other birds that eat living animals for food, like an American Robin tugging an earthworm from the soil? One difference is the type and size of the prey. Birds of prey eat lizards, snakes, fish, mice, rabbits, and skunks, and even other birds.

Another difference is found in their other name. "Raptor" comes to us from the Latin word that means “to seize and carry away." That’s what birds of prey do: They use powerful feet to catch and carry animals away. Raptors fascinate people because of their skill and strength. When you take a closer look, these birds are wonders of nature and play an important role in Earth’s ecosystems.

In this activity, kids write poems about owls, eagles, hawks, or other raptors to share with family and friends.

To learn firsthand about flight, kids fold paper airplanes to mimic birds' four different wing shapes.

Some raptors are particularly equipped to hunt certain kinds of prey. See if you can match these hunters with their quarry.

the relationships among a group of living things based on the flow of energy from food

an animal that hunts other animals for food

an animal that is hunted by another animal for food

a type of bird, such as an eagle or a hawk, that has a strong beak and sharp talons for catching live prey

a young owl

a community of plants and animals interacting with each other and their environment

The way these fish-eating raptors carry their prey suggests their brains have evolved to divvy up complex tasks.

Also this month: Why do certain species sleep in communal roosts, and how many ducks actually say 'quack'?

Give us your flightless, your hurt, your wounded raptors yearning to fly free…

Test and hone your ID skills with this raptor puzzle.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch a  Bald Eagle. . Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

The World of Wading Birds

When you’re a bird that gets its food from water but can’t swim, several physical traits come in handy: extra-long legs for keeping your feathers dry when hunting in shallow water; an extra-long neck and extra-long beak for reaching out to grab (or stab) a critter; and spread-out toes on big feet for keeping your balance and walking in mud without getting stuck. The birds with these characteristics are called wading birds. They include herons, egrets, cranes, storks, ibises, and spoonbills.

Wading birds are found throughout the United States, and they all live near a body of fresh or saltwater. Their diet usually includes critters that live in and under water—fish and frogs, for example. But you might also see one of these birds stalking lizards, insects, and even small mammals and other birds.

At 5 feet tall, the Whooping Crane is one of North America's tallest birds. It's also one of the rarest. In 1941, only 15 Whooping Cranes were left in the entire world. People who cared about the cranes worked very hard to bring them back. They asked hunters to not shoot the endangered species. They also saved the watery places wading birds live. Because of their hard work, there are nearly 400 Whooping Cranes alive today. Christine Lin, social media producer for Audubon, went to Texas to see Whooping Cranes in the wild. Watch this video she made of her journey.

Measure the heights of various wading birds and see how you compare.

In this activity, kids get to try out several beaks for size and discover how powerful a specialized bill can be!

Hanoch Piven relies on serendipity to piece together his interpretation of this vibrant wader.

Once badly injured, the recovered bird now teaches residents of Curaçao about the importance of conservation.

The behavior, called canopy feeding, is an especially effective way to hunt.

After reading Audubon Adventures' "The Watery World of Wading Birds" issue, test your knowledge with this fun online quiz.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch a  Great Blue Heron. . Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

Seabirds: Feathered Ocean Travelers

Seabirds are birds that spend most of their lives on water. This group includes pelicans, puffins, terns, skimmers, albatrosses, penguins, and others. They have remarkable characteristics that allow them to survive in the often harsh conditions they face at sea, like waterproof feathers and special organs that make it possible for them to drink saltwater. Some have extra layers of fat to insulate them against cold Arctic and Antarctic waters. Some “fly” underwater to catch their food, while others dive headfirst into the water to catch fish.

Do you have to live near the ocean to catch a glimpse of a seabird? No! Some seabirds can be spotted near freshwater lakes. Some migrate thousands of miles over water and land between the places they raise their young and the places they spend the winter.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch an  Atlantic Puffin. . Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

Conduct an experiment using household ingredients to discover the importance of insulation for birds that live in very cold places.

Visit Antarctica without leaving the house by creating a food chain featuring an iconic seabird: the Emperor Penguin.

Take a ball of yarn and add a little love to create this adorable puffin chick toy, from Audubon's Project Puffin.

Double-crested Cormorant

Nazca Booby

Rockhopper Penguin

Laysan Albatross

Adélie Penguin

Atlantic Puffin

These alcids, related to puffins, must flap frantically to fly through the air—but beneath the waves, they are streamlined, masterful swimmers.

Penguins are some of the coolest and most charming animals around, with many adaptations for ocean life and relatable social behaviors.

After reading Audubon Adventures' "Seabirds: Feathered Ocean Mariners" issue, test your knowledge with this fun online quiz.

Sharing Our Shores

Many families love to spend a day near the shore: sunshine, cool breeze, waves rolling in over white sand or splashing over rocks. The shore is a special place where the land and sea meet. People flock to beaches to play, relax, and enjoy the beauty of nature.

Birds and other animals are part of the nature of seashores that people love. Shorebirds and other coastal birds soar, dive, skitter back and forth, or stand in groups above the water line. For them, the seashore is a source of food, a restful stopover on a long migratory journey, and often a place to nest and raise their chicks right there on the sand. Learning about the interesting and challenging lives of shorebirds and how to respect and protect them and the habitat we share gives us one more reason to love a trip to the beach.

Signs made by kids can help spread the word on how to protect birds nesting at the beach.

The diversity of shorebirds is stunning, but it can also be overwhelming. Here are four staple groups to get you started.

Going to the beach is great, but people aren’t the only ones who enjoy it. Here’s how you can protect shorebirds while soaking up the sun.

a bird with pointed wings and a short bill that searches for food along the shore

the area next to a body of water, such as a sea or lake

a bird’s nest that is a hollowed-out place in the sand

a small creature with a tough shell that live on beaches, usually in washed-up seaweed, and hop like fleas; also called sand hopper, sand flea, beach flea

a hill of sand formed by wind near an ocean or large lake

coloring and patterns that make an animal or object blend in with its surroundings

Along with many other species, every summer this shorebird heads to the coastal plain of Alaska's Arctic Refuge to breed.

By doing so, you'll be helping birds and other wildlife.

After reading Audubon Adventures' "Sharing Our Shores" issue, test your knowledge with this fun online quiz.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch a  Long-billed Curlew. . Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

Let’s Change Climate Change

Planet Earth is getting warmer faster than ever before because of a buildup of greenhouse gases in the air. Greenhouse gases are produced by Earth’s natural systems and they help make the planet a place where plants, animals, and people can live. But lately people are making too many greenhouse gases, causing the Earth to grow warmer. That’s causing problems for all living things.

For birds, climate change can make it hard to find food, and to find places to build their nests and raise their babies. Luckily, we can help. The most important thing is to join together with other people who care about climate change in a climate party. We have to make some big changes, and the only way we can do that is by working together. So tell your family and friends why you care about climate change and why it's important to protect birds.

In this activity, kids create a campaign poster about why they care about climate change and share it with friends and family.


How much plastic waste does your household produce? Use this tracker to find out—and identify ways to reduce it.

How do carbon emissions affect ocean animals that live in shells? Find out in this easy home experiment.

Not all birds that live in the same place will be affected the same way. In this activity, learn about climate impacts on your local birds.

the layer of gases that surround Earth

temporary atmospheric conditions. Examples: snowstorms and blizzards, rainy days, hot days, cold days, hurricanes, and tornadoes

the general weather in an area over many years. While some places may still experience cold weather, the overall climate on Earth is getting warmer

energy sources that come from coal, oil, and natural gas. When we burn fossil fuels for energy, we add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere

Like a greenhouse, these gases trap heat from the sun. Too many greenhouse gases cause Earth’s climate to get too warm

a greenhouse gas released when we burn fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere and warms the planet

In this experiment, kids test whether land ice or sea ice causes oceans to rise as the planet warms.

Students at Brattleboro Union High School use art to channel both their climate grief and love for birds.

Several new murals have gone up in Hamilton Heights—check them out and see some videos of their creation here.

You don’t need to go outside to get to know birds: Try drawing them instead. David Sibley , the ornithologist who wrote and illustrated The Sibley Guide to Birds , created a video for Audubon for Kids that shows how to sketch a  Saltmarsh Sparrow . Get out a piece of paper and a pencil or crayon and try it yourself! Share your art on Instagram: #SketchWithSibley   @audubonsociety .

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Published: Jan 8, 2024 · Modified: Mar 22, 2024 by Julie

Printable Bird Watching Journal

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Watching birds either at the feeder or in your yard is wonderful pass time. This free printable bird watching journal is great for young bird enthusiasts!

Exploring nature with your kids doesn't have to be complicated. From starting a nature journal to going on a backyard scavenger hunt , there are so many fun activities to do together.

The best thing about keeping a bird journal is you can do it all year long. As bird migrate, your kids can spot different species of birds through out the year.

This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy .

I like to give my readers ideas for how to use the printables with their kids. You can access the PDF version of the bird watching journal at the bottom of this post.

What is a Bird Journal

Skills to practice.

A bird journal is a place where you can record observations from time spent bird watching. Hand draw pictures, labeled diagrams, written notes, along with keeping a record of which species of birds you saw can all be recorded.

Not only is bird watching fun, but you can make it educational. Kids can learn about each bird species while observing the birds in their natural habitat.

You can observe birds in your own yard or visit a local park. Gardens are great spots to observe birds along with woodland forest.

• Kindergarten
• Upper Elementary

You can use these bird watching journaling pages with a wide range of kids! Guided enough for young children in preschool. Yet, open-ended for older kids in 1st through 6th grade!

Related Post: My Butterfly Observation Journal

Kids of all ages love observing nature. Its amazing what you can see when you take the time to stop and watch quietly. Even very young children are able to make observations and basic sketches with some of guidance.

Observing the birds is also a great activity for adults to do alongside their kids!

Printer and Paper

Since this journal is a pdf download, you will need a printer along with printer paper to make the journal. Each page fits a standard 8 ½ by 11 inch piece of paper.

If you want the cover page to be sturdy, you can print it off using cardstock instead of plain paper. However, that is not 100% necessary.

Stapler, Ribbon, or a Binder

Keeping an observation journal lets your kids observe birds over a period of time. To keep the journal together you can simply use a stapler. Another option is to tie the pages together by running a ribbon through a hole made by a hole punch.

You can even use a 3 ring binder or folder. This way your kids can add in pages as needed. They can also take one sheet out at a time without having to have the entire journal out!

Art Supplies

• colored pencils
• regular pencil

Optional, but really fun for kids and adults! There is something official about using supplies like binoculars when making observations. These binoculars can be used by both adults and kids.

Not just for bird watching, you an use them when observing all types of wildlife outside. We have a pair and really like them!

Bird Feeder

Also optional, but observing birds at a feeder is a fun activity for kids. If you live in bear country like, me I put up my feeders in the wintertime. It is also a great winter craft to make your own feeders together!

Make your own bird feeder using a recycled milk jug or a paper cup and pipe cleaners !

Bird Field Guide

If you are looking to turn this activity into a science lesson you can pair it with a field guide about birds . Even if you are just doing this activity for fun, field guides a wonderful resources!

Kids can learn the common and scientific name of the different species of birds they observe. They can then add information they learned from the book into their journal.

While this book doesn't have every bird you may see, this woodland bird book lets you hear the songs that birds sing!

• Making Observations
• Data Collection
• Communication
• Bird Identification
• Scientific Sketches
• Summarizing

Watching the birds and recording information about them in a journal is a wonderful way to practice science. Kids can even record how many times you see each bird to incorporate a little bit of math.

While children draw an illustration they are practicing art all while learning about the birds in their area.

Older children can even add labels to each drawing. Labels including the different parts of the bird or even the name of the different species.

After they make an entry, take the time to talk about what you observed together. Talking it out helps kids to practice summarizing while communicating their ideas.

Terms of Use

These printables were created by  Nature Inspired Learning  and are for  personal use only  for your home, classroom, or public library. All of these bird journal pages are for  non-commercial use . See full  disclosure .

My Bird Journal Cover Page, Bird Tracker, Bird Observation Sheet, and My Favorite Bird Page!

PDF format that you can print off right away. I made sure to use black and white instead of color to make this printable journal low on ink!

Learning about birds, this printable bird bingo game and these bird I spy worksheets are fun to go along with this journaling activity.

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Do Birds Dream?

What new research on the avian brain and REM sleep in birds might reveal about our own dream lives.

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By Maria Popova

I once dreamed a kiss that hadn’t yet happened. I dreamed the angle at which our heads tilted, the fit of my fingers behind her ear, the exact pressure exerted on the lips by this transfer of trust and tenderness.

Freud, who catalyzed the study of dreams with his foundational 1899 treatise, would have discounted this as a mere chimera of the wishful unconscious. But what we have since discovered about the mind — particularly about the dream-rich sleep state of rapid-eye movement, or REM, unknown in Freud’s day — suggests another possibility for the adaptive function of these parallel lives in the night.

One cold morning not long after the kiss dream, I watched a young night heron sleep on a naked branch over the pond in Brooklyn Bridge Park, head folded into chest, and found myself wondering whether birds dream.

The recognition that nonhuman animals dream dates at least as far back as the days of Aristotle, who watched a sleeping dog bark and deemed it unambiguous evidence of mental life. But by the time Descartes catalyzed the Enlightenment in the 17th century, he had reduced other animals to mere automatons, tainting centuries of science with the assumption that anything unlike us is inherently inferior.

In the 19th century, when the German naturalist Ludwig Edinger performed the first anatomical studies of the bird brain and discovered the absence of a neocortex — the more evolutionarily nascent outer layer of the brain, responsible for complex cognition and creative problem-solving — he dismissed birds as little more than Cartesian puppets of reflex. This view was reinforced in the 20th century by the deviation, led by B.F. Skinner and his pigeons, into behaviorism — a school of thought that considered behavior a Rube Goldberg machine of stimulus and response governed by reflex, disregarding interior mental states and emotional response.

In 1861, just two years after Darwin’s publication of “On the Origin of Species,” a fossil was discovered in Germany with the tail and jaws of a reptile and the wings and wishbone of a bird, sparking the revelation that birds had evolved from dinosaurs. We have since learned that, although birds and humans haven’t shared a common ancestor in more than 300 million years, a bird’s brain is much more similar to ours than to a reptile’s. The neuron density of its forebrain — the region engaged with planning, sensory processing, and emotional responses, and on which REM sleep is largely dependent — is comparable to that of primates. At the cellular level, a songbird’s brain has a structure, the dorsal ventricular ridge, similar to the mammalian neocortex in function if not shape. (In pigeons and barn owls, the DVR is structured like the human neocortex, with both horizontal and vertical neural circuitry.)

Still, avian brains are also profoundly other, capable of feats unimaginable to us, especially during sleep: Many birds sleep with one eye open, even during flight. Migrating species that traverse immense distances at night, like the bar-tailed godwit, which covers the 7,000 miles between Alaska and New Zealand in eight days of continuous flight, engage in unihemispheric sleep, blurring the line between our standard categories of sleep and wakefulness.

But while sleep is an outwardly observable physical behavior, dreaming is an invisible interior experience as mysterious as love — a mystery to which science has brought brain imaging technology to illuminate the inner landscape of the sleeping bird’s mind.

The first electroencephalogram of electrical activity in the human brain was recorded in 1924, but EEG was not applied to the study of avian sleep until the 21st century, aided by the even more nascent functional magnetic resonance imaging, developed in the 1990s. The two technologies complement each other. In recording the electrical activity of large populations of neurons near the cortical surface, EEG tracks what neurons do more directly. But fM.R.I. can pinpoint the location of brain activity more precisely through oxygen levels in the blood. Scientists have used these technologies together to study the firing patterns of cells during REM sleep in an effort to deduce the content of dreams.

A study of zebra finches — songbirds whose repertoire is learned, not hard-wired — mapped particular notes of melodies sung in the daytime to neurons firing in the forebrain. Then, during REM, the neurons fired in a similar order: The birds appeared to be rehearsing the songs in their dreams.

An fM.R.I. study of pigeons found that brain regions tasked with visual processing and spatial navigation were active during REM, as were regions responsible for wing action, even though the birds were stilled with sleep: They appeared to be dreaming of flying. The amygdala — a cluster of nuclei responsible for emotional regulation — was also active during REM, hinting at dreams laced with feeling. My night heron was probably dreaming, too — the folded neck is a classic marker of atonia, the loss of muscle tone characteristic of the REM state.

But the most haunting intimation of the research on avian sleep is that without the dreams of birds, we too might be dreamless. No heron, no kiss.

There are two primary groups of living birds: the flightless Palaeognathae, including the ostrich and the kiwi, which have retained certain ancestral reptilian traits, and Neognathae, comprising all other birds. EEG studies of sleeping ostriches have found REM-like activity in the brainstem — a more ancient part of the brain — while in modern birds, as in mammals, this REM-like activity takes place primarily in the more recently developed forebrain.

Several studies of sleeping monotremes — egg-laying mammals like the platypus and the echidna, the evolutionary link between us and birds — also reveal REM-like activity in the brainstem, suggesting that this was the ancestral crucible of REM before it slowly migrated toward the forebrain.

If so, the bird brain might be where evolution designed dreams — that secret chamber adjacent to our waking consciousness where we continue to work on the problems that occupy our days. Dmitri Mendeleev, after puzzling long and hard over the arrangement of atomic weights in his waking state, arrived at his periodic table in a dream. “All the elements fell into place as required,” he recounted in his diary. “Awakening, I immediately wrote it down on a piece of paper.” Stephon Alexander, a cosmologist now at Brown University, dreamed his way to a groundbreaking insight about the role of symmetry in cosmic inflation that earned him a national award from the American Physics Society. For Einstein, the central revelation of relativity took shape in a dream of cows simultaneously jumping up and moving in wavelike motion.

As with the mind, so with the body. Studies have shown that people learning new motor tasks “practice” them in sleep, then perform better while awake. This line of research has also shown how mental visualization helps athletes improve performance. Renata Adler touches on this in her novel, “Speedboat”: “That was a dream,” she writes, “but many of the most important things, I find, are the ones learned in your sleep. Speech, tennis, music, skiing, manners, love — you try them waking and perhaps balk at the jump, and then you’re over. You’ve caught the rhythm of them once and for all, in your sleep at night.”

It may be that in REM, this gloaming between waking consciousness and the unconscious, we practice the possible into the real. It may be that the kiss in my dream was not nocturnal fantasy but, like the heron’s dreams of flying, the practice of possibility. It may be that we evolved to dream ourselves into reality — a laboratory of consciousness that began in the bird brain.

More social birds are more adventurous feeders

A new study led by researchers at the University of Oxford has found that birds that are more social are more likely to use novel sources of food. The findings have been published in iScience.

In nature, feeding in groups has various advantages -- such as for spotting predators and finding the best places to eat -- but hanging around with others also comes with the drawback of increased competition for food resources. One way that sociable individuals could reduce competition is by broadening their diets to include new types of food. For the first time, researchers have now demonstrated a direct link between individual birds' position within their 'social network' and their likelihood to exploit novel food sources.

The study, carried out in Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire, assessed the behaviour of 105 wild great tits while they foraged in flocks during the winter. By fitting the birds with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, the researchers were able to precisely monitor each individual's behaviour at feeders as well as tracking each bird's 'social network position' in relation to how many social associates they held and who they preferred to spend time with.

After closely monitoring the birds to establish their social network, the researchers then tested each birds' propensity to use novel foods. At one of the feeding stations, the birds were offered a choice between a feeder containing a familiar food (ground peanuts) and one containing a novel looking food (ground peanuts dyed red or green). Over 19 days, the researchers tracked how often the birds used the new food source over the familiar food, then analysed whether this was linked to a range of different factors.

The results showed that individual bird's tendency to use the novel food source over familiar food was significantly predicted by their social network position. Individuals with more social associations to other birds within the networks consumed significantly greater proportions of the novel food, with the most sociable birds eating twice the proportion of the novel food relative to the less sociable individuals. No other characteristics -- such as age, sex, flock size, or total feeding rates- were found to be linked to individual preference for novel food.

Curiously, sociability had no impact on how quickly birds first used the novel feeder, with most birds (92%) using the novel food at some point during the trial, and no difference between sociable birds and less sociable birds in how quickly they tried it.

Lead researcher Dr Keith McMahon (Department of Biology, University of Oxford) said: 'This indicates that the increased usage of the novel food by the more social birds was not due to them being generally more exploratory or brave, but rather that more social birds are more likely to use novel food as a way of expanding their diets to offset the costs of having more foraging associates.'

The researchers suggest that future work could examine how more social individuals may receive additional information about new food sources transmitted through their group members, increasing their confidence in using these novel options.

Senior researcher Dr Josh Firth (Department of Biology, University of Oxford) said: 'The findings suggest that highly social birds may alleviate the costs of competition for food by foraging more broadly and exploiting novel food sources, but future research could explore whether there are additional reasons which explain why more social individuals are more likely to tolerate new foods.'

• Agriculture and Food
• Food and Agriculture
• Bird Flu Research
• Sociobiology
• Bird intelligence

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Oxford . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Keith McMahon, Nicola M. Marples, Lewis G. Spurgin, Hannah M. Rowland, Ben C. Sheldon, Josh A. Firth. Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population . iScience , 2024; 109581 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109581

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CDC Issues Health Alert for Bird Flu Infection in US

FILE PHOTO: A person touches a test tube labelled "Bird Flu", in this picture illustration, January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

(Reuters) - The U.S. CDC on Friday issued a health alert to inform clinicians, state health departments and the public of a case of avian influenza in a person who had contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected with the virus.

The farm worker from Texas was reported to be infected on April 1, making it the second case of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, identified in a person in the United States.

It follows a 2022 case in Colorado, and comes as the virus is spreading to new mammals, including dairy cattle for the first time.

To prevent infection from the virus, the CDC recommends the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), testing, antiviral treatment, patient investigations and monitoring of persons exposed to sick or dead, wild and domesticated animals and livestock that may have been infected with the virus.

Earlier this week, the CDC said the infection does not change the risk assessment for the U.S. general public from H5N1 bird flu, which it considers to be low. The Texas patient's only symptom was eye inflammation, according to the state's health department.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters .

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2024 Joint Research Conference (JRC): Early Bird Registration Ending in ONE WEEK

1.  2024 joint research conference (jrc): early bird registration ending in one week.

The 2024 Joint Research Conference (JRC) on Statistics in Quality, Industry and Technology  will be held in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada from June 17-20, 2024 at the University of Waterloo. This is a joint meeting of the 29th Spring Research Conference on Statistics in Industry and Technology and the 40th Quality and Productivity Research Conference. The conference is co-sponsored by the ASA Section on Quality and Productivity and the ASA Section on Physical & Engineering Sciences, and the IMS. Organization of this conference is also in partnership with Virginia Tech. 

Early Bird Registration  ends April 15! Register soon to take advantage of the reduced pricing.

The theme of this year's conference is  Data Science and Statistics for Industrial Innovation , and it will honour Dr. Stefan Steiner, Professor and past Chair of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo. The technical program focuses on statistical methodology and creative problem solving to address scientific, industrial, and business challenges, drawing upon advances from the fields of statistics, machine learning, and data science. For an additional fee, participants may register for a full-day, interactive short course (held on June 17) concerning an " Introduction to Large Language Models ". This course will be instructed by Ming Li, Director of Data Science at PetSmart and Adjunct Instructor at the University of Washington.

For more information see the conference website ( https://www.uwaterloo.ca/jrc-2024 ) or contact Nathaniel Stevens ( [email protected] ).

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