For the birds

I sing the praises of bird watching. For our family, at least, this is an activity that all generations can share (unlike the DS or Pokemon or Diary of a Wimpy Kid, for example). Growing up, I remember watching the birds in the snowy bushes outside my grandparents' kitchen window. Today, our children talk birds with their grandparents, who have feeders outside their kitchen windows, too. It's a language that we all understand.

We buy our feeder stuff anywhere and everywhere, but the two places we have been the most often are Blackhawk Hardware in the Park Road Shopping Center and the Wild Bird Center of Charlotte in the Arboretum Shopping Center. Both have a good selection of all kinds of feeders.

When my children were in preschool, we participated in many activities at Wing Haven in Myers Park. Wing Haven was created as a private garden in 1927, and the Wing Haven Foundation was created in 1970 to care for the gardens. During the year, Wing Haven offers gardening symposiums, plant sales, and programs for children and families. For example, coming up on Wednesday, December 16, Wing Haven is hosting a holiday celebration. Families can help decorate a tree at Wing Haven with edible ornaments for the birds, and make an edible ornament to take home to their yard, too. Click here for the details (including the RSVP number).

I've blogged about the Carolina Raptor Center before, so I won't take up more space here. Check it out! Cool birds, pretty location. Great family outing.

Coming up on December 26 is the Christmas Bird Count with the Mecklenburg Audubon Society (part of the nationwide Christmas Bird Count which takes place from December 14-January 5). We have never done this, and we won't be doing it this year, but if you are interested in a half-day or all-day trip out in the great outdoors counting birds, click here to learn about the Christmas Bird Count from the National Audubon Society, and click here for details on the event here. The Mecklenburg Audubon Society web page also has lots of information on local birding spots.

For younger children, a more practical bird count is the Great Backyard Bird Count, which will take place in 2010 on February 12-15. Here's a link to learn more about the GBBC for kids. The GBBC is sponsored by the Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, whose website has all kinds of cool bird stuff. When our children were very early risers, this was a great activity for sleepy parents and the kids--I could lounge on the couch drinking my coffee while they eagerly peered out the window to see which birds were coming to our feeders.

While putting this blog post together, I ran across the information for Project FeederWatch, which I had completely forgotten about. Project FeederWatch is a winterlong survey of--yes--birds at feeders. You pay $15 to participate, and receive a research kit, a subscription to BirdScope, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology newsletter, and an ID number for you to use when you submit your data. I hopped right on the website to sign up for a gift membership for our eager 9-year-old birder. It might be a fun gift for a grandparent to receive from a participating grandchild, also.

UNCC biologist Rob Bierregaard is a local treasure for his commitment to birds. Click here to read (or hear) a piece from WFAE on Rob's work banding barred owls in suburban Charlotte neighborhoods--there are more than you might think (owls, not suburbs). You can follow Rob on Twitter; his "handle" (is that what they are called?) is ospreytrax. His website is here.

A great series of books for eager young birders is the Birdsong series, which features recordings of birdsongs from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to accompany the pictures and descriptions.

To Do: Buy an inexpensive feeder and put it up outside your window to beckon the birds.