Here is yet another feeder visitor: a Sharp-shinned Hawk. These hawks are smaller than most Cooper’s Hawks. This one has a lovely hood and reddish eye. “Sharpies,” as some birders call them, hunt birds. We have seen thousands of them flying during migration.

Hawk at feeder

Okay, so we were planning on attracting seed-eating birds, not bird-eating birds when we put up this feeder. But if you build it, they will come. Sharp-shinned hawks and Cooper’s hawks visit our feeder in order to hunt the smaller birds that visit our feeder.  These two types of hawks can overlap in size. But the generally bigger ones are Cooper’s hawks. The smaller ones are sharp-shinned hawks. This one appears to be a Cooper’s.  The hawks are beautiful to watch. But I am always hoping they will not eat my favorite songbirds!

These Hamilton Traditional School students explored what they knew about turkeys and turkey vultures. 

Vulture View

English/Language Arts Standards

Kindergarten

K.1.1 Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.

K.1.2 Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom on the printed page.

K.1.3 Understand that printed materials provide information.

K.1.4 Recognize that sentences in print are made up of separate words. (more…)

Bird, Bird, Bird (A Chirping Chant)

English/Language Arts Standards

Kindergarten

K.1.1 Identify the front cover, back cover, and title page of a book.

K.1.2 Follow words from left to right and from top to bottom on the printed page.

K.1.3 Understand that printed materials provide information. (more…)

Honk, Honk, Goose: Canada Geese Start a Family debuts April 14, 2009.

Let’s learn about life cycles. How does a toad survive in the desert? Let’s find out.

Another animal lays eggs in sand, too-not in the desert, but on a beach. The mother animal weighs as much as a refrigerator full of food. Can you guess the animal?

Sea turtle mothers lay their eggs and leave them. The hatchlings must fend for themselves. But another kind of creature guards its eggs and the hatchlings.

Another has to begin the year by finding a home and building a colony.

And here is an animal family with a parent who takes protecting the young very seriously!

Honk, Honk, Goose

Harrison School in South Bend celebrates some of my bird books with creative art. Art from other schools is separately labeled.

From Harrison School