Birds Everywhere: Family Outdoor Hour Challenge

We have been trying to observe birds and their wing shapes and tail shapes over the last few days. The weather has been sunny and cool so the hiking has been fantastic.

We watched two turkey vultures soaring right over our head yesterday...we say their wingtips and the way their feathers spread out as they glide on the wind.

We had the chance to see this pair of barn swallows at the flower farm and even though you can't see it very well in the photos, their tails are very unique.

As we are working through these challenges, our family is starting to be able to notice more quickly the shapes and sizes of birds and I am sure it is because we are paying closer attention and we now have more vocabulary to express what we are seeing.

We also had a chance to observe some red-winged blackbirds and to see their beautiful colors as they flew near us. This one has his back to the camera but you can see his pretty red spots.

Yesterday we had a chance to observe goldfinches in a thistle feeder. They are such pretty birds.

"Goldfinches are seen at their best in late summer or September, when they appear in flocks wherever the thistle seeds are found in abundance."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 57

We had quite a few goldfinches in our garden last fall because we left our huge sunflower plants intact until just about all the seeds had been eaten. It amazed us that they could land on the head of a sunflower and it wouldn't even bend over in the least. They must be light birds. They also are fun to watch when they hang upside down in the feeders.

This was a finch at the Living Desert Museum in Palm Springs, CA from February.

My son pointed out the beautiful clouds overhead as we wandered around the local flower farm. There is a vineyard next the the farm and it was a perfect picture looking out in the distance.

Here is the pretty sky over the vineyard and it made the lilacs ever so purple....sigh.

Another pretty sky photo from our week....this time you can see that this big oak has not put on its leaves for the season yet.

We also had a chance to observe some crab apple blossoms. These must be drawn in the nature journal!

So even though we didn't see many goldfinches or a single meadowlark, we were happy to see some birds to check out their wing and tail shapes. The barn swallow was also a new bird for us so that was exciting too.

We have done the reading up on yellow birds so the next time we are out and the opportunity arises, we will be ready for the challenge.