3rd-5th

Observe and Explore

Bird Observation

Set Up Your Observatory

Even if you don’t have trees in your backyard, you can still observe birds but, unfortunately, they will observe you too. Building an observation space can really help.

Observation Space Ideas

  • Sticks for a frame and some brush branches work great. Set chairs behind your blind.

  • Stick or wood frames with a blanket to hide your silhouette.

  • Sit near a fence or tree so birds won’t see you as well.

Help Your Habitat

DIY Feeder Station

This video shows a person who made their own feeder station out of household items.

  1. Brainstorm in your journal materials and ideas for a small feeder station you could make.

  2. Sketch your feeder station layout.

  3. Collect Household Items (Ask an adult first!)

  4. Set up your station.

  5. Fill it with seed and watch it each day to see if birds start to use it. Document bird numbers and types you see once birds start visiting.

  6. Move your items a bit to see if it attracts more birds. You can also change the seed types.

Investigate and discover

Bird Data Collection

Sit in your bird observatory each day at the same time for 10-15 minutes (Morning is Best).

In your journal, make a small table. Try to tally the number of birds you have seen vs. the number of birds you have heard. Use the link below to view an example. If you want to keep your data online, hit file and make a copy then you can edit. You will need a gmail account for that.

Data Table Examples

Feeder Station Monitoring

Feeder Station Data Collection

  1. Use measuring cups or a coffee cup to estimate.

  2. Measure the amount of each food type you put in your feeder.

  3. Measure what is left before you add more.

  4. Add the numbers in your table

Data Table Examples

Read all about it

Learn about birds that you should expect to see during this time of year in your backyard.

Become your family expert on types of bird feeders you could consider in the future.

The Merlin app is a great way to learn more about birds and their habits.

Dinner Discussion

  • Talk about building your bird observatory and how you decided what to use.

  • Talk about challenges for building your observatory.

  • What might you change to make it better?

  • What makes bird observing easy or hard?

  • Which did you count more bird sightings or sounds?

Share with the world

  • Use #ODCbackyardcrusade to share your learning from this week on social media

  • Email a photo to bob@outdoordiscovery.org so we can share it with our community.

Ideas of What to Share:

  • Take a picture of a you in your observatory

  • Take a picture of your feeder station designs

  • Share picture of backyard bird habitat

Beyond The Crusade

  • Create a bird feeder and notice how many birds come to the feeder.

  • Travel to a Park or the Outdoor Discovery Center with Bird Feeders.

  • Have children create a map of their backyard. Include on the map where birds could find food, water, cover, and space to survive.

  • Take an owl hike. Head out at night with your Merlin app to practice calling owls. If you do not live near a wooded area, see suggestions below. Start with the smaller owls and move to the bigger ones. Screech Owl, Barred Owl, Great Horned Owl, as the bigger ones will scare away the smaller ones.