We Have Visitors

About 2 weeks ago we bought a bird feeder. Since we are studying birds we thought it would be a good idea to get a close up look at some. We filled it with bird seed and waited. Within a week the feeder was empty but we hadn't seen any birds. They were clever and ate when they knew we weren't looking. Well this week we have been visited many times by birds and they actually stay long enough for us to come and look at them. We still can't open the blinds all the way. The feeder is close to our front window. They must be able to see us or at least movement within and then fly away. At one point we actually saw three birds at once perched on the feeder. Getting a picture of the birds on our feeder has been difficult by the time I go get the camera they are gone.


The birds that are visiting aren't the most colorful birds so we are having trouble identifying them. They are just small little finches I think. We have looked in our field guides and that is about the best we have come to naming them. There are some that come that are shaped a bit differently and have more speckled colors but we have yet to find it in our books. But we are enjoying the visits of these little guys.


We are also being visited by some unwelcome pests. All summer we have been battling ants. The little black "grease ants" as my husband calls them. We have done everything we can to get rid of them and just when we think we got them they just come in from a different way. Usually through outlets or little cracks in the mouldings. The best method, we have found so far to get rid of these guys, is some liquid ant bait. We put it down near where we see them and they swarm around it for a day. Then next day they don't come out of that hole. That trail seems to have closed down. But they do come back full force from somewhere else.



This morning I went out to the kitchen and they were all over the kitchen counter where there were a few bread crumbs that hadn't been cleaned up last night. The kids and I had fun watching the little guys go for the ant bait when I dripped a bit on the counter where they were swarming. We also got to see first hand how one ant can carry a huge crumb. There was an especially big crumb carried all the way across the counter by a team of ants too. That was interesting to watch.

See we don't need an ant farm we live in one.

Eggs and Birds

I usually pick a science topic for general study for a few months. We have studied Mammals all 2006. All last fall and into winter we studied all about sea creatures and Sea Mammals. Sophie loved learning about whales and even requested a book about whales for Christmas. She can tell you more about whales now and just by looking at them tell you what it is and where it would be found in the world. Then in 2007 we looked at bugs and insects. Not my favorite topic but my kids loved it when we caught some bugs out in the yard to look at more closely.

I recently decided that for the fall we are going to study birds. I have been checking out, from the library, books about birds the last few weeks. I got a great suggestion for a book from Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect.
We picked up this book today when we went to the library and pored over it when we got home. It has beautiful illustrations and is filled with information. Both Soph and Ian loved looking at all the different colors birds eggs came in. I think we were all fascinated to learn all the different parts of the egg and what they are for.
One of the best features of this book are the front and back inside covers. The front inside cover has all the eggs and then the back cover has all the birds and a few insects and other animals that come from eggs. So we spent a long time matching each egg to the animal.
This book reminds me of Ruth Heller's book called Chicken's Aren't the Only Ones. We love Ruth Heller books here. We have read this one many times. This book is also one that Henry seems to bring me a lot. He loves to look at all the different animals. Sophie learned the word Oviparous from this book and has used in public to amazed eyes of those around her. This is a great way to learn science.
One of the things we have started doing with Sophie is a nature journal. I gave her a box of colored pencils to use in a sketch book and she is looking at pictures from the books and trying to draw them. She is actually getting better and better at the drawings. I have been trying to get her to really look closely at the picture to see the shapes in the image rather than just "draw a bird". We actually taken this notebook/journal out side yet but I think it will be fun to go and sit outside and have her draw some trees, plants etc. For now we do what we can.
So we have been spending a lot of time talking about birds. Yesterday when we were at the beach Sophie noticed all the bird prints running around on the sand. She also loved looking at all the seagulls. Today at the library we picked up a field guide for birds in our area. Hopefully we will be able to spot some. I think we will get a bird feeder so we can attract a few.