This weekend I thought I’d do a link round up of some of my favorite pet-related links for the weekend. I come across so many great ones throughout the week that I don’t always get a chance to share them, so I figured why not list them all out at once!
~ Small Dog Grooming Tips at She Knows
~ Cockroaches as Pets (no thanks!) from news.com.au
~ Homemade USS Enterprise Dog Costume at Wag Reflex
~ Should Your Dog Get a Flu Shot? at Embrace
~ Sink Drink Gadget for Cats at Celebrate Your Pet!
~ Senator Ted Kennedy Remembered As Dog Lover at …read more

I haven’t had the opportunity to make treats for birds since it’s been several years since we had our parakeets. Though we liked to give them non-homemade treats (vegetables, etc), I think they probably would have enjoyed these as well!

Both recipes below are great for kids to make, and come from easy-kids-recipes.com:
Homemade Bird Balls
1 pound of lard
1 jar of peanut butter
5 cups corn meal
6 cups oats
2 cups sunflower seeds
2 cups raisins
Mix everything together (this will be nice and messy!). Roll into about 5 or 6 small balls. Roll balls in sunflower seeds and raisins. Place the balls in a bird …read more

Since it’s FINALLY getting warm here, Truman and I had our morning coffee on the patio and looked for birds.

My son’s become quite the bird enthusiast ever since his uncle bought him the book Birding for Children by Art Minton and illustrated by Patrick Grogan. Truman has not only memorized what each of the birds looks like, he also knows that Flickers are zygodactyls and Chickadees would like gymnastics.

 
We’ve been doing a lot of bird watching lately. Last weekend Truman found the Sibley’s bird book on our porch and spent much of the afternoons studying new birds and their migration …read more

In Bird Watching with Youngsters, I discussed birds and in another post, Keeping a Bird Watching Journal.  One of the journal activities I mentioned was writing a story or poem about the birds you and your youngsters see.  You/they may want to read some bird stories or poetry first to get an idea of the type of writing you’d like to do.
*Poetry – Your poem can be of any type, rhyming or free verse, about one bird or the numbers of birds you see around your home or on a trip.
*Nature Story – I often wrote these for children’s magazines.  …read more

Keeping a bird watching journal provides an enjoyable summer activity for youngsters and the adults.    Actually this can be a year round project, but since it’s mid-spring, let’s start yours now.
There are various ways you can do this:

Simply keep a list of the birds you see.
List the birds and write something about them.
Add a sketch to the list and description.
Write a story or poem about the birds you see.
Make a papier mache model of a bird…or use other materials for a bird sculpture.
Make a painting of some of these birds you see and list.

In my anthology, Tales of Adventure and Discovery, …read more

Watching the birds around our home or on walks through the neighborhood has fascinated me since I was a child.  My mom, as a parent who called her children’s attention to the birds around the yard of our farmhouse and the meadows where the cows grazed, encouraged my interest in watching these feathered friends.
I’ve tried to pass this interest along to my daughter and grandchildren. I’ve sketched and painted birds, researched them, written poems and stories about them, and watched them build nests around our yard.  For the past couple of years, my grandchildren have enjoyed watching a pair of nuthatches …read more

Creating collages about spring provides enjoyment for youngsters and adults.  These can be very simple or they might be detailed, made with a great deal of thought.

Cut out pictures of birds and flowers from magazines and catalogs.  Arrange them haphazardly or planned to tell a story, on poster board.  This is fun to do with youngsters in school or at home.  Perhaps they can write a poem about spring to accompany.
Find around you in the yard, the woods (our yard is part of the surrounding woodland), or along a back road natural objects that remind you of spring and …read more

“Can you smell spring, Mom?” I recall my 7-year old daughter saying, as she rushed in from out-of-doors.  “Come, Mom.  Come smell spring.”
So I went outside with her and enjoyed the scents and sounds of spring.  When we stop and wonder with our children, we’ll enjoy the small miracles of nature we often rush past in our hurried adult life.

Listen to the bright red cardinal sing his merry song in the maple tree.
Watch the robins bring straw and grass and other objects to build a nest.
Splash through water in a puddle.  Never mind that feet get wet.
Skip stones across the brook on …read more

This little bird is pretty brilliant: not only can he play dead and shake “hands” but he’s also into sports!

AJ is a ringnecked parakeet. He’s been trained to play dead, shake, turn around, flip, and even play golf and basketball! And he’s got a sweet little voice, too, as he makes his way up to the basketball hoop.
Ringnecked parakeets, or rose-ringed parakeets, are a tropical parakeet species from Africa and Asia that are fast becoming popular pets around the world, though they were first domesticated by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Bird Quilts
Just as I’m focusing on birds and bird quilt patterns this week, brought about by National Bird Day this past Monday, I came across these books.  Perhaps you’ve made quilts or fabric art related to our feathered friends or maybe you’d like to.
Feathered Friends: 18 Paper-Pieced Blocks for Bird Lovers by Jette Norregaard Neilsen
Backyard Bird Quilts: 18 Paper-Pieced Projects by Jodie Davis
Applique Takes Wings: Exquisite Designs for Birds, Butterflies and More by Jane Townswick
Exotic Birds Critter Works Applique Quilting Pattern
Memories of a Lifetime: Birds and Butterflies: Artwork for Scrapbooks and Fabric-Transfer Crafts by Nancy Rosin
Do you have any favorite …read more