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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 (those birds that go down the tree head first) build a nest in the birdhouse just beyond our deck.  There they’ve raised a family, fought off marauding red squirrels, and taught the babies to fly.

When our daughter was young, we had a pair of blue jays make a nest near our side door.  By putting up a blind, my husband could take pictures of the baby birds hatching, being fed, and eventually learning to fly.

The robins in spring, the chickadees in winter, the humming birds among the red flowers in the garden, the owls hooting in the night, and the pileated woodpecker pounding on the trees in the woods all add greatly to the birdwatching experiences we enjoy with our youngsters.

What birdwatching do you have with your children?

Post from: Blisstree

Enjoy Birdwatching With Youngsters

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 a walk through the woods.
• Listen to squirrels chatter and giggle when they scold.
• Collect stones and fill pockets until they sag.
• Lift your face and let the breeze kiss your cheeks.
• Watch ants scurry from hole to hole.
• Thoroughly enjoy this phenomenon that’s SPRING with the children in your life.

What do you do with your children when spring comes?

Post from: Blisstree

Enjoy Spring With Your Children

1. Ducks and ducklings – We raised a few of these on the farm and the mother ducks hatched a number of fluffy yellow babies each spring.
2. Geese - We also had a few geese.  One old gander liked to chase us.  Mother would take a swipe at him with a pail of water and send him flying.
3. Chickens – In addition to operating a dairy farm, Mother and Father raised several hundred chickens and sold eggs.  We children were kept busy helping with both operations.  In her Alzheimer’s years, Mother thought the chickens were in the backyard of her little retirement house and “fed” them bread crusts each afternoon.
4. Baltimore Oriole - A pair built their nest and raised their young in a large tree in our back yard each year.  Mother pointed out their distinctive swinging nest and introduced us to their song.
5. Robins – These, too, were occupants of our yard.  We liked to watch them pull worms from the ground.
6. Pheasants – As a 4-H project, Mother encouraged us children to raise  the pheasants provided through the County 4-H.  The first time we hatched the pheasant eggs under brooding hens.  But the survival rate was better when we got the baby pheasants and raised them.  Then we let them go in designated areas in our fields.
7. Red-winged blackbirds – We watched these birds with the distinctive red on their black wings flying and singing in the swampy areas of the pasture.
8. Bluebirds – We looked for these in the orchard where Father raised apples to sell.  Another of the many farm projects we were involved in.
9. Road runners – Mother enjoyed seeing these when she and Father traveled West to visit Jim and me when we was stationed at an Air Force base in Texas. 
10. Bantam or banty chickens - Mother raised a few of these small hens and roosters, just for variety on our farm.  Actually I think there was one proud rooster strutting around with a number of hens.
11. Turkeys – Mother’s brother raised these for sale on his farm.  It was fascinating to visit and listen to them “Gobble, gobble, gobble.”
12. Peacocks - Another of Mother’s brothers had two peacocks and some pheasants on the farm. Watching the peacocks spread their colorful tails was an awesome sight for children.
13. Hummingbirds – They made an appearance in summer and poked their long beaks into the flowers around the house.

As I jot down the various birds and the memories they evoke, I realize this is something anyone could do with Alzheimer’s family members.  Use them as memory joggers for your own family history ramblings, too.

(Ace Trading image at Amazon)

Post from: Blisstree

Thursday Thirteen – 13 Birds Creating Memories in an Alzheimer’s Life