for the birds

Finn and I decided recently that we'd like to get to know our backyard birdies a little bit better. We schemed and planned how we might get a little closer to our neighborhood birds. A bird feeder near the back of our property is emptied almost as quickly as it is filled as the trees, shrubs and blackberry brambles in that part of the yard are constantly filled with our avian friends.

In order to hopefully bring them a little closer into sight, we hung a second (finch) feeder in the tree nearest to our living room/library windows, although we frequently have birds that visit us on the deck as well. I wonder if a deck feeder would encourage them to hang out there more often or if it would be too close for comfort for them?

We thought that an identification book might help us figure out exactly which birds are visiting our yard. We cut a small stack of computer paper in half then cut out a piece of cereal box the same size to form our book.

With a sewing machine stitched line down the middle to hold our pages in place, we began searching for bird pictures to put into our identification book.

Finn is very adamantly attached to scissors and tape lately so he happily cut out the bird photos and taped one to each page which I helped him label.

As we see more birds in our backyard, we'll try to identify them and put more photos in our book to help us remember what we've seen and learn the birds' names.

Finn has already located his book to a spot that's handy for whipping out when a backyard bird pays a call.

Come on, little birdie! Just a bit closer, and bring your friends now too!