A couple good science things

First, bringing this up from the comments in the science post last week - L from Road Schola recommended this wonderful & quirky Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense Very hilarious, though not all very child safe, so pre-read pls before setting your munchkins free to chortle.

Secondly - & completely child safe! - is Project Feeder Watch. It's not too late to join for this year's season (though you'll want to do it quickly as official watching starts on Nov 13)

"traffic jam at suet" northern flicker & downy woodpecker - Oct 14, 2010

Many of you may have heard of the Christmas Day bird count & other one day counts. This is sort of like that, except it's way cooler because it runs for 6 months!

Project Feeder Watch is a joint program, run by Bird Studies Canada & the Cornell Ornithology Lab.

Canadians sign up here
Americans sign up here

Basically, you need to pick a section of your property which you'll observe, put something there which attracts birds (feeder with seeds or suet is customary but it could also have a bird bath or shrubbery with berries etc), select two consecutive days & each week keep a tally of what birds you observe. You don't need to stick glued to the window - some people observe before & after work, some for 5 minutes at the top of every hour etc. Complete instructions on how to pick your observation days (you do need to stick to those weekdays, but it's ok if you miss some due to trips etc) & how to count the birds (that's actually very important & there are very specific instructions for counting the birds) & report them (online or mailed in) are all in the Research Kit package.

We pick days which we know we're going to be home, & the table where we do our schoolwork is right beside the window on our viewing area, so we just keep an eye out while we work.

(of course that does mean that when I grumble at my pupils to stop.staring.out.the.window.and.for.pete's.sake.please.just.do.your.work., they say but mom! I'm counting the birds! For science. Think of the SCIENCE! in an injured tone.....Then I tell them we're going to do unit on physics, specifically FORCE, or maybe ACOUSTICS - yes, let's see how LOUD I can yell......For SCIENCE!!!!)

Ahem. Where was I?

I do recommend that you get a basic birding book which identifies the birds in your area, as well as a copy of previous year's Feeder Watch data. The data lists the top 25 species observed at feeders in each geographical area. Odds are overwhelming that birds at your feeder will be on that list; so if you're not yet good at identifying birds, this list will help narrow down the possibilities.

Binoculars are nice if your site is large & a camera is very handy. If you are not good at identifying birds quickly, taking a photo is one way to 'catch' the bird & figure out what it is later.

All ages can participate & for homeschoolers, there's an entire section of resources, including several downloadable pdf resources with curriculum links & learning resources.

The data collected by Project Feeder Watch is used by scientists to track population trends. Feeder Watch results are published in scientific journals and contribute to a greater understanding of our environment.

There is a small fee to participate but it includes a subscription to a journal, & a variety of other goodies. Well worth it.

"Ha ha! I have eaten all your suet!" pileated woodpecker - Oct 3, 2010

Birds, birds, birds

Squeaaal! I got to see an owl in the wild (well, as wild as the suburbs get). Previously I'd only really seen them at places like the OWL Orphaned Wildlife Rescue. We have seen this fellow (gal?) around our street a couple times before. He is very calm and blase. He was sitting on the power line over our driveway and was completely unfazed by me running out and (quietly) squealing and cooing over him while trying to get a photo. It was pouring rain, hence the blobs on the camera.
I think he's a barred owl.
He stayed put for the better part of an hour. When I walked around him he swivelled his head & looked at me over his shoulder, but otherwise was totally unconcerned.

Earlier that day this pileated woodpecker showed up to hammer on some dead trees in the ravine by the creek.

If you look closely you'll see he brought a friend.

We've also had a lot of northern flicker activity, including several who have taken up hammering on the metal street lamps like deranged percussionists.

Spring is finally here.

Some new tenants

The first summer we were here, Hugo, Amelia and Roo found an empty robin's nest on the ground with some left over broken pieces of egg. We scanned eagerly for fresh, in-use nests but no luck. In fact, there weren't many robins either. We saw lots of various birds by the stream and at our feeders, but robins were in short supply.

Last year, same thing.

But this year, the robins are back. I suspected something was up when I observed three robins repeatedly perching on the trees & shrubs in the front garden, and flying off with 6 inch long twigs towards the back.

Turned out they were building a high density housing development.
This is the underside of our deck and if you look closely, you'll see three nests perched up there. Actually since I took that photo, I have observed that there are signs of two more in the beginning stages of construction.
I'm not sure what the actual family unit consists of in this case. I observed three robins hanging around but as I'm sure you know, robins all kind of look the same, so I couldn't tell if these were three males, building three nests to impress some female hanging around, or if this is some west coast alternative family grouping, or if these were manic birds who just enjoyed building. Because in the end, only one nest is occupied, the one closest to the creek side. They're all the same, perched against the eastern side of the beams, all the same size. I wonder how Ms. Robin made her choice as to where to lay her eggs?

We've observed someone sitting on the eggs but haven't managed to get a photo of that, so all you get is these brown twigs & green wood. All that green on the posts and beams is a combination of pressure treated wood (which looks greenish) and the greeny slimey algae stuff that eventually appears on everything around here. But I can't pressure wash now, can I? (yesss! another boring tedious chore delayed!)
This is the view from above. Hugo suggested that we peel back the decking so that we could peek. Um, no.
If you press your eye against the cracks in the decking (watch out for slivers as the dogs have been trashing the deck), this is what you'll see. There are at least two eggs there, maybe three.

On Monday evening, the first baby was observed. All we can see is a small triangle thing waving around (that would be the beak) and if we put our ear to the boards, we can hear teeny chirps.

Now, as excited as we are, these are lame photos and because of the location of this nest & my reluctance to a) tear up the deck or b) build a complicated periscope camera, we're not going to get much better. So I'm sending you to this photo blog, where the robins were much more cooperative about nesting in a camera accessible place.