Beginning Bird Books, Activities, and Tools for Kids

A friend asked for recommendations of beginning bird books for her 4-year-old recently, as her daughter has really been interested in what is happening at their bird feeders. Additionally, one of my son's has been recording bird sightings as part of a cub scout requirement. Birding is one way we connect with nature and get outside. These are a few books that I like, plus a few other ideas and options to enhance bird study and nature play:

1. Birds of Indiana --A local naturalist suggested this book. It's great for our local birds. We gave our then 4-year-old one for his birthday. It was perfect for him! He continues to use it, asking about it today so he could peruse birds. Now he is trying to read more words in it and paying attention to the titles and captions. This has more information than the Stoke's Guide. Stan's notes at the bottom of each entry give a nice personal touch to the observations of these birds.

Michiana Master Gardeners Spring Celebration

I manned a booth at the Michiana Master Gardeners Spring Celebration this last weekend. There were various nature and gardening related booths set up outside the main presentation hall. People had time to chat, mingle, and check out the various topics and ideas. Sally Roth was the main speaker . . . read about her presentation at the end of the post.

Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society

Day 10: Join INPAWS

Have you heard of INPAWS?

Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society INPAWS has a great mission statement as they seek to appreciate, preserve, conserve, utilize and study native plants to Indiana, as well as educate the public about indigenous plants.

I have been very impressed with this group and what they do! I joined their Facebook group early this year. Through interaction on this board, I have learned about plants seasonally that are native our area. I have seen amazing photography and asked questions. I have shared resources I found as well. I have access to good information about why native plants are the way to go. 

INPAWS also has regional chapters that get together on a regular basis. In the northern region, they went on several hikes this past year.

At the state level, INPAWS also has a small grants program and awards for special projects.  

I would suggest if you want to learn more about native plants and encourage the use of native plants in your area that a membership to INPAWS is a great way of paying it forward. Be kind to native plants!

Mayflower! 

Audubon Society Hike at Boot Lake Nature Preserve

This last Saturday morning, my husband took the kids to soccer while I went on a bird hike with the South Bend-Elkhart Audubon Society. I recently became a member, though the hikes are open to others interested in birds. I was just at Boot Lake in July while working on a segment for Our Town Elkhart. True to form, I did take at least one wrong turn getting out there--I guess I don't follow my own advice on checking the directions before leaving. It was neat to see the fall changes since my last visit was in the middle of summer.

We took the trail by the gate over to the left as we entered. It took us past the tree nursery, prairie, out to an overlook that is hard to see through the trees, and through the woods to a pier over the water. This let us a see a variety of habitats. Everyone was very friendly and talked amongst themselves as we walked. 

There are nesting boxes throughout the area. I saw many frogs in them before. One of the hikers found a turkey feather and stuck it in a tree to delight someone later. 

Making Room for the Best

On Monday nights, we usually have a family night that consists of a short message, an activity, and usually a snack. We decided to invite some friends for our family night this week and met at Woodlawn Nature Center to work on some invasive species there.

We started by pulling out some invasive species--in this case creeping myrtle (also known as periwinkle or vinca) and bush honeysuckle. While these are both pretty plants, they take over an area and don't allow space for native plants to flourish.

Later, we started a fire with permission from Woodlawn Nature Center's director. This is a perk of membership--being able to having fires at the site. It's even free if you let others join you, but there weren't others knocking down the trees to join us.

While waiting on the fire, the boys started exploring all the insects in nearby logs--they were full of decomposers at work!

Then we had a short message based on "Good, Better, and Best"--there are many good things we can do in life (just as there are plants), but sometimes we need to look for the best we should be doing (or planting or allowing). In the case of invasive species, many of these do not allow the better or best plants to grow in the area. Some even send a type of toxin in the ground that makes it so other plants cannot grow. INPAWS has information to share about these species in making better or best decisions.

Then it was time for s'mores!

While an hour's work doesn't clear a forest, I could tell a difference in this area when I returned today. If more families and groups help pitch in, the impact on the forest would be tremendous. And it can be fun! The boys enjoyed meeting their friends, we knew we were helping nature in our area, and we even had treats. This was the BEST thing for us to do tonight. There are opportunities to help at natural spaces all over the area. There are scheduled stewardship days, but we can also arrange moments like this through our own initiative. How have you helped nature lately? 

Rain Gardens!

Several members from the North Chapter of INPAWS (Indiana Native Plants and Wildflower Society) and Eric Kurtz from SWCD  (Elkhart County Soil and Water Conservation District) came to Woodlawn Nature Center for a site assessment for an upcoming rain garden! They looked at the soil, the building and how the water runs off, the shade of the trees, existing plants, etc. and came up with a preliminary plan to work with the Girls Scouts on installing a rain garden in front of Woodlawn Nature Center. While this is a girl led project, I helped connect them with good experts that could help them along the way!

Later, Eric gave an interactive presentation to the girls about water quality and how rain gardens help keep our water clean. He talked about how much water is in the world, breaking it down to how much water is really available to us for use. He started with 1000 mL to represent how much water is on the Earth. 

However, out of those 1000 mL, only 1 DROP is really available as clean water for our use and consumption!

Eric illustrated this by giving one drop to each of the girls to remind them of how little fresh water is available for our use.

Later, they set up a sample city with varying levels of topography. Eric guided the girls to set out various elements that might affect water quality, such as construction, transportation, farm animals, etc.

The girls made it "rain" (sprayed with water bottles). Then Eric guided them to discuss some of these pollutants. They used various items (like food coloring in a bottle, brown sprinkles for the poop!, green sugar for pesticides, glitter, etc.) to represent some of these pollutants.

 It "rained" more and the girls could see the effects of pollution. They talked about the watershed area.

As they wrapped up, they talked about some of the things they could do to make a positive difference on water quality, such as having rain gardens!

One of the Girl Scouts noticed my little guy didn't have a chance to make it rain, yet wanted to spray the bottle. She spoke up for him and made sure he could make it rain too. I loved watching this interaction and thoughtfulness.

It was kind of nice to have all the women leaders get a baby fix. Once he woke up, I didn't hold him until we left. He had plenty of love! :-) 

The girls had such interesting comments and questions. Most were right on target, yet some were distracted with dinosaurs being related to birds and lizards and sharks living in salt water. It's always so interesting to listen to what children connect. Another girl asked, "Is it true the water we use to shower is recycled? If so, it's kind of gross . . . " I guess it kind of is, but it drives home point of how precious water is. I think it's something I tend to take for granted. I always have clean, accessible water when I turn on the faucet. But I lived in the Dominican Republic for about 1 1/2 years as a missionary. I know what it's like to not have safe drinking water or running water in a house or even hot water.

During the evening, the Girl Scout also brought an arbor and barrel to donate to Woodlawn Nature Center! It's neat to see some plans for the outside of WNC coming together. Thanks Girl Scouts!

Have you thought about creating a rain garden in your yard or using more native plants? There are educational helps for rain barrels and rain gardens in Elkhart County, as well as a reimbursement plan for residents. Find more information here. St. Joseph County SWCD has some information here. Both counties have rain barrel auctions as well! 

Rain Barrel Auction in St. Joseph County 

Rain Barrel Auction in Elkhart County