On the Wing
Originally Published May 8th 2022
We had a lot of fun this week talking about birds. Our timing was spectacular, since the current advent of warmer temps, flowering plants and insect hatch outs has allowed for hummingbirds and many other migrating species to arrive back to our northern climes in just the last few days. This week in the play yard and back fields I saw my first of the year yellow warbler, catbird, house wren and great blue heron. We have been seeing grackles, bluebirds, red wing blackbirds and swallows over the river, thickets and rec fields for the last few weeks, and their activities were all around us again this week, as well as a kettle of black vultures that we got to watch lift off from a snag over the pond the other morning, riding thermals in the air up in lazy circles over us and away. Adults have often been taught to think of vultures ominously, but young children don't usually have these associations, and we talked informally about how vultures are so helpful. They help by eating already dead things, often long dead things, and they clean things up and remove and transmute deadly bacteria, making the earth safer for other animals. Plus they are cool and big and make flying look so effortless. I love it when we take this time of year to study birds and take note of their goings on about us. One of the many things that I love about birds is that so many of them maintain such integrity and wildness even in the midst of dense human settlements. This gives us a chance to really touch some wildness in our daily lives as we get to know our neighborhood birds and get some glimpses of them going about their complex and busy lives alongside ours.
This week we went to the forest and introduced birds by reading Nesting, a compelling and beautifully illustrated, scientifically accurate story about a robin's nest in an apple tree. We played robins in the nest and acted out the story. On Tuesday we read How to Make a Bird, and experienced flying by working together to give each other trust lifts into the air. This was so joyful and fun!
On Wednesday we had some rain, and went to the thicket across from the community garden again. We read Feathers for Lunch, and did some ephemeral nature art by painting clay slip onto the trees, leaves and rocks with feathers.
On Thursday we talked about eggs and cooked egg in a hole for snack. We looked at a big coffee table book of bird photographs by Tim Flach. The colors, shapes, textures and natural designs of birds, beaks, feathers etc are truly amazing, and that variety is very accessible in this book. We used the images as inspiration to make our own birds out of modeling clay. We colored them and added feathers. Next week we will make some nests for our birds, then they will be coming home. They are looking great!
We also had a lot of fun this week climbing trees, balancing on logs, exploring a new shelter that someone built in the forest and playing in the mud by the river.
Next week we will continue to talk about birds. The temps look very different next week, with some real heat possibly hitting us on Wednesday and Thursday. If we do indeed get that heat it would be a good idea to send a bathing suit along on Weds and Thursday so that we can do some immersive water play. Keep checking for ticks!