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  • Plunger, the Osprey

    Chapter twenty in “The Burgess Bird Book for Children” is certainly a chapter full of magnificent birds. Brilliant at what they do and spectacular to watch, Ospreys are amazing to see up close and personal and if you live near water you may see them often. Here is their signature whistle for you to identify…

  • Creaker, the Common Grackle

    I didn’t know a lot about birds as a kid and they weren’t really on my radar. However, Grackles are a bird that I knew and could identify as they came through our area in droves, gathering noisily together in trees! One really interesting thing that we learned through Cornell Lab’s allaboutbirds is their impact…

  • Strutter, the Ruffed Grouse

    A Ruffed Grouse, ever heard of it? I love this quote from the early conservationist Aldo Leopold, “The autumn landscape in the north woods is the land, plus a red maple, plus a Ruffed Grouse. In terms of conventional physics, the grouse represents only a millionth of either the mass or the energy of an…

  • Redtail, the Red-tailed Hawk

    We live in a part of the United States where it so easy to catch a glimpse of this beautiful bird. I actually love the changing of Fall to Winter for this reason. As we travel around in our car during the day I’ll keep my eye on the sky, looking for a large bird…

  • Teacher, the Ovenbird

    I had never even heard about Ovenbirds before we read “The Burgess Bird Book for Children.” Burgess names the Oven Bird in his book Teacher because of the way it mimics his call, “Teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher, teacher!” And he explains why he is called the Ovenbird: It is because of the way Mrs. Teacher…

  • Sammy, the Blue Jay

    We live in the midst of many trees and often hear the call “Jay Jay Jay.” I love that this is one call that everyone in my family can identify, from our 2 year old to my husband. You might have heard Sammy in the trees and not realized it before. Listen in on the…

  • The reality of waste

    Does waste bother you? For a long time there is one type of waste that has really bothered me: food waste. It’s when.. a food expires or goes bad before we are able to eat it. We go out to eat and order too much. We get fast food and I’m sitting there faced with…

  • Blacky, the American Crow

    “Caw, caw, caw” is a ringing call that many people would recognize by sound. Crows are large birds and very intelligent. Allaboutbirds mentions: “Crows sometimes make and use tools. Examples include a captive crow using a cup to carry water over to a bowl of dry mash; shaping a piece of wood and then sticking…

  • Glue Batik

    I’m not really sure how I stumbled upon this idea, but I’m certainly glad that I did. If you are looking for something that you can do with all ages, that requires very few supplies, and that you can do over and over again- this is a great activity. We have done it twice. We…

  • Chore Rhythms as Core Rhythms: Laundry

    Chore Rhythms as Core Rhythms: Laundry

    Teaching our children how to care for themselves, their people, and their spaces doesn’t have to be difficult when we think about teaching them how to do it step by step. Many of us were thrown into it when we had to figure out how to cook, clean, and care for ourselves after we left…

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