In Burgess’ classic The Burgess Bird Book for Children, Chapter 22 finds Peter Rabbit surprised as he sees a bird sticking his head out of a hole made in the river bank. At this point in his journey, Peter has just spoken with Rattles the Kingfisher, who is another bird who makes its nest in…

I hope that by this point in your in-depth walk through “The Burgess Animal Book for Children” you are encouraged. Encouraged especially in reading Burgess’ accounts of North American birds and seeing it line up with the details that Cornell Lab shares about these birds. I, for one, am so grateful that our family found…

Who doesn’t love spotting a Great Blue Heron wading through water on the shallow edge of a lake or pond? It is so calming to see how they hunt for a meal while they are stalking their prey above the water. They move slowly as they search, but when it comes to catching a fish…

To be honest, it’s hard for me not to picture the Eagle from the various Angry Birds movies when I use the name King Eagle. However in reality these birds are much more majestic and regal than the characterization from those movies. They are also very well known. Cornell Lab’s allaboutbirds.org highlights that “the Bald…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…