It was, by all accounts, a very good weekend for the bird enthusiasts at our house. We had not one, but two, awesome nest sightings, both with a trio of tiny eggs inside and both in bushes at eye level. Pretty fortunate, yes? The nest above belongs to a scolding mother robin living just off the side of the deck at the home of some friends that we visited over the weekend.
The sighting of the robin's nest was a good reminder of exactly why it is handy to have an easy-to-reference kid's field guide handy. I think that I have mentioned before that I really like the Take Along Guides series by Mel Boring and Linda Garrow. They have lovely illustrations, are easy to navigate, and are full of great information that is accessible to kids of pretty much any age. I find that they have an intuitive structure to them that leaves Mariam feeling like she can probably find out what she wants to know when she goes to get one off the shelf.
We particularly like the Birds, Nests, and Eggs guide, and it was the first book that we went looking for this weekend when we found a second nest in the bushes in our own yard, near our front door. The mama bird wasn't around when we first found the nest (well, we didn't see her right away, anyway), so we needed to figure out what kind of eggs they were without the benefit of a bird sighting. I think that it is absolutely the mark of a good kids' nature tome when they immediately go hunting for it when they realize that there is something that they want to know about, or when they have a specific question that they want answered. It got me thinking that we should really collect each of the titles in this series. We have a handful already, and they are all fantastic. With baby Z. on his way up in the world, they will probably continue to be both useful and loved, so are likely well worth the investment.
And, we did figure out what kind of egg these are. Not long after we first found the nest, we caught a glimpse of their layer.
Anyone want to take a guess at who laid these little front yard treasures?
Don't forget about the big Alphabet Glue May moving sale! Any and all issues of Alphabet Glue are on sale until May 15th! Enter "may25" at checkout for 25% off. There are lots and lots of great book recommendations, printable pages and fun science and craft projects in there; perfect for getting busy with the small folk this summer!
