Birdwatching for Kids ~ 8 Tips for Beginners

A few years ago at a seminar I attended, I heard a presentation all about birdwatching and feeder stations. I was hooked and got a station that year for my birthday. Now as a homeschooling mother, birdwatching has become a pastime enjoyed not only by me but by my family too. It is simply amazing to watch children become avid bird watchers!

Birdwatching has so many benefits. For starters, it is cheap, easy, educational, dynamic and relaxing. You can enjoy birdwatching anywhere, anytime, with minimal supplies. You may be thinking that birdwatching is boring, but it definitely isn't; it's a very dynamic hobby! With the changing seasons and time of day come different species. Subtleties such as using a different kind of seed, adding a suet block, or putting out a hummingbird feeder can all make it a fresh new experience. 

The identification of birds in itself leads to so many learning experiences. Topics such as migration, mating, and nesting arise. Using the guide to identify unknown species encourages budding scientists through skills such as research, study of bird features, analyzing, mapping, and more. Comparison is a key skill built through bird watching and using the field guide encourages reading and teaches spelling. Bird watching also simply and naturally brings about a gentle respect for nature and its diverse creatures. Plus it's very relaxing; personally, I have found it to reduce my anxiety and I often birdwatch during my personal study and meditation time in the morning.

Here are 8 tips for beginner bird watchers:

- Get a feeder station with heavy-duty, multiple hooks and several different feeder types. We purchased a metal quad feeder hook when we first started and have since accumulated a few feeders. To attract the greatest variety of birds to your yard, provide several different feeder types offering a variety of foods. We buy the economy bags of wild bird seed along with all of our supplies at the local hardware or big box store.

- Place your feeder station in a spot that is within view and offers coverage for the birds. We placed our feeder station in our hedge bushes away from our house a bit, but in perfect view from our dining room window. This is key, as we are able to watch during school time, or even during meals. The station needs to offer the birds some sort of cover/protection so they are more apt to visit, so our hook is placed right in the middle of one of our hedge bushes.

- Purchase a birdwatching guide or borrow books from the library. The National Audubon Society Field Guide for Birds Eastern Region is a great tool for young children and our book of choice to help with the identification of our visitors. Most of the birds we see locally are in the “Perching Birds” section of the guide with colored photos of each.

- Invest in binoculars... or not. Binoculars can add to the "glamour" of the activity and make the kids feel like real naturalists. But they are completely optional! You can view many birds with just your eyes.

- Consider nature journaling. We keep a nature journal at our house, and watching and identifying the birds has been a prime element in our study of the world around us. We record the kind of birds we see and use our field guide to identify whether a new subject is native to our area. My children record the level of feeder activity daily and then hypothesize as to why the feeder activity may be high or low (normally this can be attributed to a cat lurking in the bushes). 

- Do not use red dye hummingbird nectar. Natural nectar is colorless; red dye is often added to attract more hummingbirds. But adding red dye to the nectar only adds unnecessary chemicals to the birds' diet and can be harmful to their health. Boiled sugar water will suffice. Studies have found it is the strength of the sugar solution and the cleanliness of the feeders that plays the biggest factor in the hummingbirds' feeding preferences.

- Check bird food ingredients if you have allergies in your family. Many have peanuts and my daughter is anaphylactic to nuts so we have to read the labels carefully before picking the feed we buy.

- Consider setting up a station as a gift. A feeder station outside of a school classroom window, library window, nursing home patient’s window, or at the home of a person that is “shut-in” would be a great gift (along with a field guide).

If you are looking for a new relaxing, inexpensive, learning-based hobby for yourself, your family, or a loved one, give bird watching and/or a feeder station a try!