Tag Archives: Eastern Bluebird

Nature Notes: Thinking Like a Scientist

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This blog post corresponds with a program for children and their caregivers by the Museum of American Bird Art at Mass Audubon about Thinking Like a Scientist, Bird Nesting, Searching for Signs of Spring, and making art by creating a bluebird and nest box out of household and common art materials.

Nature Story Time: Have You Heard the Nesting Bird

Eastern Bluebird Singing

What are Nests Made of?
From Nature on PBS


NATURE NUGGETS brings science and animals from NATURE on PBS to kids and their caregivers. Use the activities below to create active learning and engagement opportunities with your child.

Art Project: Create a Bluebird and Nesting Box

Build your own bird nest!

Use Mass Audubon’s Nature at Home resources and build your own bird nest!

Eastern Bluebird

Hooded Merganser Nest from Nature Nuggets on PBS

Trail Camera Scavenger Hunt

Check out our fun Trail Camera Scavenger Hunt on the Taking Flight Blog.

Mass Audubon’s Bird of the Day Series

Learn more about your neighborhood birds from Mass Audubon’s Bird of the Day Series.

American Robin

Northern Cardinal

Mass Audubon Bird Nest Resources

Become a Citizen Scientist
NestWatch

Using Citizen Science volunteers, Cornell’s NestWatch is a nationwide nest monitoring program. The Museum of American Bird Art participated in NestWatch, monitoring our nest boxes that usually have nesting Tree Swallows, House Wrens, Chickadees, and occasionally an Eastern Bluebird.
Click here to learn more about common nesting birds from NestWatch.

Nature Notes for Orchard Cove – April 17, 2020

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Hi everybody, each week I (Sean Kent – MABA’s education and camp director) deliver a live online illustrated lecture called Nature Notes for the residents of Orchard Cove in Canton. I love nature and am infinitely curious with what is going on natural world. I am an educator, naturalist, accomplished landscape and wildlife photographer, and field biologist with expertise in native bee biology, species interactions, and ecology in general.

This post contains additional resources that correspond with the lecture, but might also be of interest to readers of Taking Flight in addition to the residents of Orchard Cove. Please contact me ([email protected]) if you or your organization/residence might be interested in live online illustrated lectures, including lectures on The Secret Life of Backyard Birds and Native Bees and other Pollinators. Be well and safe.

Learning and Understanding Bird Songs

During our Nature Notes from April 10, several participants in the lecture expressed interest in learning more about how to identify bird songs. Here are a few references that will help with to learn bird songs this spring.

How To Listen To Bird Song—Tips And Examples From The Warbler Guide from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This article contains the three questions to ask about a song: (1) What Is The Sound Quality Of The Song?, (2) What Is The Pitch Of The Song?, and (3) How Many Sections Does The Song Have? It’s a really great introduction to learning bird songs along with great visualizations of bird songs.

How to Start Identifying Birds by Their Songs and Calls from National Audubon

Start Using Spectrograms to ‘Read’ Bird Songs and Calls by National Audubon

Buzzy Song – Prairie Warbler

Located on Youtube – © 2010 Lang Elliott musicofnature.org

For more bird songs and visualizations, please go to the bottom of the page.

Lyrid Meteor Shower

The Lyrid Meteor Shower will peak on April 21 and April 22. Here is more information from NASA.

Osprey

Enjoy our Nature in a Minute about an Osprey catching lunch.

Osprey Eggs laid at the end of March 2020

From YouTube: Cornell Lab of Ornithology – Watch live at www.allaboutbirds.org/savannahospreys

Live Osprey Camera from Savannah, Georgia

From YouTube: Cornell Lab of Ornithology – Watch live at www.allaboutbirds.org/savannahospreys

Bird of the Day from Mass Audubon: American Robin

Bird of the Day from Mass Audubon: The Northern Cardinal

Eastern Phoebe Natural History

From YouTube: Dominique Lalonde Films Nature

Eastern Phoebe Sonogram

Located on YouTube: Avian Vocal Behavior by Bruce Byers and Donald Kroodsma in the Handbook of Bird Biology 3rd Edition from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Wiley Publishing. http://birdbiology.org Recordist: Wilbur L. Hershberger. Courtesy of Macaulay Library/Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ID100741

Eastern Towhee

Located on Youtube – © 2010 Lang Elliott musicofnature.org

Eastern Towhee Song

Located on YouTube: Avian Vocal Behavior by Bruce Byers and Donald Kroodsma in the Handbook of Bird Biology 3rd Edition from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Wiley Publishing. http://birdbiology.org Recordist: Wilbur L. Hershberger. Courtesy of Macaulay Library/Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ID85179

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Selected artwork from Taking Flight: our juried youth bird art exhibition (Part V)

We are extremely excited to display a selection of art from our first annual juried youth bird art exhibition. This annual exhibition is open to any children and young adults age 4 to 18 years old. All selected entries will be on display at the Museum of American Bird Art from September 23 to December 11th. Entries for our second annual exhibition will open in early 2017.

Sage Lemieux, Toucan, Age 11

Sage Lemieux, Age 11

Sage Lemieux, Age 11

Bird Pooping, Neva Hobbs, Age 5

Neva_Age4

Eastern Bluebird, Jamie Davis, Age 13

“The Eastern Bluebird is one of my favorite birds of New England, because I have watched it and fed it and nurtured the nest boxes in our yard and at the Community Gardens in our town. This year Mama and I were invited to be nest box monitors at an old cranberry bog in our town. The Cape Cod Bird Club has 45 nest boxes there, occupied by Eastern Bluebirds, and we take our turn checking on them. I have loved seeing the various stages of growth in the Bluebirds, inspired by Julie Zickfoose’s new book, Baby Birds. I was thrilled a few winters ago to see Eastern Bluebirds in our yard and to watch the males and females at our feeders and bird bath. The males are my favorite color, a kind of Cerulean blue, with the females just slightly duller in color, but not in interest or intelligence. I chose a medium of watercolor for the bluebird because I loved the Cerulean Blue.”

Jamie Davis, Age 13

Jamie Davis, Age 13

White-Throated Needletail, Joseph Jewett, Age 8

“The white-throated needletail is a rare and endangered species. It is a favorite of many birdwatchers because it is one of the fastest birds in the world. In 2013, a needletail got struck by the spinning blades of a wind turbine in the United Kingdom while anxious birdwatchers looked on. My drawing includes a needletail, an airplane, and a wind turbine. It symbolizes the negative impact that modern technologies can have on birds but also how birds have inspired new technologies that create community and help to protect the environment. When I grow up, I want to design turbines that can harvest huge amounts of energy from the wind while keeping birds, bats, and even bugs safe.”

Joseph Jewett, Age 8

Joseph Jewett, Age 8

Gabrielle Ross, Blue Jay Family, Age 7

“I love blue Jays. They are so pretty. I have a family of blue jays in my yard.
Their mom brings the babies food to eat.”

Gabby Ross, Age 7

Gabby Ross, Age 7