The bird nest

Just a plain ol' front door

Until you look closer....

A Carolina Wren has built her nest between the door and the wreath. Thankfully we don't use that door very often! She started out with just one egg and then added a new one each day. We haven't checked yet today, but she has had 5 eggs in there for a couple of days now so she's probably finished laying. The kids have really enjoyed checking the nest each day. As soon as we open the other door (it also opens onto the porch), we see her fly out to the top of one of the trees in the front yard. She sits there and watches us until we go back in.

I didn't buy a formal science curriculum for Hank since he's only in Kindergarten, but we've been doing an informal bird journal. Our schoolroom is in the front of the house (near the above door actually) and we have a great big window to the front yard. We put out different kinds of feeders and we watch the birds.

We've written down all the birds we've seen, adding to the list when a new one visits. And we're just going down the list reading about each one. Then we draw pictures of what its nest or eggs generally look like or of the birds themselves and write down a few interesting facts.

I'm learning a lot, too. I have a *horrible* memory and have a hard time remembering what the different birds look like. Doing this little bird by bird review has really helped me! :)

Bill's dad can look at a bird and tell you almost right away what kind it is and all sorts of things about it. I wish I could do that, but I'm working on just remembering names right now!

We'll take pictures of the babies and post those. I'll have read (again) and see how long it will be before the eggs hatch. eta...the eggs hatch in 12-16 days so we should have some babies in early/mid-May.