TOPICS TO STUDY

In this unit we studied birds that live in, wade in, or around water: ducks, geese, herons, coots, gulls, swans, storks, ibises, limpkin, puffins, penguins, pelicans, loons, and grebes to name some.

BOOKS

  • Seabird - Holling C. Holling
  • The Trumpet of the Swan - E. B. White
  • A White Heron - Sarah Orne Jewett
  • Make Way For Ducklings - Robert McCloskey
  • Birds: Poems - Arnold Adoff
  • Gulls, Gulls, Gulls - Gail Gibbons
  • Penguins - Gail Gibbons
  • What's a Penguin Doing in a Place Like This? - Miriam Schlein
  • Discovering Ducks, Geese and Swans - Anthony Wharton
  • Waterfowl, From Swans to Screamers - Sara Swan Miller
  • Herons - Frank Staub
  • North American Cranes - Lesley A. DuTemple
  • Loons - Nature's Children Series - Judy Ross
  • Flamingos - Nature's Children Series - Merebeth Switzer
  • Pelicans - Nature's Children Series - Candace Savage
  • Birds in Origami - John Montroll (see Projects)
  • Super Simple Origami - Irmgard Kneissler (see Projects)

 These books are more for reference and photos:

  • Bird Biographies - John James Audubon
  • Audubon's Birds of America - John James Audubon
  • The Audubon Society Book of Water Birds - Les Line
  • Waterfowl Studies - Bruce Burk

FIELD TRIPS

Locate and identify waterfowl-If you live near a pond, lake or ocean or have access to one go and watch the birds.  You could have the children sketch them or just look them up in identification books and talk about them.  My family of 4 packed up our guide books, pencils, binoculars and water (you could have a picnic) and took our small paddle boat to the island across from our home.  We spent 3 hours on the island.  We observed the birds, looked them up in our books and learned the differences in many species of herons and egrets, looked at nests (found some eggs!), and found feathers.  We also saw a nutria (small otter like animal) and some trees that a beaver had cut down.  It was a fun time of learning for my family.

Find the Audubon Society in your area and check for local events/field trips.

PROJECT

Raise Geese or Ducklings-We ordered 15 Fawn and White Indian Runners from Murray McMurray Hatchery.  (Metzer Farms and Stromberg's Chicks and Gamebirds also sell waterfowl). A friend wanted 5 of them, leaving me with 10.  We ordered 3 males and 7 females.  The first week we kept them in a cardboard box with newspaper in the bottom and a heat lamp.  After that we had a large cage we put them in.  During the day we placed them outside (it was warm enough) and at night put them in the shed with the heat lamp.  During the third week my husband built a temporary pen that is half in the lake and half on shore.  The ducks stay in there during the day and are able to swim, play and have all the fun they can stand!  For the first 2 weeks we kept them in a cage at night to keep them warm enough.  Now they stay in the pen at the shore day and night.  When they are large enough to defend themselves we will turn them loose on our lake (permanently).  Observing, taking care of and playing with the ducks has been a great experience for my family!