Bird Watching with Your Family

Identifying the birds in your area is not only fun–it’s a great way to spend some quality family time outdoors, connecting with and appreciating nature and each other. If you’re curious about bird watching and how to get started, check out these great tips, ideas, and resources.

* After you have exhausted the easily-spotted birds in your neighborhood you can invest in binoculars, but a good pair of eyes is all you need at first for backyard birding. However, you will need a field guide to the birds in your area. Many people swear by the Peterson’s Field Guides, available on Amazon or your local bookstore.

* Even the littlest children really enjoy pointing out the birds they’ve seen (and some may get quite competitive to see who can spot the most different kinds!), so you might want to keep a small journal and pencil handy to write down descriptions. Then, after you’ve consulted your field guide, you can write the name of the bird.

* On rainy days, you can play fun games to help each other correctly identify birds from photos. You can also try drawing the birds you have identified.

Check out these great Web sites about birding:

A Care2 page devoted to bird watching with many Web site suggestions.

Having trouble identifying a bird? Check out this great online visual key.

By the Care2 Staff.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Dale O.

8:54PM PDT on Mar 10, 2013

A delightful and fabulous way to spend the day, or if watching night birds a great way to spend the evening. Owls are fascinating.

March 10
send a green star

Tim C.

12:14AM PST on Jan 30, 2012

January 30
send a green star

New G.

2:58AM PST on Jan 5, 2012

Thanks.

January 5
send a green star

Susanne R.

9:52PM PST on Feb 20, 2011

What a great article and what wonderful advice for parents! I never paid attention to birds until I got married. My husband was raised by parents who loved nature and who instilled that love in their children. As a newlywed, I was amazed that when we woke up in the morning, my husband could identify birds by their call. He'd describe the bird to me without seeing it, and when I looked out the window, he'd always be right. We encouraged that interest in our children and provided them with books that helped them to identify the birds in our area. We would also take books with us when we traveled and made a game of identifying birds they were not familiar with. It gives me great joy when I hear my grandchildren correctly identify birds. It's a great pastime --and it's free!