Intro to Birding Revisited

I think we struggle with bird watching because it is so hard for our boys to sit still for long periods of time.  So, whenever we hear about a birding event that introduces the experience to others...we cannot help but get to the event!

Today was no different!  We headed out to Caddo Mounds to learn about birds...we learned so much about birds but also enjoyed other topics along the way!

Dr. Brent (the boys dubbed him Dr. Bird!) was an enthusiastic teacher who carried his love of birdin on to us.  Sean could hardly leave his side most of the day and even then it was to tell me about something Dr. Brent told him!



The day started out with the basics of ID techniques.

Field Markings such as:

• Head
• Wingbars
• Color of Legs
• Wing/Tail Shape
• Eye Color
• Bill Shape

Also:

• Habitat
• Silhouettes
• Flight Patterns
• Wing Positions
• Body Size

Brent also told us that the most important items to help with ID were a good pair of binoculars and a good field guide.  I hope to get these items in the near future for our avid bird watcher!

We took a little break to prepare for the real fun of the morning...our nature bird walk!


I was amazed at how Brent was able to hear birds and know the type of bird...especially when I had not even heard a sound!  He also showed us how phish for birds.

Here is the list of the birds we discovered throughout the day (An asterisk signifies that we only heard the bird but did not site it.):

• Yellow-throated Vireo
• Mockingbird
• Scissor-tail Flycatcher
• Turkey Vulture
• Broadwing Hawk
• Cedar Waxwing
• White-eyed Vireo
• Black Vulture
• Northern Perulla 
• Ruby Crowned Kinglet
• Great Blue Heron
• Tufted Titmouse *
• Red-bellied Woodpecker *
• Carolina Wren *
• Northern Cardinal
• Red-headed Woodpecker *
• Lark Sparrow

American Crow
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
Cara Cara (rare bird for our area...coming up into North Texas)

There might have been more birds mentioned but Brendan, Zaira and I took a more leisurely approach to our nature walk.  We tried to keep up but nature can be very distracting at times!

Along the way we also had Ms. Ruth and her daughter (adult), Pam, with us.  Pam was very kind and shared her knowledge of edible plants.  I enjoyed hearing about these plants...the birds...AND the museum director who was telling about the history of the park!  It made my head want to explode from all the information!

We are so thankful for Ms. Ruth for sharing this event with our group and for the fact that all the other plans for the day were canceled so we could attend!  We had an amazing time with all the other birders and with the museum director of the Mounds!

Henry also took a lot of nature pictures that were not related to birds.  I especially liked the butterfly pictures but he also took flower pictures.  I have posted some of these on my Facebook page.

Touring of the Caddo Mounds was an additional adventure of the day.  We were only able to stay for a short time with the promise to return in the near future.  Mr. Anthony did a great job of keeping the information about the history interesting and simple.  We walked along the path to the mounds as Anthony shared information.  Learning about the way of life for the Caddo made me appreciate the modern day conveniences bu

t also appreciate their life style.

We look forward to making the full tour soon!