For the Birds

I have been VERY lax in posting lately. Sorry about that. I promise to do my best to catch up, starting with this post.

"Bird Day" happened on May 4th. We spent a couple of weeks (and actually, we're continuing with the subject) learning some of the more common birds. I planned a "field trip" to a museum we have nearby and we invited Miss Girl and Aunt T to join us.

The man who started this museum is now nearly 90. His mother was a teacher in a one-room school house in New England and her son was her student for six years. He drew and painted as a child and learned taxidermy at age 12. At age 18, he carved his first birds modeled after a stray parakeet that flew into their shed. The museum now has over 400 bird carvings and they were absolutely stunning.

There was an area set up with a giant window looking out at a variety of bird feeders. Binoculars were available and we spent a few minutes watching.

A basket next to the window was filled with beanbags labeled with the name of a bird and it's weight. The filler matched the weight so it was like picking up the particular bird. That would be a great project to do. Hmmmm...

The next room we entered showed a diorama of water birds floating on "water." J and Miss Girl were smiling for Aunt T's camera.

In the "Exotic Bird" room J immediately saw a Quetzel. The bird is nearly extinct. When we were studying Central America we discovered that its image was incorporated into many of their arts and crafts.

Here it is close up. It's tail can grow as long as 36 inches.

The carvings were so amazing. In a video we saw the techniques used to create the birds so that they were accurate in their size and coloring. I chose three to post about. The lighting was dim to protect the carvings, so these aren't the best pictures. The first is one of our favorites--the Red Winged Blackbird. They are plentiful near our church building, and it's fun to see the bright red shoulders as they fly by.

When we looked up we saw a Bald Eagle.

In its own case was a big ol' Tom Turkey. This took 1300 hours.

When we finished looking around inside the museum, we took a nature trail to a pond. At the beginning of May the trees were mostly leafless or budding. If I were to take another picture now (3 weeks later), it would look VERY different.

The pond has a name.

Observing the pond brought out their contemplative sides. They were quiet for a second. Then J wanted to know if there was a rock he could throw into the pond. Evidently it was too still for his taste.