11.7.15 - Private Walk - Flax Pond & Recreation Center - South Yarmouth, MA

One of the reasons I love passing on information and stories and things I've learned about birds is that you never know who'll listen.  What's amazing is that there are kids that are gifted and have great ability being connected to nature and the creatures that live there.  I have a first grade friend, who is a sibling of one of my son's friends, and he LOVES birds and the wildlife of the world.... so much so, he sent me hand written accurate lists of both birds and mammals that he'd researched!  I figured that we needed to go on another bird walk while the other kids had flag football.  So we did!  Thankfully there was no wind and it wasn't raining, it was cool for sure and definitely feeling and looking like New England fall.  It was a peaceful, walk.  Every once in a while I'd point out and identify some local vegetation, which encouraged the question, "I thought we were on a bird walk!?"  I explained why pointing out the habitat the birds were found in was such an important thing to notice.  Habitat loss is the biggest threat to the health of the birds.  Planting native species is the biggest help we can provide for them, so it's good to know them and to be able to identify them & their specific connection to healthy bird survival.  We didn't see a huge amount of birds, but we did see some and we sure heard them in the trees foraging for food, dodging each other near the tree tops and doing birdy things.  We were walking around the pond and he seemed upset because he said, "My feet are muddy!"  And I smiled & said, "So what?" 

He quickly agreed and said, "Yeah, bird watchers can go anywhere!"  It's pretty awesome when you can share a love for nature, especially with someone who will most surely pass it on himself.  (double click photos to enlarge)

Our List:

Black-capped Chickadee

American Goldfinch

Ring-billed Gull

Tufted Titmouse

White-breasted Nuthatch

Downy Woodpecker

American Crow

Northern Flicker

House Finch

A pre-list of birds

Scouting our area

Watching a Tufted Titmouse play in the pitch pine

Tufted Titmouse near a nest

Inkberry bush

Snail trails on the sand in Flax Pond

Fall is beautiful!

Inkberry bush

He found a possible critter hideaway

Seasonal color contrasts

A visit from a Black-capped Chickadee

Practicing binocular skills

Silhouette of a Downy Woodpecker

An interesting knot in a young pitch pine tree trunk

Top of a colorful oak leaf

Bottom of the same colorful oak leaf

Pokeweed - after the berries have dried up or been eaten

Always an inspiration when a child feels connected to the world outside.  Happy Birding Buddy!  Keep on being a bird nerd!