KWB Meeting Aug 25

KidsWhoBird will meet next Wed, August 25 at 6:30-8:00pm at the LSU Museum of Natural Science in Foster Hall on the LSU campus. This month we'll be taking a look at some birds up close and personal. The museum is lending us some of the bird study skins so we can look up close at the physical features of birds and talk about their characteristics and habits. You'll have a chance to look, to touch, to ask plenty of questions. And, as always, there'll be cookies! (We'll wash our hands first, Mom!) Please let me know if you'll be able to come.

--Jane Patterson
www.braudubon.org
www.kidswhobird.org

Meeting 7/28/2010 - Wading birds!

They're big, they're beautiful, and they're easy to identify...well, mostly :-) The next meeting of the KidsWhoBird club will focus on Wading birds -- herons and egrets and such. Louisiana is a wading bird mecca!

Meeting will be at the LSU Museum of Natural Science in Foster Hall on the LSU Baton Rouge campus from 6:30 to 7:30. At 7:30 (or so) we'll leave to go see some actual birds as they come in for the night to roost in cypress trees at the LSU lakes.



As always, refreshments will be served!

Please email me at Education@braudubon.org if you think you'll come to the meeting.

Visiting Wings of Hope Wildlife Sanctuary - May 2

The KidsWhoBird will have an outing on Sunday afternoon May 2nd, which is just right around the corner. We'll be visiting Wings of Hope wildlife sanctuary in Livingston. WoH takes in orphaned, abandoned, and injured wildlife and tries to rehabilitate them to life in the wild. Spring is a busy baby season for the sanctuary -- here's a video of some of the babies: http://vimeo.com/11034808. The website is located here: http://www.wingsofhoperehab.org/ We'll plan to meet there at 2pm and tour the facility to see the animals. It's really fascinating and I'm sure the kids will enjoy the experience very much. Families are welcome -- please let me know if you think yours can come! The address of the sanctuary is 20591 Abe Hoover Rd. Livingston, LA 70754 if you want to map the directions.

Trip to Bluebonnet Swamp

John shows Alex the location of an Eastern Screech Owl nest while on our bird walk at Bluebonnet Swamp

April Meeting 4/21

The April meeting of KidsWhoBird will be held on Wednesday, April 21 at 6:30pm at the Museum of Natural Science on the LSU Campus in Foster Hall. Since it's staying light out a little later these days, we'll start out with a bird walk and see how many species of bird we can find as we walk around the campus. After that, we'll talk about migration and discuss some of the other birds that are beginning to arrive now for the spring and summer seasons.

Binoculars will be provided for the bird walk. Cookies will be provided, too!

Hope to see you there!

Field Trip Sat 4/3

Field trip to Bluebonnet Swamp on Saturday. We have permission to go in early, escorted by local volunteer naturalist and photographer extraordinaire John Hartgerink. Please meet in the parking lot at 6:45am. We'll bird for a couple of hours and then visit the nature center to pay ($3/person) and see the exhibits and some of John's great photography. He says he knows where there are 2 Barred Owl nests this year! There is a threat of rain, and we'll cancel for heavy rain. Please RSVP if you plan to attend and give me a contact phone number so I can call you if we decide not to go.

Hope to see everyone there!

What a great day to band a bird!

Dr. Van Remsen invited the KidsWhoBird to watch him band local songbirds in his yard. The kids not only got to see and hold the birds, but also gained an understanding of the importance of banding to bird science. The kids (and adults!) all had a great time and we thank Dr. Remsen so much for sharing this with us and giving so generously of his time.

Click on the link below to view the photo album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/seejanebird/KidsWhoBirdBirdBanding03202010#

March Meeting - March 24, 2010

Our March meeting will focus on Birding by Ear. That is, learning about the sounds birds make -- calls, songs, etc. Since it's spring and the birds are singing up a storm, this is the ideal time to learn to tell them apart by their voices!

Our meeting will be at the LSU Museum of Natural Science in Foster Hall on the LSU campus. Email me (Education@braudubon.org) if you need directions. We'll start at 6:30 and wrap up about 8:00pm. Refreshments will be served.

Bird Banding - March 20, 8:30-10:30

Please join the KidsWhoBird club for a special event coming up on Saturday, March 20 from 8:30am to 10:30am. Dr. Van Remsen, whom many of you met at the LSU Museum of Natural Sciences, will be doing a bird banding demonstration for us that morning. The process for banding birds involves setting up a "mist net" into which the birds fly and from which they are gently extracted, and then a tiny aluminum containing identification information is applied to the bird's leg. The birds are released unharmed. Information regarding each bird is entered into a central database. This process marks the bird and helps scientists know where birds travel, how long they live, and other important scientific information. What's fun for us is that we get to see, touch, and photograph the birds up close! The attached picture of me features a beautiful Buff-bellied Hummingbird that was banded last week -- I got to hold it for a few moments when it was released.

Please look at your calendars, and if you think you can participate in this event, please send me an email and I will give you address and directions to
the location for the bird banding demonstration. I hope you will all take advantage of this great opportunity!

Our March meeting will be held on Wed. March 24. More info later for that...

February Meeting -- 2/24

For more pictures and video of the Bald Eagle's nest, see http://seejanebird.blogspot.com So exciting to see the activity at the nest!

Our next Kids Who Bird meeting will be held on Wed Feb 24, 2010 from 6:30 to 8pm at the Museum of Natural Science on the LSU Baton Rouge campus on Dalrymple Drive. We'll have a "treasure hunt" of birds using the Hall of Birds displays in the museum (there will be prizes!) and we'll also start learning some bird sounds! Refreshments will be served. Please let me know if you expect to be able to come.

In addition to hosting another great tour of the specimens at the museum, Dr. Remsen has also offered to host a bird banding session for the Kids Who Bird in the near future. The date is not yet set, but this will probably involve a Saturday morning field trip where we'll observe how birds are caught, banded for research and released back in the wild. We'll get to see some cool birds up close and maybe even get to touch! Here's a small sample of what to expect: http://www.vimeo.com/9368059

I would like to field a 13 and under team for the Great Texas Birding Classic held on the Texas Gulf Coast on May 1, 2010. We'd need a team of 3-5 kids who are 13 and under who can locate and identify birds. This is a competition -- the team who identifies the most different species of birds that day wins! Read more: http://www.gcbo.org/default.aspx/MenuItemID/152/MenuGroup/GTBC.htm A parent or guardian will need to accompany each team member, and this will require an overnight stay in TX. If we can put together a team of interested kids, I'll do some coaching prior to May 1 so we'll have a good idea what we're looking for! I can provide binoculars and field guides. Let me know if you're interested!

Also, if anyone is interested in going birding this Saturday 2/13 morning from 7-10am, please let me know. If I have some interested parties, we'll discuss a location. I plan to be done in time to go to the Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade :-)

--Jane Patterson

Night at the Museum

Dr. Van Remsen welcomed the Kids Who Bird Club to the Hall of Birds in the LSU Museum of Natural Science for a behind-the-scenes tour.
The kids learned how the specimens are acquired, how they are prepared for use, and the value of each one to research.

The kids got to see the reddest, the bluest, the greenest...and some of the most beautiful birds in the world! It's amazing that their feathers retain their color indefinitely if prepared and stored properly.

The hummingbirds are always a hit -- such amazing color and variety! Several kids recognized the Marvelous Spatuletail from the PBS Nature special on Hummingbirds, which also featured Dr. Remsen.

Susannah was so excited to hold a specimen of the tiniest bird in the world -- the Bee Hummingbird from Cuba!

So many birds to see -- so little time! Dr. Remsen has invited the Kids Who Bird back again. We'll be making a list of the birds we'd like to see!

January meeting -- Special Museum Tour

The January edition of the Kids Who Bird Club will feature a "behind the scenes" museum tour at the LSU Natural Sciences Museum in Foster Hall on LSU campus. The tour be on Thursday, January 28, and will begin at 6:30 and end about 8pm. What we will see are the tools that ornithologists (those who study birds) use to research birds. The tour will be conducted by Dr. Van Remsen, who is a professor of ornithology at LSU as well as the museum curator. It's a fun tour because Dr. Remsen gives you sense of not only of the science that can be learned from these important specimens but also how much he genuinely loves birds and enjoys sharing that with others. This photo album, done by Amy Shutt of a previous tour, will give you a preview of what we'll see on the tour. http://www.day-lab.com/vantour1/

Please note, due to the narrow aisles in the museum, the group must be limited to 15 people, so this is first come, first served! Please reply to me with the number of folks who will be participating so that I can keep track. If we have more interested than can participate this time, I will impose on Dr. Remsen for another tour in the future.

Next meeting - new location! & Field Trip planned

The next meeting of the Kids Who Bird club will be held next Wed, November 18, 2009 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. However, the location has changed. We so appreciate the National Audubon folks allowing us to use their space, but we just need more room! Beginning with the November meeting, we'll meet at the LSU Museum of Natural Science in Foster Hall on the LSU campus (directions and parking info below). Many thanks to Director Fred Sheldon and Professor Van Remsen for the opportunity!

The subject of our November meeting will be Birding by Ear -- learning to identify birds by their songs and calls. As we talked about last time -- bird sounds are usually the first clue we'll have that birds are present (some are very good at hiding) and sometimes it's the only way to tell birds apart! Recognizing sounds is a critical birding skill. Please let me know if you expect to attend. I will probably be there by 6pm, if anyone wants to come early to look around the Hall of Birds in the museum.

Also, for those that are interested, we'll be having a field trip to the Capitol Lakes this Saturday, November 14 from ~7am to 10am. We'll meet at the lakes in Arsenal Park, which is basically the park area between the Capitol building and the Governor's Mansion. That way we'll be looking to the west while the sun is still low, but we'll move around the lake to get other vantage points as well. The street is one way around the park and parking is in pull-offs to the side of the road, so just look for me and my car. Some of the ducks and other birds that visit LA in the winter have arrived, so we'll be focusing on them -- including the Peregrine Falcon that likes to hang out on the Capitol building! Please let me know if you think you'll be able to come to the field trip so I know who & how many to expect.

Hope to see you this Saturday and/or next Wednesday evening!

======================
Directions and parking info for Foster Hall:
Foster Hall is located on Dalrymple Drive across from the Greek Theater. Google Maps actually has very good maps of the campus (I find it easier to use than the campus maps on LSU's website). Zoom in on LSU campus and you can see labels for each building. The entrance to the museum is on the west side of the building (the opposite end from the Subway, which is located in the basement of the building in the cafe).

Parking is unfortunately never free on campus. While visitor parking permits may be purchased, our best bet is to use the metered parking, which should be available at this time of the evening. The closest meters will be on Tower Drive near Memorial Tower. There are also meters near the Visitor Center (Highland @ Dalrymple) and the Student Union. Meters cost $1/hr (and probably require quarters).

October Kids Who Bird Meeting

The next meeting of the Kids Who Bird Club will be held on Wed, Oct. 28, 2009 at the Baton Rouge offices of National Audubon located at 6160 Perkins Rd, Suite 15, Baton Rouge, 70808. The meeting will start at 6:30 pm and last until 8 or so. We'll be talking about Bird Identification and will be practicing with binoculars and field guides.

Please send me an email (Education@braudubon.org) if you plan to come!

Next Kids Who Bird Meeting

The next meeting of the Kids Who Bird Club will be held on Wed, Sept 16, 2009 at the Baton Rouge offices of National Audubon located at 6160 Perkins Rd, Suite 15, Baton Rouge, 70808.

The meeting will start at 6:30 pm and last until 8 or so. We'll be talking about Hummingbirds.

Please send me an email (Education@braudubon.org) if you plan to come!

Come see the migrating hummingbirds!

If you're like me, you have one or two hummingbirds at your house right now if you have feeders up. But there's a place, a very special place, just north of here where there are HUNDREDS of hummingbirds and we have been invited to come see them! Here's a sample of what we might see: Migration Madness (go to this link to see video)

Mr. Dick Lancaster hangs 50 feeders on his patio and his house is on the Ruby-Throat Highway because hundreds of the little birds stop by here on their way to their wintering grounds in Central America. Next Sunday, September 13, from 5:00 to 6:30 pm, you can come spend some time marveling at all the birds. You're welcome to bring other family members or interested friends! Be sure to bring your camera!

If you think you'd like to come, please send me an email and I'll send you the directions! Hope to see you there!

Come see our booth at Earth Day!

We'll be featuring a Bird Identification game in the Earth For Children area. Come try the game and win a prize!

Check out Adventures of a Bird Girl

Helena is a 14 yr old girl from Maryland who is a birder and a nature photographer and a blogger. Read about her birding adventures:

http://helenalovesbirds.blogspot.com/

March meeting date set -- March 18

Come one, come all -- back to Amy and Logan's house for another Kids Who Bird meeting. Wed, March 18, 6:30-8ish. Email me if you need the address. I think, in honor of the fact that the Ruby-throated hummingbirds are showing up back in Louisiana, we're going to be talking about hummingbirds this month!

Ever seen an owl yawn?

Is this a yawn? Or did she hear a great owl joke?


Lovebirds snuggling in the swamp


These photos of the resident barred owls were taken in Bluebonnet Swamp in south Baton Rouge in January 2009. Pictures taken by John Hartgerink who calls these owls "Barbara and Barry".