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The river is moving.
The blackbird must be flying.

—Wallace Stevens

Great homeschool teaching ideas and little lessons on birds and natural history from the River Houses Homeschool Network. Add your name to our River Houses homeschool mailing list and get posts like these delivered right to your mailbox every week! 😊

🐦 NATURE NOTES: Spring Bird Migration in Real Time

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For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-birdcast 😊

(Editor’s note: This is the first post from our new nature correspondent, Horace the Otter, the River Houses mascot. Watch for more from Horace in the weeks to come.) 😊

Spring bird migration is underway across much of the United States, and to give your homeschoolers a window into what’s happening why not spend a few minutes this week exploring the wonderful birdcast.info website sponsored by Cornell University.

Birdcast.info is a daily “weather” forecast, and the weather it predicts is the nightly level of bird migration across the United States. (Did you know that most birds migrate at night? It’s true!) The earliest migrating species start moving each year as far back as February, with others joining in during March and April, and the greatest numbers moving north in May.

The birdcast.info website will show you the level of migration that’s expected across the country on any given night. The forecast for tomorrow night (Saturday night and Sunday morning), for example, shows moderate movement in the southeast and up the east coast, as well as along the south Pacific coast. Rain along the lower Mississippi will be blocking seasonal movements there.

Bird migration forecast for the night of 13–14 April 2019. (Image: birdcast.info.)

As the spring proceeds you’ll see the level of migration intensify, with heavy movements up the Mississippi and across the Great Plains, and along the east and west coasts, all subject to local variation caused by daily weather conditions that can “bottle up” migrants for short periods.

In addition to its daily forecast maps, birdcast.info also produces live nightly migration images based on nationwide radar observations that see bird movements directly. As sunset moves from east to west across the country, the sky “lights up” with radar echoes of migrating birds — it’s quite dramatic.

Real-time radar image of migrating birds across the United States at 1:00 a.m. on the night of 12 April 2019. (Image: birdcast.info.)

Go to the live migration maps page to see these images in animated form.

Birdcast.info will help you and your students connect what you see in your local neighborhood with the grand pattern of migration that is taking place across the whole continent.

What natural observations have you made in your homeschool lately? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent bird guide that would serve your homeschool well. Many other similar guides are also available — find one that’s a good fit for your family and take it with you on all your outings, whether far afield or just out to the backyard. 🦉

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website, also sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🐦

🎨 NATURAL HISTORY ILLUSTRATION for Serious Homeschool Artists

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If you have a serious art student in your homeschool, here’s a remarkable opportunity: a free online course on natural history illustration from the University of Newcastle in Australia:

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“Drawing Nature, Science and Culture: Natural History Illustration 101” is being offered through edX, the online educational platform developed by MIT, Harvard, and a number of other leading universities.

“Whether an aspiring scientific or medical illustrator or someone who enjoys drawing nature’s wonders, this first-of-its-kind MOOC course is for you.

The field of Natural History Illustration is about observing and illustrating subjects from nature, science and culture, with their linkages to the environment being central.

Our natural world is a fascinating place. Being able to observe and replicate it through illustration provides insights into life that can change how we think about ourselves and our surroundings.

You will learn essential skills and techniques that form the base for creating accurate and stunning replications of subjects from the natural world. This art and culture course is suitable for people looking to enter the illustration discipline as a serious pursuit or just looking to explore a passion.

As world-standard instructors, we will show you practical ways to develop your skills from the outset. Step by step, we will cover the fundamentals of Natural History Illustration, from the first observation of a subject in the field to the final replication in the studio.“ (edX)

Scientific and technical illustration is a career field that many artistically oriented people go into and thrive in. This course looks like an excellent opportunity for serious homeschool artists to build some of the professional skills they will need to be successful. Take a look and see if it would be a good fit for the artists in your family.

What scientifically artistic discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week? 😊

🏞 HOMESCHOOL NATURE NOTES on the Arrival of Spring

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Although official (astronomical) spring doesn’t begin for another week, my local birds definitely know that spring is well on the way. Have you and your students seen and heard the signs of spring in your homeschool neighborhood?

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Yesterday I went down to the local river at dawn (not my usual hour!) and the evidence was all around. Here’s my list:

A singing Song Sparrow was the first of the year, as was a Great Blue Heron that flew over, several Common Grackles, and a small line of Canada Geese. Are you keeping a list of the birds that you see in your homeschool backyard or local natural area? The beginning of spring is a great time to start!

What natural discoveries have you made in your homeschool lately? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent bird guide that would serve your homeschool well. Many other similar guides are also available — find one that’s a good fit for your family and take it with you on all your outings, whether far afield or just out to the backyard. 🦉

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website (ebird.org) sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🐦

🌒 HOMESCHOOL NATURE NOTES: Signs of Spring

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A thin crescent of a moon followed the sun over the western horizon this evening. Did you and your students see it?

Although “official” (astronomical) spring won’t begin for another couple of weeks, there are already signs of spring all around us, even here in the frozen north where we still have a couple of inches of snow on the ground.

Down by my local river the Mourning Doves have reappeared, calling and associating in pairs. There were a few in the general area over the winter — you could sometimes spot them at dusk going to roost — but there were none by the river in the daytime, and now there are.

The local Mockingbird has returned and is standing guard over his big berry-hoard each day. And most notably, the Turkey Vultures are back, passing over to the north singly and in small groups — perhaps the most dramatic sign of spring so far.

A springtime Turkey Vulture returning to the Nashua Valley. (Image: RJO.)

Soon the Common Grackles and Song Sparrows will be back, and maybe an early Great Blue Heron.

What signs of spring are you seeing in your homeschool? 😊

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website (ebird.org) sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🐦

❡ Books in the running brooks: Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent bird guide that would serve your homeschool well. Many other similar guides are also available — find one that’s a good fit for your family and take it with you on all your outings, whether far afield or just out to the backyard. 🦉

❡ Rivers in the sky: What birds are migrating this week? You can find out from the BirdCast website (birdcast.info), which offers daily bird migration forecasts in the spring and fall for the entire United States. 🦅

🏞 NATURE NOTES: Groundhogs and the Halfway Point to Spring

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Happy Groundhog Day! Did you see your shadow? Every culture and society around the world has weather lore (“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight”), and folk beliefs about the weather can be a fun topic to research at the library with your students.

A friendly little Woodchuck (Marmota monax) keeping watch by the Nashua River last spring. (Image: RJO.)

If a hibernating Groundhog (or Woodchuck, as we say in New England) emerges and sees his shadow on February 2nd, that means more cold weather is in store — so the story goes. The American tradition of Groundhog Day is mainly of German origin and can be traced back at least as far as the early 1800s in this country. The German original features a European Badger (Meles meles), which is a weasel-relative and not a rodent, but it’s also a burrower and is roughly the same size and shape as our Groundhog (Marmota monax), and that was good enough for the early German immigrants to this country.

Like many elements of folklore, Groundhog Day probably has multiple roots. The choice of February 2nd as the date is certainly related to two other events on the calendar: the halfway point between the winter solstice (around December 22nd) and the spring equinox (around March 22nd), and the Christian feast of Candlemas, also called the Feast of the Presentation, which commemorates the presentation of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth.

One of the fun things about folk traditions like Groundhog Day is that you can adapt and adjust them as you please, so why not create your own homeschool Groundhog Day tradition? Perhaps you can carry the family cat outside each year on February 2nd to check for its shadow. 🙀 Or bury a thermometer in the backyard and check the temperature each year. 🌡 The possibilities are limited only by your own folkloric imagination. 🤔

What natural discoveries have you made (or what folktales have you invented) in your homeschool this February? 😊

🏞 NATURE NOTES: Real Live River Otters

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We had heavy snow last Saturday night and Sunday morning, and on Sunday afternoon some light snow and freezing rain were continuing, so I thought about skipping my usual walk to the river. But I decided to go, and if I hadn’t gone to look, I wouldn’t have seen our River Houses mascot in the flesh: a handsome River Otter swimming and diving in the icy water, and chowing down on a nice catfish he had caught.

River Otter in the North Nashua River in Massachusetts, 20 January 2019. (Image: RJO.)

I only had a pocket camera with me, so the photos aren’t the best, but they’re quite good enough for documentary purposes, and the classic otter shape is unmistakable.

River Otter (with catfish) in the North Nashua River in Massachusetts, 20 January 2019. (Image: RJO.)

Fifty years ago, this section of the Nashua River — an old industrial river in New England — was so polluted that almost nothing could live in it. Now it’s home to fish in abundance, mink, beaver, muskrat, otter, and a great variety of birds.

The North American River Otter (Lontra canadensis) lives in rivers and streams over much of our continent. There may be some near you! If you look, you just might see.

What natural discoveries have you made in your homeschool lately? 😊

🐦 NATURE NOTES: The Great Backyard Bird Count is Coming!

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If you’re looking for a simple homeschool science and nature project this winter, you won’t find anything better than the Great Backyard Bird Count scheduled for 15–18 February. Now’s the time to put it on your calendar.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is sponsored by Cornell University and several other organizations, and each year it produces a snapshot of birdlife across the United States and around the world:

Anyone who participates (like you and your students) is making a genuine contribution to our understanding of global bird populations:

“Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird Count was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds and to display results in near real-time.

“Now, more than 160,000 people of all ages and walks of life worldwide join the four-day count each February to create an annual snapshot of the distribution and abundance of birds.

“We invite you to participate! For at least 15 minutes on one or more days of the count, February 15-18, 2019, simply tally the numbers and kinds of birds you see. You can count from any location, anywhere in the world, for as long as you wish!“ (birdcount.org)

If you’re a beginner, the easiest way to get started is with a backyard feeder. Here are some selections at Amazon.com that you can explore — browse around and find one or two that would fit well in your own backyard setting:

Your participation in the GBBC doesn’t have to be just feeder-watching, of course, and it doesn’t literally have to be in a “backyard.” Just pick any nearby location of interest — a farm field, a city park, a local lake, a patch of woods, or your backyard — count the birds you see for at least 15 minutes, and then report your observations on birdcount.org. And then watch as thousands of other reports come in from all around the world. It’s homeschool science at its best. 😊

What outdoor discoveries have your students made lately?

❡ Books in the running brooks: Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent bird guide that would serve your homeschool well. Many other similar guides are also available — find one that’s a good fit for your family and take it with you on all your outings, whether far afield or just out to the backyard. 🦉

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website (ebird.org) sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🐦

🐦 NATURE NOTES: Free Beginner’s eBird Course Online

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We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year.

If you’re interested but don’t know where to begin, here’s a wonderful free introduction to the online eBird service from Cornell University that you and your students can take together:

It’s a three-hour introductory course, all online with no materials to buy, and it will help you learn how to find birds in your local area, identify them, and record your observations in a way that will make them useful to others. The instructor is a K–12 education specialist, and you can even get a continuing education certificate (for a fee) if you’re so inclined.

I use eBird almost every day and so do thousands of other people around the world. Why not join us?

What natural discoveries have you made in your homeschool lately? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: Our River Houses reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent bird guide that would serve your homeschool well. Many other similar guides are also available — find one that’s a good fit for your family and take it with you on all your outings, whether far afield or just out to the backyard. 🦉

🦆 NATURE NOTES: If You Don’t Look, You Won’t See

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It was raining all day today in the Nashua River valley and it was close to freezing so the streets and sidewalks were icy. I almost didn’t go for my daily bird-count at the local park, but by 3:30 the rain had tapered off a bit and I headed out. And I’m glad I did, because if I had stayed in I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of seeing a pair of Hooded Mergansers, one of the most spectacular birds in North America. I only had a pocket camera with me, but it was enough to get a recognizable documentary photo:

It’s an old adage of research that if you don’t look, you won’t see. In science or scholarship of any kind, if we know in advance what we’ll find, then we’re not really investigating. One of the pleasures of natural history as a basic subject is that you never know what you’re going to discover. But you won’t discover anything unless you go out and look — even if it’s cold and raining — and that’s an important little lesson for your students.

Adult male Hooded Merganser. (Image: Wikimedia Commons.)

Hooded Mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus) are small fresh-water diving ducks with serrated bills that help them catch fish and other aquatic prey. They occur over most of North America in lakes, ponds, and rivers, but they tend to be somewhat reclusive and usually avoid populated areas. You’ll find them on page 46 in your recommended River Houses bird guide (riverhouses.org/books). The adult males are boldly pattered and have a striking black and white crest that, when raised, makes their heads look almost completely circular. The two birds I saw were both adult males, and even in my distant pocket-camera photo you can clearly see their mostly folded crests as well as their striking golden eyes.

So even if it’s raining, or snowing, or hot, or windy — go out and look. If you don’t, there may be wonderful things that you’ll never see.

What natural discoveries have you made in your homeschool lately? 😊

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website (eBird.org) sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🐦

🐦 WINTER BIRD-FEEDING SEASON is Here!

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Friday is Natural History Day in the River Houses, and with winter approaching, this is the right time to start thinking about feeding birds in your backyard. It’s one of the simplest and most educational homeschool activities you can do during the winter season.

Whether you’re a beginning backyard birder or an old hand, the resource you’ll want to explore is Project FeederWatch from Cornell University:

They even have a special educational guide for homeschoolers:

“The Homeschooler’s Guide to Project FeederWatch is a free eight-page document that contains ideas for families participating in Project FeederWatch. These lesson-starters will help you teach multiple subjects using birds and will inspire creative ideas for science-related art projects, designing and building feeders, strengthening math skills, and assisting children in conducting a research project.”

If you’re in the market for a feeder you’ll find that there are many different types available. Here are some selections at Amazon.com that you can explore — browse around and find one or two that would fit well in your own backyard setting:

If your students watch carefully over the course of the winter, they will discover that different bird species exhibit different behaviors: chickadees will generally pick up a single seed and fly away with it; winter finches, by contrast, will usually perch and keep eating until something scares them away. Cardinals will generally choose a flat surface to feed on if one is available, while finches will happily feed from slender perches well off the ground. Woodpeckers won’t be attracted to your seed offerings, but they will readily come to a suet feeder.

Set up a homeschool bird feeder or two this winter, and see how many educational discoveries you can make in your own backyard. 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: Our River Houses reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent bird guide that would serve your homeschool well. Many other similar guides are also available — find one that’s a good fit for your family and take it with you on all your outings, whether far afield or just out to the backyard. 🦉

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as simple or as complex as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website (eBird.org), also sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🐦

🌎 TEACHING MATERIALS from the U.S. Geological Survey

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There are so many wonderful (and free!) science education resources available online, homeschoolers should all be as happy as kings. 😊

Friday is Natural History Day in the River Houses, so why not spend some time exploring the great teaching materials available from the United States Geological Survey:

Don’t be misled by the world “Geological” in the USGS’s name. For over a century, this important federal science agency has studied and reported on a great range of natural phenomena in the United States, including aspects of biology, ecology, geography, history, land use, mapping and cartography, paleontology, planetary science, rivers and oceans, weather and climate, and more.

[ALYYY]
USGS air temperature monitoring site, Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, Wyoming. (Image: USGS.)

If you want to browse by grade level, the materials are all arranged for you, and they include classroom exercises, images and videos, podcasts, and more:

USGS is most famous, perhaps, for the magnificent maps it produces — favorites of teachers, scientists, and the general public for more than 100 years. You can browse an educational selection from their extensive map catalog here:

Why not spend a little time this week exploring — or having your young scientists explore — these excellent educational materials.

What natural discoveries have you made in your homeschool lately? 😊

🐦 HOMESCHOOL NATURAL HISTORY: Getting Started With eBird

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We always recommend the eBird website (ebird.org) from Cornell University as a great way to keep track of your homeschool bird observations. Not only will it help you learn more about the natural history of your local neighborhood, but your own contributed observations, when combined with others, will help build up a nationwide picture of changing bird populations.

eBird is now offering a free one-hour course on all the website’s features and how best to use them — just the thing to help make bird study a regular part of your homeschool:

If you’ve been interested in getting your students started with tracking their bird observations, this may be just what you need to get things underway. 🦅

What natural discoveries have you made in your homeschool lately? 😊

❡ Books in the running brooks: Our River Houses reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent bird guide that would serve your homeschool well. Many other similar guides are also available — find one that’s a good fit for your family and take it with you on all your outings, whether far afield or just out to the backyard. 🦉

🏞 NATURAL HISTORY PROJECTS for Homeschoolers

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We always recommend bird study as a great homeschool science activity — it’s suitable for all ages and for all seasons of the year, and it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish. But what if birds don’t catch your student’s interest, or what if you’re stuck inside from bad weather or illness, or what if you want to travel farther afield than your own local neighborhood? Let online research come to your rescue!

There are a number of fascinating natural history research projects available to homeschool students online. These are real projects, sponsored by university researchers, science museums, and related organizations, and your participation advances scientific and scholarly knowledge. The big clearinghouse for such projects is Zooniverse.org. Here are five natural history projects that struck me as interesting — browse around the Zooniverse site and see what others may also be available:

Take a look at these projects or any of the other nature-related Zooniverse projects that are now running, and make your little home academy into a research powerhouse today. 😊

What natural discoveries have you made in your homeschool lately? 😊

🦉 NATURE NOTES: Identifying Birds with MERLIN

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Friday is Natural History Day in the River Houses. If you’re a thoroughly modern homeschooler who is permanently attached to your phone, why not use it to connect yourself and your students back to the natural world with Cornell University’s free MERLIN app for bird identification:

We love books in the River Houses, and we think your homeschool library should certainly have a standard bird guide (riverhouses.org/books). But there will always be times when you’re out and about without your books and birds happen to cross your path (or you theirs). At those times, MERLIN may be just what you need:

“Answer five simple questions about a bird you are trying to identify” in your local homeschool area, “and Merlin will come up with a list of possible matches. Merlin offers quick identification help for all levels of bird watchers to learn about North America and Europe’s common and rare birds.”

What natural discoveries have you made, with or without technological assistance, in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as simple or as complex as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website (eBird.org), also sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🦉

🌀 NATURE NOTES: Birds and Hurricanes

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A major hurricane, Michael, has been coming up through Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas this week, and we hope very much that all our readers in those states are safe and sound.

Hurricanes have a powerful impact not only on human life, but also on the natural world. In particular, hurricanes can scatter many seabirds far outside of their normal ranges, depositing tropical birds far to the north, and open-ocean birds far inland.

Cornell University’s BirdCast service (birdcast.info) is tracking the effects of Hurricane Michael on bird life this week, and you and your homescholars can follow the current reports here:

Your recommended River Houses reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes a fine bird guide that will show you some of the oceanic birds that are particularly susceptible to hurricane scattering: terns (page 204), tropicbirds (page 214), petrels (page 224), shearwaters (page 232), frigatebirds (page 246), and others.

[Sooty Tern]
“Sooty Terns are perhaps the quintessential ‘hurricane birds,’ often transported by storms. This storm [Hurricane Michael] seems particularly likely to deposit individuals of this species inland, given its origins and intensification in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.” (Image: birdcast.info.)

If you’re discussing hurricanes in your homeschool this week, why not invite you students to imagine what it would be like to be a fifteen-inch bird on the open ocean at night in 100 mile-per-hour winds. How could you survive, and how far away from home would you land?

What natural observations have you made in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as simple or as complex as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website (eBird.org) sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🦉