MATH IS FOR THE BIRDS! Part 1

Black Capped Chickadee

An Invitation to Urban Birdwatching

 Author, activity designer and photographer: Amanda Fritzlan

Sitting on the back steps of my home in East Vancouver earlier this week, I was visited by four different kinds of birds. I identified them using a guide to birds in Vancouver.

European Starling

Bushtit

House Finches The house finches appear in a pair. The male has salmon coloured feathers. The female is mainly brown and grey to help her go unseen when she sits on a nest. The two of them like to sit and feed on the top of my kale plants that are going to seed.  I listen to the birds sing and call and when I see them. I want to try to identify them by their sounds even when I can’t see them.

ACTIVITY: START A BIRD JOURNAL

Start with three or four birds that you can see from your home or on walks close to your home. Using drawings and writing, record what you notice. 

Which birds do you see?

What do they look like?

Are the male and female different?

Identify them by name? 

What do you notice them eating?

What calls and songs do you hear? Do they move about alone, in pairs, in groups?