Turn Your Kids on to Birding with: 10 Cool Birds

by Nancy Shepherdson

Birding is a painless way for outdoor enthusiasts to get kids curious about the world around them. These 10 birds are easy to point out and use to create discovery games. (“Who can spot the next vulture?”) Soon your young birders will want to know more about them and perhaps about other native species as well. Then all you need are some inexpensive binoculars and a field guide. Your kids will do the rest.

1. American Robin - Even a three-year-old can recognize a “robin red breast.” After a rain, take your kids out to watch the robins hunt for worms. On walks, they’ll skitter along the trail in front of you.

2. Turkey Vultures - Soaring almost motionless over Chicagoland all summer, particularly over roads, the turkey vulture can be spotted from a great distance. (They can detect roadkill a mile away.) Identify them by their long wings with fingerlike tips; use binoculars to see their naked red faces.

3. American Crow - Crows fly, feed, and roost in family groups. If you see three big black birds together this summer, it’s probably mom, dad and a “baby” who doesn’t want to leave the nest yet. Watch its parents alternately ignore it and respond to its urgent caws to be fed.

4. Grey Catbird - If you hear a cat meowing in the woods, you’re probably hearing a catbird. Good birders learn to recognize bird calls, and the catbird is one of the best to practice on. It imitates a wide variety of other birds, but its “cat call” is unmistakable.

5. American Egret - The tall and elegant egret hangs out in marshes in search of fish and frogs. It is pure white with black legs and uses its shadow to fool its prey into thinking they have found shelter. And then it pounces. You’ll often see great blue herons (larger, greyish blue) fishing nearby.

6. Mute Swan - The youngest child will love the experience of watching them paddling around a corporate-park pond. In early summer, you might see them carrying tired chicks on their backs.

7. Northern Cardinal - Ask your kids to spot the flash of red that can only mean a cardinal. Then give the bigger challenge: a greener bird, the female, will often be nearby. Can they spot her? Cardinals also love to eat sunflower seeds at the birdfeeder, making them easier to spot.

8. Black-capped Chickadee - A curious little cutie, the chickadee will be a regular visitor at your birdfeeder. Listen for the chorus of chick-a-dee-dee-dee mornings and evenings.

9. Red-winged Blackbird - Here’s one of nature’s most aggressive males. Their call is heard from the tops of trees, telephone wires, fences and cattails. In his black uniform with yellow and red shoulder patches, the male is protecting his shy, dull-brown mate.

10. Red-tailed Hawk - Master of all he surveys, this reddish hawk with a plump splotchy white breast will sit motionless on a tree or pole surveying the surrounding grassland for movement. Then, in one swoop, the hawk will catch dinner. Watch for them in trees along the interstate, especially near water.

For more cool birds, visit The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and click on “All About Birds.”