Baby Robins in our backyard.
We have had several kinds of birds come to our yard and nest, including Blue Jays, Robins, Chickadees, Mourning Doves, etc. Just a few days ago, we made a huge mistake. Moses saw what we guessed was a crow. It looked like it was still a nestling, and we thought that it had fallen out of it's nest, so we decided to pick it up and see if we could help it. After contacting experts, we were surprised by what we learned.
These Carolina Chickadees fledged the day after this photo was taken.
All birds are different, but most birds that you will find in your yard, will leave the nest about two weeks after they hatch. They are fully feathered and will be able to flap, hop, and try to fly short distances. They will stay on the ground for 2-5 days. During this time, the parents keep close watch over the fledglings because it still can't take care of itself or fly. The parents also continue to feed the baby, help it to recognize predators, and teach it to fly.
If you find a baby bird you should leave it on the ground or you could keep it from learning it's basic survival skills. If you are convinced it is too young to be out of the nest and you know where the nest is, carefully place it back in the nest.
This is the baby bird that we found. Moses was able to walk right up to it and pick it up. It would not eat from us and was able to hop and fly short distances. We placed it back where we found it after we realized our mistake. His parents were able to continue caring for him.
Moses putting the baby back where it was
Here is a video we took of the Chickadees that hatched in one of our birdhouses. We got to see them the day they hatched. We also got to see them take their final flight from the nest. We watched one of them learning to make its way around in some brush!!!
By Ethan
.
My dad got us this book one year for Christmas and I stuck it in a drawer. We had put up a bird feeder and a birdhouse (for decor) outside our living room window. One day we saw some amazing birds at the feeder. One of them we have not seen since...it was a Rose Breasted Grosbeak. We could not believe how beautiful this bird was and I remembered that bird book! We pulled it out and identified our first bird. Then, we noticed a bird going in and out of the birdhouse that I had put up...strictly for looks. When we checked inside, there were tiny little eggs! Then the eggs hatched and we watched the birds grow and fly away. We also got the book out to identify them as Carolina Chickadees. Luke, who was then 7, started looking through the book and then started reading it...cover to cover. One huge blessing out of this, was that he had struggled with reading or really being interested in it at all. He had become so interested in these birds that he just had to read about them! He wore that book out and we had to order another one! 
, has been great! I take it everywhere we go and we use it to look up just about everything. It sometimes gives us little observation activities and gets us investigating and thinking. It's not just about wildlife, we've learned about erosion while at the river and trees and roots while hiking. It's a wonderful resource!
is an amazing book for older kids. Books like this played a huge part in us growing to love learning about creation. My kids got into the characters of these books without even realizing they were learning about different animals.
