Birdwatchers, or “birders,” keep life lists in which they note their first sighting of a species — indicating the date, place, habitat, etc. This easy-to-read, fact-filled workbook will help young birdwatchers begin keeping their own life lists as they learn about 48 common North American birds — among them the blue jay, American crow, ruby-throated hummingbird, yellow-billed cuckoo, mourning dove, barn owl, red-tailed hawk, northern oriole, red-winged blackbird, and red-headed woodpecker.
Written and illustrated by nature artist Sy Barlowe, the book includes space on each page for a numbered sticker illustration of the bird described, along with information on bird size, habitat, nesting and eating habits, number and color of eggs, and range. There’s also a place for recording the date, time, and locality of the sighting and for adding personal remarks.
A great way to combine sticker fun with an educational experience, this hands-on record-keeping book will motivate young naturalists and perhaps stimulate a lifelong interest in the rewarding hobby of birdwatching.
Strange Assortment This book is meant for young children to identify birds they might see. I think it has a very peculiar assortment of birds – some are very difficult to see: Bald Eagle? Peregrine Falcon? It would take a pretty amazing child to be able to see and identify an American Redstart! It would be much better to create regional editions so a child could hope to see more than a few of the birds featured in this book.
Great book for five-to-eight year olds just starting to learn about birds I’ve got a more complete review of this book at my blog, Caterpickles, but I wanted to address one of the main concerns raised by other reviewers here.
Nice, inexpensive, fun. This is a great little book for pre- school children and grade school kids too. It is a nice way to introduce them not only to bird watching, but also aids in developing an appreciation for the outdoors. After our nature walks my grandchildren love trying to match their memories to the correct bird sticker and then stick them in the right place. Knowing they will be able to ‘play’ with the stamps and have the species information given for each bird read to them, motivates them to remember…