In March, we learned all about birds. Birds has become one of my favorite subjects since we have bought our house. Since moving here we have had such a wide variety of birds visit our backyard that it is almost impossible not to become interested in birds. We have had Yellow and Red Finches, Grosbeaks, Woodpeckeres, Morning Doves, Mouse Tit, Catbird, Blue Jays, Hummingbirds & Orioles. This doesn't even touch all of them that we have. They are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. We even have an owl that occasionally visits our yard.
So it has been easy to be passionate about sharing about birds with Joe as he has grown and this year has been even more fun with him noticing more and more differences between each of the birds and even being able to identify a couple of birds by their calls without seeing them.
For books about birds, I actually have a lot on hand. As I stated before, birds are one of my favorite subjects to stare at so I have invested in the books so that we have them on hand and can reference them when we want. There are a few books that we did pick up at our local library and I will list those at the end of the blog. Before I do go on, I have to let you know that this blog post does contain affiliate links. If you click on those links and purchase one, two or all of the items, I may or may not receive compensation for your purchase at no additional cost to you.
The first book I will share with you has actually grown on me. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan, but that is because the writing is a little different and it took some time to figure out the cadence. But now I love it. The Burgess Bird Book For Children. It is a myriad of stories centered on life with Peter Rabbit and his bird friends. Each of the birds have different character traits. Some are sassy, some are bossy and some are mild and just want to be left alone. The author does a fantastic job of weaving in real facts about birds with these fictional stories. I highly recommend as a read aloud with your family.    
Nature Anatomy is a series of books by Julia Rothman that I will always recommend. They are amazing and she actually has a new one coming out soon that I am hoping to be able to add to our collection. The colors, illustrations and facts are beautiful and easy to read. I will never NOT recommend these books to use a resource in your homeschooling adventures.
Feathers: Not Just For Flying by Melissa Stewart is a beautiful book. It details the many uses of bird feathers. It is an easy read as well, so Joe was able to read some of the book along with me which makes it even more fun for him.    
The Little Book of Backyard Bird Songs is a new book for us. This was the only book I added to our library this time. I debated on buying this book. I felt that it was a little young for Joe, but it is actually quite detailed and it has the fun element of being able to listen to the different bird songs of each of the birds covered.
A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz Jenkins is a cute little read and covers the cycle of some robins building a nest, laying some eggs, the incubation, the feathers the children find, the habits of birds and briefly discusses other backyard birds. For such a tiny book, it is packed full of important information.    
Life-cycles: Robins by Robin Nelson is a very short and quick read. It goes through the life-cycle of a robin and is easy enough for a beginner reader to go through with confidence and not be overwhelmed with a ton of pages to read.
Birds of the Air by Arabella Buckley is a book of short chapters with information about birds such as Where Do Birds Sleep?, Bird Nests, Bird Eggs, etc. It has a number of nice pictures and diagrams and packed full of information. This book is a read aloud or a resource for an adult. The layout and length of chapters is for children who are a little more confident in their reading.    
The Beaks of Birds is a fun read about the different beaks that birds have and how they use them. We used this along with a fun activity of finding things around the house that represent the different bird beaks (straws, spoons, forks, etc) and tried to use the things we found to “eat” like a bird.
The Boy Who Drew Birds by Jacqueline Davies is a book about the life of John James Audubon. It tells the story of him growing up, his education and how he became famous for banding birds and proving the theory that many birds return back to the same nesting area when they migrate. The book has some fun art in it and is packed full of information.    
For The Birds by Peggy Thomas is the life story of Roger Tory Peterson who wrote A Field Guide to the Bird. Despite being in the midst of the Depression his book sold out within a matter of weeks. He inspired people to get outside and watch the birds. In his life he was called on by the army to study the effects of DDT on animals and warned against its use. When he noticed a decrease in bird population in his areas he knew it was because of this and petitioned other birders, businessmen, politicians and scientists. Because of his hard work and passion he was able to see the use of DDT banned in the US. This is such a great read and so many other things to cover with kids even outside of the information. Following your passions, enjoying nature, standing up for a cause and being a voice of reason.
Robins: How They Grow Up by Eileen Christelow is a cute little read. It tells the story of a family of robins. I will caution that they do cover the loss of a baby robin to a predator. So if you have anyone sensitive (Like I am. I get told regularly by Joe to stop crying while I read) you may want to preread and plan to skip over that part or prep yourself for a conversation about life, death and the circle of life.    
The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science And Nature is a huge hit with Joe. The characters are familiar to him and the information is given simply and in short bursts. They have a small section on birds that we have read a couple of times now.
Penguins by Emily Bone is an Usbourne Beginners book. It has beautiful photographs of the different types of penguins and covers the many aspects of penguins from laying eggs, how they keep clean and even how they play and talk. This book is a part of a series of books and is definitely worth the price. Though it is for beginning readers you may need to help with some of the bigger words. (I had to look up how to pronounce some of names of the different penguins lol)
A Bird’s Nest by Anna Milbourne is an Usbourne peek inside book. Joe, who is six, still loves these books so I hold on to them and read them with him. I love the colors and the drawings in the book and with the lift tabs it keeps him engaged and listening while I read.
Here is a list of some of the books that we check out from the library about birds.
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