Can you find the bird? activity

 I recently went away for vacation and saw a ton of birds, and there were a few pictures that I got, but the problem was that when I looked at them, it was hard to find the bird I had taken the picture of! I did eventually find them all, and so I turned it into an activity to see who else can find the bird. If you find more birds in the photos that I didn't see please post it in the comments. Here are the pictures with the type of bird and the number of birds you are trying to find beneath the photo:

Type: Spotted Towhee

Number: 1

Type: Black-Capped Chickadee

Number: 1

Type: American Crow

Number: 1

Type: Steller's Jay

Number: 1

-Kate

If You Really Love Nature: Three Fun Activities For Becoming a Better Naturalist

 Bonjour, my fellow nature lovers! Up here in the Rocky Mountains, the trees (and the ground) are covered in about a foot of snow. I guess the clouds floating above the mountains don't care whether it's October or December! This article is mostly pointed at unprofessional naturalists (like me) to help them learn more about nature and becoming better naturalists. What is an "unprofessional naturalist"? An unprofessional naturalist is someone who loves and likes to learn about nature - the age range is 1-1,000 plus years! Anyway.... let's get started!

1. Spend ten minutes a day on Zooniverse. (see Three Fun Activates for Naturalists Both Young and Old in my Be a Naturalist label)

If everyone spent just ten minutes a day on Zooniverse, imagine how much work could get done! What do you learn on Zooniverse? You learn.... observation skills, identification skills, as well as all about the subject you're doing a project on!

2. Do mail-in Junior Ranger booklets.

These are sooo fun! I love doing Junior Ranger booklets, but you can't go everywhere! Here's a link to an article that has a list of all the national and state parks that will mail you your patch and booklet: http://craftknife.blogspot.com/2018/06/heres-every-national-park-junior-ranger.html What will you learn? You will learn.... observation skills, and more, depending on the activities, as well as all about the national/state park you are doing the booklet on.

3. Read your field guide!!!!!!

Seriously people, this is so much over looked. Just read it! What do you learn? You learn..... all about whatever your field guide is about!

Okay everyone, there you are! Have fun! Remember to comment and tell me your favorite activity! 

-Lili

Weekly (that part is a lie) Nature Challenge Fifth Anniversary!!!

Howdy Wilderness lovers! It's mid fall, and most of the birds have finished migrating by now. I have yet to sight some of our winter-only visitors, but I'm sure they'll come along soon. How has your fall been? What was your favorite migration sighting? (Mine was a Loggerhead Shrike.) Post your answers (and questions) in the comments below! Now, onto the Nature Challenge.....

In honor of the anniversary, this challenge is to find, and check up on regularly, a new, nature-related blog. Here are some of my favorites:

Appleton Wildlife Diary

Alex posts quite often, (probably more often than me!) and almost always has a few photos to show us. I love hearing about his day to day adventures with wildlife.

Nature Mentor

This is a really cool blog, and is especially great for unprofessional, wannabe naturalists. (Like me.) I learned a lot from this blog.

Audubon

Okay, so I'm not sure whether this actually counts as a blog, as it's more like a website, but they have really cool informative articles all the time, all about birds.

I hope you found this post useful and informative yourself! Until next time!

-Lili