Last week we began learning about birds in Arizona. Our first bird we tackled was the hummingbird. We will be learning about other birds in Arizona later this spring. We plan to make a detour and study butterflies and plants in the Sonoran Desert, and then return to birds. The reason for a detour is because every spring we order caterpillars and watch them turn into butterflies. We have to order the caterpillars before it gets too hot. Otherwise, they roast to death in our metal mailbox. I call that a, “Phoenix problem.” We also want to observe plants and learn their names before it’s hot. Does anyone else not know the names of common desert plants? Ocotillo? Ironwood? Desert broom? I know some, but not as much as I would like.
Now, back to birds in Arizona. We started off with reading some books about hummingbirds, memorizing a poem, and learning a song. The song has been stuck in my head for over a week. It’s a catchy fun tune. Later, we set up our hummingbird feeder and filled it with sugar water. We also learned about John James Audubon and looked at one of his painting of hummingbirds. Lastly, we hunted around our backyard for hummingbird nests. Unfortunately, we found nothing. However, we were able to make our own nests using air dry clay.
Picture Books
Finding books about hummingbirds is easy, but finding books about hummingbirds that don’t focus on the ruby-throated humming bird’s migration to Mexico is hard. We don’t see the ruby-throated hummingbird here in Arizona all that often. The hummingbirds that are commonly seen in Phoenix are the costa’s hummingbird, the Rufous hummingbird, the Allen’s hummingbird, Anna’s hummingbird, and the broad-tailed hummingbird. I couldn’t find any picture books specifically about hummingbirds in Arizona, but the following picture books were about various kinds of hummingbirds, some of which are here in Arizona.
Hummingbirds by Catheryn Sill
Hummingbirds by Bonnie Bader
The Kids’ Guide to Birds of Arizona by Stan Tekiela
A Nest is Noisy by Dianna Hutts Aston
Observe Hummingbirds
I am learning a lot about the Sonoran Desert with kids. One thing I learned as we recently started observing hummingbirds is that the summer is the best time to observe them. Some of them migrate from Mexico starting in March and leave again in October. The Anna’s hummingbird stays here all year-round, so you can always see them flying around. However, there is a greater variety in the summer.
We have honeysuckle trees all across our backyard. Hummingbirds like the color red. This worked out well for us. We were able to observe some hummingbirds and identify them. They fly away so fast, so it’s kind of hard to get a good look. We had fun and did our best with our Birds of Arizona book.
Hummingbird Feeder
We set up our old hummingbird feeder and watched them drink the sugar water. The recipe calls for boiling water, but I have never actually done that, and hummingbirds still come anyway. I just mix sugar and water. Our hummingbird feeder was old and no longer red, so we ordered a new one so that it would attract hummingbirds.
Hummingbird Nest
Towards the end of the week, we made hummingbird nests our of Crayola Air-Dry clay. My kids loved it! Hummingbird nests are as small as a quarter. Some nests are two inches across and one inch deep. We used those measurements to make sure our nests weren’t gigantic (because to a kid a bigger nest is a better nest). The nests dried after a few hours. Later, we painted them.
Final Thoughts
A lot of people here in Phoenix are transplants. That means that names of desert birds and plants are new to them. I knew very little about hummingbirds before I read about them with my kids. They are actually neat little birds. When I was a teacher I always felt like I had to be the expert. Oh what hogwash! I like learning with my kids. I am not an expert, but sometimes that works to a homeschool mom’s benefit. You and your kids can get excited about something together.
Carly from DesertHomeschoolDays.com
