The Burgess Bird Book - bird list

The kids, particularly Hero, love listening to Librivox recordings. We've heard Children of Odin many times now, and they're working on The Burgess Bird Book for Children again the past couple of days. It occurred to me that we could get some good Nature Study going on, and probably learn some bird calls with each chapter, which will be so rewarding when we get out into the park. So, to make that happen, I need a list of birds covered in each chapter. We're using Librovox, but Guttenberg also has a copy. Even if we don't look closely at all the birds, learning a few -or a bunch- will be fun when we're outside. I'm linking to All About Birds, and coloring sheets when I can find them, as well as likely-looking YouTube videos and other resources. I'm also making note of the times when we might expect to hear them in our area - the Upper Midwest. I also found this, which includes some ready-made copywork from the book (scroll well down the page).

It's also a pretty simple thing to set up an eBird account to track the birds you see, and not a lot more difficult to share checklists with several birders, so interested kids could have their own account; the privacy is easy to crank down and shield them from the public eye. We like to participate in eBird because it helps to collect data that the real scientists at Cornell use in studying birds.


The Burgess Bird Book for Children.

Chapter 1: Jenny Wren Arrives

• House Wren - (summer) coloring sheet

Chapter 2: The Old Orchard Bully

• House Sparrow - (year round) coloring sheet

Chapter 3: Jenny Has A Good Word For Some Sparrows

• Song Sparrow - (summer) coloring sheet (migration/possibly summer)
• White-throated Sparrow - (Mid-April/May & late-Sep/early-Nov) e-Bird Occurrence Map and a coloring sheet
• Fox Sparrow - (fall, winter, spring) e-Bird interactive map and a coloring sheet

Chapter 4: Chippy, Sweetvoice, and Dotty

• Chipping Sparrow - (summer) coloring sheet; note the differences between the Chipping Sparrow and the House Sparrow
• Vesper Sparrow - (summer)  
• Tree Sparrow - (winter) coloring page
• Common Sparrow Comparisons

Chapter 5: Peter Learns Something He Hadn't Guessed

• Eastern Bluebird - (summer) coloring sheet and e-Bird Occurrence Map
• American Robin - (summer) coloring sheet

Chapter 6: An Old Friend In A New Home

• Eastern Phoebe - (summer) coloring sheet
• Least Flycatcher - (summer) coloring sheet

Chapter 7: The Watchman of the Old Orchard

• Eastern Kingbird - (summer) coloring sheet
• Great Crested Flycatcher - (summer)

Chapter 8: Old Clothes and Old Houses

• Wood Peewee - (summer)

Chapter 9: Longbill and Teeter

• American Woodcock - (summer) coloring sheet
• Spotted Sandpiper 

Chapter 10: Redwing and Yellow Wing

• Redwing Blackbird
• Golden-winged (Northern) Flicker

Chapter 11: Drummers and Carpenters

• Downy Woodpecker
• Hairy Woodpecker
• How to tell a Downy from a Hairy
• Red-headed Woodpecker

Chapter 12: Some Unlikely Relatives

• Cowbird
• Baltimore Oriole - (summer) coloring sheet

Chapter 13: More of the Blackbird Family

• Orchard Oriole (summer)
• Attracting Orioles 
• Bobolink

Chapter 14: Bob White and Carole the Meadowlark

• Quail - lots of types; none live here. 
• Quail Fun Facts
• Meadowlark (summer) dot-to-dot coloring sheet

Chapter 15: A Swallow and One Who Isn't

• Tree Swallow - (summer) coloring sheet
• Tree Swallow Nest Box Project
• Chimney Swift - (summer) 
• In-depth info on Chimney Swifts

Chapter 16: A Robber in the Old Orchard

• Purple Martin (summer) 
• Purple Martin coloring page and a kite to build
• Barn Swallow

Chapter 17: More Robbers

• Crow - The Secret Life of Crows
• Blue Jay

Chapter 18: Some Homes in the Green Forest

• Ovenbird - Building a Nest on YouTube
• Red-tail Hawk - Nest cam timelapse

Chapter 19: A Maker of Thunder and a Friend in Black

• Ruffed Grouse
• Crow Blackbird

Chapter 20: A Fisherman Robbed

• Osprey
• Bald Eagle

Chapter 21: A Fishing Party

• Great Blue Heron
• Kingfisher

Chapter 22: Some Feathered Diggers

• Bank Swallow
• Sparrow Hawk

Chapter 23: Some Big Mouths

• Nighthawk
• Whip-poor-will
• Chuck-wills-widow

Chapter 24: The Warblers Arrive

• Redstart
• Yellow Warbler

Chapter 25: Three Cousins Quite Unlike

• Black and White Warbler
• Maryland Yellow-throat
• Yellow-breasted Chat

Chapter 26: Peter Gets a Lame Neck

• Parula
• Myrtle Warblers 
• Magnolia Warbler

Chapter 27: A New Friend and an Old One

• Cardinal
• Catbird

Chapter 28: Peter Sees Rosebreast and Finds Redcoat

• Rose-breasted Grosbeak
• Scarlet Tanager

Chapter 29: The Constant Singers

• Red-eyed Vireo
• Warbling Vireo
• Yellow-throated Vireo

Chapter 30: Jenny Wren's Cousins

• Brown Thrasher
• Mockingbird

Chapter 31: Voices of the Dusk

• Wood Thrush
• Hermit Thrush
• Wilson's Thrush

Chapter 32: Peter Saves a Friend and Learns Something

• Towhee
• Indigo Bunting

Chapter 33: A Royal Dresser and a Late Nester

• Purple Linnet
• Goldfinch

Chapter 34: Mourner the Dove and Cuckoo

• Mourning Dove
• Yellow-billed Cuckoo

Chapter 35: A Butcher and a Hummer

• Shrike
• Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Chapter 36: A Stranger and a Dandy

• English Starling
• Cedar Waxwing

Chapter 37: Farewells and Welcomes

• Chickadee

Chapter 38: Honker and Dippy Arrive

• Canada Goose
• Loon

Chapter 39: Peter Discovers Two Old Friends

• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Brown Creeper

Chapter 40: Some Merry Seed-Eaters

• Tree Sparrow
• Junco

Chapter 41: More Friends Come With the Snow

• Snow Bunting
• Horned Lark

Chapter 42: Peter Learns Something About Spooky

• Screech Owl

Chapter 43: Queer Feet and a Queerer Bill

• Crossbill

Chapter 44: More Folks in Red

• Pine Grosbeak
• Redpoll

Chapter 45: Peter Sees Two Terrible Feathered Hunters

• Goshawk
• Great Horned Owl