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Take-Along Guide

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Take-Along Guide ........ •

lr.~5,

bf:) Mel Boring illustrations bf:) Linda Garrow

NORTHWORD Minnetonka, Minnesota

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DEDICATION For Katy, my daughter and research assistant, with love

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to Rita Hirv, Librarian of the Rockford, Iowa Public

Library, and Marilyn Buttjer, Children's Librarian at the Charles

City, Iowa Public Library. They have helped a lot to make this book,

probably without even realizing it.

© Mel Boring, 1996

North Word 11571 K-Tel Drive Minnetonka, MN 55343 www.tnkidsbooks.com

All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyrights hereon may be reproduced or used in

any form or by any means-graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping

of information on storage and retrieval systems-without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Illustrations by Linda Garrow / Book design by Lisa Moore

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Boring, Mel. Birds, nests, and eggs I by Mel Boring ; illustrations by Linda Garrow.

p. cm. - (Take-along guide) Summary: Describes a select list of birds, their nests, and their eggs.

ISBN 1-55971-624-x (SC) 1. Birds-Juvenile literature. 2. Birds-Nests-Identification-

Juvenile literature. [l. Birds. 2. Birds-Nests. 3. Birds-Eggs.] I. Garrow, Linda, ill. II. Title. III. Series.

QL676.2.B67 1996 598-dc20 95-31570

Printed in Selangor Darul Ehsan Malaysia, December 2016

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) CONTENTS Birds. Nests and Eggs

INTRODUCTION - - - - - - - -5

American Robin - - - - - - - -6 House Sparrow - - - - - - -8 Northern Cardinal - - - - - - -10 Blue Jay - - - - - - - - - - - - - 12 Northern Oriole - - - - - - - -1 ~

MAKE A "BLIND" FOR BIRD WATCHING - - - - - -16

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird 18 American Goldfinch - - - - - -20 Red-Winged Blackbird - - - - -2 2 Barn Swallow - - - - - - - - - - 2 ¥

GIVE THE BIRDS A SHOWER-BATH - - - - - - - -26

Black-Capped Chickadee - - -28 Downy Woodpecker - - - - - -30 White-Breasted Nuthatch - - -3 2

MAKE A HANG-DOWN SUET FEEDER - - - - - - - - - - -3 ¥

Meadowlark - - - - - - - - - -3 6 Mourning Dove - - - - - - - - -38 Killdeer - - - - - - - - - - - - - -¥0

SCRAPBOOK - - - - - - - - - - -¥ 2

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6

Bird The robin's

happy " Cheer-up!" seems to sing away winter and bring on spring. You will see the robin on the lawn tugging up earthworms.

Robins also eat cater­pillars, beetles, crickets and spiders-and fruits like apples, cherries and raspberries.

With its red-orange chest, the American

robin is the bird we know best. The robin is 9

to 11 inches long. Male robins have dark

heads. Female robins have dull gray heads

and tails, and grayish legs. Young robins

have spots on their undersides.

When temperatures reach above 37°F watch for your first robin. This

usually happens beginning in March to

early April.

Robins migrate south to warmer

weather in the fall. In the winter, they gather

in huge groups along the Gulf of Mexico.

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Nest Female robins build the nests, but the

male sometimes brings her building materials. She weaves a circle of grasses, twigs, scraps of rags and string. Inside the nest, she molds a cup of mud to fit her body. Look for their first nest in April, and the second as late as August.

A robin's first nest will probably be in a pine, cedar, or spruce tree. Look for their second nest in broadleaf trees, like an elm, maple, oak, willow, poplar or apple. They build their nests between 5 and 70 feet from the

ground.

You can help a robin build its nest. Dig up some clay-like wet mud

and put it in a pan near the trees in your yard.

Eggs The robin usually lays 4 eggs. They are green­blue, and each would fit on a quarter. The female sits on them for 12 to 14 days. About 9 to 12 days after hatching, the young birds start to fly.

7

One robin can eat 05 much a5

1 ~ feet of earth------worm5 in one day. •-----------------------•

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8

Bird Just 150 years ago there were no house

sparrows In the United States. Then in 1850,

16 of them were brought to New York City

from England. Today there are over 150

million house sparrows In North America. It is

one of the most common birds in the world.

House sparrows are very messy birds. And sometimes they chase away other birds like woodpeckers and swallows.

With Its chestnut­colored hat and black bib around Its neck, the male house sparrow looks dressed up for dinner. Females don't look so

dressed up. They are colored streaky brown and

dingy white. House sparrows are 5 to 6 Inches long.

Though It Is a songbird, the house

sparrow doesn't have much of a song. It makes a shrill, noisy "cheep" and "chissick."

5crap5.

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Eggs Sparrows lay 5 or 6 whitish eggs with

brown speckles. Each egg is a little bigger than a quarter. The female sits on the eggs for 9 to 18 days. The young birds can fly 11 to 18 days after hatching.

Nest A house sparrow's nest looks like a big

mess. The male and female build it of grass, weeds, twigs, feathers, string, paper and trash. It is round and has a side door. The sparrows stuff the nest into any hole inside or outside of buildings or in birdhouses at least 5 feet off the ground. Or it might be in a tree, as high as 60 feet from the ground. Look for the nest from February through July.

9

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10

Bird The cardinal is the state bird of more

states than any other, and is probably our most popular bird. Male cardinals are easy to spot. They are our only all-red birds with red crests on their heads. They have a black mask across their eyes and under their red-orange beaks. Cardinals are about 8 inches long.

The female cardinal is mostly rosy-yellow, with a few touches of red. Up close, her beak looks as if she is wearing orangeish lipstick.

It is easy to get cardinals to come to feeders because they eat over l 00 different kinds of food. Their favorite is sunflower seeds. They also like cracked corn, millet and even peanut butter!

Cardinals sing beautiful songs. You may hear a "Hip-hooray/" or "birdy-birdy-birdy/"

Cardinals can sing 28 different songs.

Each year cardinals can be

found farther north. Now the

cardinal has even reached Canada.

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F-4 F-F-s

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Learning takes tlight as you explore the world or birds.

Birds, Nests and Eggs is a fun, informative Take-Along Guide that helps you identify 15 birds. You'll also learn how and where they build their homes and all about their young.

From cover to cover. this arna:zing book is fall of fascinating facts

The American robin can pull up and eat as much as 14 feet of earthworms from a lawn in a single day.

A barn swallow makes its nests outof mud. It takes 6 to 8 days, as many as 4,000 trips for supplies and 125 miles of flying.

Hummingbirds lay only two white eggs. And each one is smaller than a dime!

Plus Birds. Nests and Eggs features some awesome activities that are easy to do. like making a "blind" for bird watching and how to give birds a shower-bath. There's also a 7-page scrapbook for drawings. notes or anything else.

PRINTED IN MALAYSIA

~ Jll~~i~~IIIJIJ~IJ~ Ill, U.S.A. $7.95

Canada $9.95 Books for Young Readers

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ISBN 978-1-55971-624-6

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Take this book along when you go exploring. and have f uni