Sound Tracking

Materials:

Nature journal, drawing utensils of choice, and a quiet nature outing near birds

Activity:

Once settled into your favorite area to observe birds take 2 minutes of silence to close your eyes and just listen. Name every sound you heard. Now listen to one particular bird song and write it in your nature journal. For example, you may hear “Chick-a-dee-dee-dee” and you could write the sound you hear like that. Or maybe it’s a pattern like “_-_ _ _” Find your own way to record bird songs and see if you can find who they belong to. This activity can be repeated for other animal calls or nature sounds.

Younger:

It may be hard for young kids to abstract the sounds they hear. Instead, have them imitate them to you and look to find the bird they belong to.

Older:

Have older kids research bird songs of local birds and try to identify birds by their call.

Take it Further:

Do a mini-lesson on bird songs. Why/how they call. What different sounds do local birds make? If there is a sound you hear often around your property investigate to see what it is.

The video below is a fun way to learn new bird songs and test your knowledge.

Once again I reccommend this field guide for learning bird songs.

For more nature journaling card activities click here