Handbook of Nature-Study · Lesson X · Topic 2: Bird study: birds to know
10. The robin
Goal: Your child keeps a spring robin diary: first robin, colors, song, how it hunts worms, and (from a distance) the building of a nest and the growth of the young.
You'll need
- A notebook set aside as a "robin book"
- Binoculars (helpful for nest watching)
- Colored pencils (brick red, gray, black, yellow)
- A lawn, park or schoolyard where robins hunt
What's in the book
The leading thought and a long method (a chart for little ones, a robin note-book for older children), then seven series of questions, a to g, given from March to summer: the first robin, colors, songs and calls, worm hunting, nest building, eggs and nestlings, fledglings, and summer habits.
The lesson, step by step
When and where
This is a whole-spring project. Comstock gives a new series of questions every week or two: series a in March, b and c in early April, d by the middle of April, e and f as eggs hatch, and g over the summer. Robins hunt on lawns and in parks almost everywhere. Use today's session to start the robin book and do series a to c; come back for the rest.
Keep the big idea in mind
Read this to yourself:
To understand all we can about the life and ways of the robin.
Comstock wanted older children to keep their own robin note-book with a colored picture of a robin on the cover.
Series a: first robin
At what date did you see the first robin this year?
Where did the robin spend the winter; did it build a nest or sing when in its winter quarters?
Write the date of your first robin on the first page of the robin book. (In some places robins stay all winter; they move about in flocks eating berries.)
Series b: colors
Watch a robin on the lawn.
How large is the robin compared with the English sparrow?
What is the color of the beak? The eye? Around and above the eye?
What is the color of the tail feathers? Where is the white on them?
Series c: song and hunting
At what time of day does the robin sing? Is it likely to sing before a rain?
Does a robin run or walk or hop?
Describe how a robin acts as it pulls a big earthworm out of the ground.
The best robin singing is very early in the morning.
Series d to f: the nest, from a distance
When robins start building, find a nest you can see from a window or from well back.
At what date did your pair of robins begin to build their nest?
Where is the mud obtained and how carried to the nest?
What is the number and color of the eggs in the nest?
Safety and kindness: never touch or climb to a nest, and stay far enough back that the parents keep feeding. Taking nests or eggs of wild birds is against the law in the United States. If the parents scold you, you are too close.
Series g: summer
Do the robins sing all summer? Why?
How does the robin help us?
Do you think the same robins come back to us each year?
Nature notebook
Color a robin for the cover of the robin book. After each visit, write the date and one or two answers. By summer your child will have the whole story of a robin family.
Afterwards
Give one series of questions every week or two through April, May and June, as Comstock did.
Tip
If a fledgling robin is hopping on the ground in early summer, leave it. Its parents are nearby and still feeding it.