mel and rose

In a neighboring town, (Melrose), there is a lovely swan family we discovered one day.  We saw them early on when it was just Mom & Dad (named Mel & Rose by local residents) sitting on the nest, and on this day we saw 6-maybe 7 newly hatched cygnets!  So fuzzy and cute!

Today we went back to visit (about 3 weeks later from the visit depicted above), and found only the nest, with one lonely unhatched egg.  No family in sight.  So glad we got to see them when we did!

We are rather bird crazy lately--watching the Decorah eagles on line, and our latest homeschool project is creating Life Lists.  A Life List (for the serious birders), is a list of all the birds you see in your life--at least that's my understanding.  I spent weeks trying to figure out how to do a life list with a Seven & Five (yes--no more four, but more on that later!), and finally came up with a plan that seems to be working.  I found this North American birds coloring book on our bookshelf (no one in the family seems to know where it cam from so I'm thinking a little bird fairy left it), and each time we see a bird, I photocopy a page for the kids to color.  We record the date and place we saw it and put it into a 3-ring binder.  Ahh success!  It's working out great, but I am racing to keep up!  I am doing a more grown up life list for myself where I sketch and record in a journal.  It's been amazing to document all the bird sightings that I am sure would otherwise have gone unnoticed.  We saw an oriole this weekend and actually captured a couple good pics:

I have hijacked my husband's Canon Rebel SLR and am trying to learn how to use it in lieu of my point and shoot.  That's my new homeschool project!

Many thanks to our friends in NH, peregrine falcon fans, who I think inspired this bird frenzy!  Happy birding!!!