Learning About Bird Migration - Resources To Share

As fall brings many birds flying over our house, and as we are studying Nature Science, my 8 and 11 year old students and I have had many questions about migration.

Here are some resources we have really enjoyed using.

First off, our curriculum is Natural Science Through The Seasons : 100 Teaching Units from Hillside Education and we are loving it!  It has wonderful, supplementary reading lists and I am so glad I ran into Margot Davidson at the IHM National Conference where she showed me this book and I immediately fell in love with it. As I imagined then it has brought me and my "littles" outside to explore and enjoy nature.

In Pinterest, I stumbled upon a wonderful blog devoted to Nature Studies that also compliments our studies, Handbook of Nature Study. So many ideas here, I definitely recommend subscribing to this blog and spending a good chunk of time perusing it for all its offerings. 

Both the book and the blog directed us to the popular, Comstock Nature Reference book.  This is a terrific teacher resource for me as it gives me the needed info to direct their learning.

But, back to migration.  Yesterday my 8 year old read aloud to us from a library book that answered so many of our questions....and then some.  

How Do Birds Find Their Way? by Roma Gans and illlustrated by Paul Mirocha was an easy read. It addressed so much of what we wondered about and we found the illustrations very nice. Very satisfying. 

A movie that I rented from Netflix rounds out my recommendations. If you have v-formation geese squawking and flying over your house, rent the movie Fly Away Home. My kids have all enjoyed it.

It's based on true events in the life of "Father Goose," Bill Lisham, who advised on the movie.  <--- see that link for a documentary on him. 

There are others today, like " Microlight pilot Christian Moullec who went to extraordinary lengths in order to film birds in flight from up close. He hand-reared a brood of Barnacle Geese who now see him as their mother and follow him in flight." seen below in this short , amazing clip.

 I hope you can find some time to look up at our migrating birds and marvel at them like we have this beautiful autumn.  Do you have anything to add?  I look forward to your comments.