GBBC

Did you know that every February there is a Great Backyard Bird Count? Neither did I until I visited 'Farmgirl Fare'. She enlightened me. It seems that every February the 'bird counter people' rely on those of us who are willing to count all of the birds in our country. Crazy. It's really easy to participate. All you have to do is look out your window for 15min on any or all of the 4 days during the count, and count how many birds you see. They even have forms you can print to keep track and fun games for the kids, too. When I found out about it I decided that this was something we could do. I have always wanted to make those fun bird feeders out of pine cones, peanut butter and birdseed. So I bought the necessary items, sent the kids on a walk with the dogs to collect the pine cones, and printed off all the fun crosswords and coloring pages. It was going to be a great homeschooling day! Now as most of you know, I have a bit of a problem with follow through. Something usually comes up and we will start but not finish a project. But this time it was going to be different! I got over the fact that there were only 6 pages of printer paper left and decided to print on both sides. I didn't listen to the kids whine and complain that it was too cold out to walk the dogs. I bundled them up and sent them out. And I didn't even give up when almost half of the 10 lb bag of birdseed spilled on the floor! No. Nothing could stop me. This project would go on! We smeared the pine cones with peanut butter, we rolled them in birdseed, and we hung them in various places in the yard. Everyone to your station as we had pencil and bird counting form in hand. Then, we waited. And waited. And waited. After 15 min. our grand total bird count was....drum roll please....0, zilch, nada. Hmpf. Better birding next year, I guess.