Heeeeere birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie.

My family likes nature. My kids marvel at life from insects to deer to giraffes. One thing that we really like to do is to watch birds. We've set up feeders around our house, and planted enticing plants in the past, but it's a lot of work. It can be an expensive habit too.

As the kids have grown up, I've kind of lost time (and money) to keep up the hobby, but the kids still really enjoy it at their grandparents. With a pair of toy binoculars in hand, my littlest one will stare for minutes (hey, it's a start) out the window at the bird feeders. Watching birds flit from one perch to another. Watching them dive bomb each other and the squirrels as well. It's kind of fun to watch.

Most of the birds we see around home are easily recognizable -- Sparrows, Blue Jays, Robins, Starlings and Chickadees. Every once in a while we'll see one that we can't identify. Yeah, we could go grab the Field Guide to North American Birds, but typing over to the WhatBird site is more fun. Using the Percevia search engine, it allows you to use the birds' characteristics to narrow your search until you find the right bird. Using things like location, shape, color, wind shape, size, and habitat (and others), you're well on your way to identifying a Northern Flicker or some other bird. Once you identify the bird, you can get a lot more information about the particulars as well.