Robin Sighting!

The kids and I were out early this morning, taking a look at some bird tracks in the snow, when lo and behold, what should we spot, but a pair American Robins in the neighbor's front yard.

I know, there's only one bird in my picture, and it's too far away to tell what kind it is - but it's a robin, and there were two of them. I didn't dare try to get any closer. Well actually I did dare, but of course they flew away. And, the zoom on my camera is terrible, as you can see from the picture below.

But, you can kind of see some red on the breast.

Chasing the birds through the neighborhood brought to mind another nursery rhyme, which I was fortunate enough to find in our World Book Childcraft volume of rhymes and poems. Did you know this month was National Poetry month? I just found out myself, thanks to Julie at Just Playin' Around.

Little Robin Red Breast

Little Robin Redbreast sat upon a tree;

Up went Pussycat, and down went he.

Down came Pussycat, and away Robin ran;

Said little Robin Redbreast, "Catch me if you can."

Little Robin Redbreast jumped upon a wall;

Pussycat jumped after him, and almost got a fall.

Little Robin chirped and sang, and what did Pussy say?

Pussycat said naught but "Mew," and Robin flew away.

They didn't fly far away, either. Which means we will probably have a nest in the neighborhood, before long. I was tempted to celebrate by making some bird's nest cookies for the children. You know the ones - chocolate covered chow mein noodles, with blue jelly bean eggs. But, we still have a half a Whopper Cake to finish off, so I settled with a quick Internet search for kid friendly robin facts.

I found a nifty page on Annenberg Media's, Journey North, site. It has several printable booklets about robins, including a migratory map, a number of pictures, and even a few audio clips of robin songs, which are far more authentic, and almost as much fun, as chocolate nests with jelly bean eggs.

It's great to be a homeschooler in the spring!