Celebrating Hummingbirds

The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird in Watercolors by Audrey

There is something magical and amazing about these tiny birds.   Their colors are vivid.  Their feathers are iridescent.  They look like little jewels glistening in the sun. We have studied hummingbirds up close with friends during our weekly nature study, and we have watched them just outside our schoolroom window.  If fact, hummingbirds have quickly become one of our favorite backyard visitors.  We set out a hummingbird feeder and planted a few plants and flowers that attract hummingbirds, and now we get to see them flying around and sipping nectar every day as we do our lessons.  We marvel at their fast moving wings and their ability to hover in mid-air.  We spent some time learning about and celebrating hummingbirds.  Here is what we did... 

We drew the ruby-throated hummingbird in our nature journals after observing them closely.

This is Audrey's ruby-throated hummingbird.

We studied the the red salvia, one of the hummingbirds' favorite flowers from our garden. We have watched the hummingbirds stick their long tapered bills into these flowers many times. So we took a closer look and noticed the flowers's trumpet-shape and discussed how the hummingbirds might get the nectar from deep inside these flowers.

During our close inspection of the red salvia flower, we discovered a tiny worm-like creature. Sophie was able to get it on her colored pencil.

Sophie drew a ruby-throated hummingbird and the red salvia flowers. I love the detail in her drawing, especially the red nectar on the hummingbird's bill!

This is Ethan's ruby-throated hummingbird.

Each week, we gather together with our friends for a nature study. On this occasion, we saw many, many hummingbirds and drew a hummingbird in our nature journals.

We learned about iridescence. We painted our own hummingbirds and added sparkling, glistening glitter to represent the iridescent feathers of hummingbirds.

This is an up-close look at our favorite hummingbird book, Hummingbirds: A Life-Size Guide to Every Species. This book is filled with interesting and important information on hummingbirds. It also has beautiful life-size photographs of over 100 of the 130 different kinds of hummingbirds in the world. It includes a map of where each hummingbird lives.