Flock Yeah: Birding as a Family

If playing I-Spy one more time while camping will make you pull your hair out, it’s time to take it to the next level and take on birding.

Hear me out: it’s basically free and teaches your kids the importance of slowing down, listening and looking very carefully. Bonus, it gives kids an activity to focus on while on a hiking trail to help keep them entertained resulting in less complaining. At least for a few minutes.

Every new activity isn’t an immediate success, so here are the tips we’ve found make birding with the family a successful activity:

• Keep it short and sweet
  • Create a little time structure so kids don’t get too bored of the activity. Check in at the 20 minute mark and gage if your kids are still into it. Pro tip: you can come back to it again and again. If it’s a multi hour hike, try bird watching for 10 min of every hour you’re out on the trail.
• Bring on the snacks.
  • I think this is just a tip for life. Bring snacks. My kids think it’s hilarious to eat sunflower seeds while bird watching…eating what birds eat!
• Celebrate every sighting.
  • Cardinal number 540? It’s JUST as exciting as cardinal number 1. Every sighting is a fun, exciting achievement.
• Download the Merlin Bird ID app.
  • Don’t get TOO hung up on which birds you see, but it is fun to try to identify them. And it’s hard. Honestly, really hard. This app makes it way easier with a step by step guide to help you narrow down the options to an audio input to identify what the app hears around you.

Ready for gear? Birding is a great free activity so give it a go before investing in these fun extras to make it a regular hobby.

Add a bird feeder to your campsite.

For a multi night stay see how many little guys you can attract to your temporary home. I suggest the squirrel proof kind like this one to try to keep other critters out. It definitely adds a bit of life while you’re hanging out under the awning. A multi part pole gives you an easy place to hang the feeder that doesn’t take up too much space when disassembled.

Everyone gets binoculars

You get a pair, you get a pair, you get a pair…if you’re going to do binoculars, I suggest getting everyone their own pair. There is nothing worse than kids bickering over the binoculars while the bird you’ve been tracking disappears. Bickering over “I can’t find it!” or “I can’t see!”, you’re kind of on your own there. I do recommend simple, easy to cary with a neck strap for the kids but do go ahead and do REAL binoculars, not the plastic toy ones.

Bird Journal to keep them invested over time

Get each kid a journal to track their bird watching journey. This one lets them draw pictures, learn to notate important details and get creative to think what THEY would have named each bird they find if they’d been the ones to discover them.

Now you’ve got everything you need. Let’s be birds of a feather and go birding with your family.

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