Nature Discovery: Ruby Crowned Kinglet

Katie found a dead (unfortunately) Ruby Crowned Kinglet among the leaves in our yard this weekend--such a thrilling discovery! We have never seen one, and so though we were sad it had died, we were excited to have the opportunity to observe one so closely.

Warning: if you don't like to look at dead birds, click away from here.

 

 

Isn't it beautiful? I placed the tiny bird in a freezer bag and put it in our freezer to preserve it so that we can take it out and observe it more closely when we have time. We'll make a sketch for our nature journals, learn as much as we can about the Ruby Crowned Kinglet, then back into the freezer it will go so that my mom (a true bird lady ~ grin! ~) can see it, too, when she comes for a visit. After that, we'll dispose of it.

Weird, you say? I won't tell you what she's saved in her freezer for us to observe.

I know there are home educators and others among us who wouldn't dare touch a feather, let alone pick it up and bring it into their home. Guess we feather-and-dead-bird-collectors are on the fringe. It's a great place to savor the nature around us.

Comments

[Kate]

We're feather and dead-bird collectors, too! I do resort to "mom mode" when I encourage hand-washing after such endeavors, but we touch everything.

It's a gorgeous bird. We're not too far south of you (in Beltsville), so we'll keep our eyes open for another one (hopefully alive, of course).

[Gaynor]

What a beautiful bird. I must confess I was amazed and admiring that you'd got the book so close for the photo before I read that the bird was dead? Duh!
Do you have a separate compartment in your freezer for dead birds? We have some rabbit bones in a biscuit jar and I worry that one day an unsuspecting visitor will fancy a nibble and get a fright!

[Theresa]

Dead bird collectors here, too! Bones, feathers, teeth, you name it, we've collected it.
That is a really beautiful bird.

[Cheryl]

Having raised one nature-loving boy, I have had a few interesting things in my freezer too! :-) Once, as I was foraging for something to cook for dinner, my hand touched something that startled me...it didn't *feel* like anything that I had put in. On closer inspection, I discovered it to be a squirrel's tail...I had forgotten that Ryan had placed it there.

Ryan's good friend is a wildfowl carver. His mom has had LOTS of interesting finds in her freezer!

But back to the subject of dead birds...we were able to closely examine (and subsequently draw in our nature notebooks) both a ruby-throated hummingbird and a cardinal that were found dead on our property. But nothing so exciting as your ruby-crowned kinglet! Wow!

[Meredith]

We've observed many a perished animal, birds many times :) Gerard Durell and Fabri would be proud! Such a beautiful little specimen!

[sarah in the woods]

It is beautiful. Too bad it was dead. I saw my first one last year.

[maya]

oh, we just a had a beautiful gray-blue bird hit our window, & though we've watched to see how it returns to the soil, we never thought to look it up! in hindsight, i can't believe we never thought of it. but it's been amazing to observe. this is a beautiful little one. i'm curious what your mom's saved in her fridge!