Thunder Birds

Last weekend as the girls and I were driving around to do errands we passed two bald eagles sitting in a field eating a deer that had been hit by a car.  They were so close to us that I even turned the car around to get a picture of them.  

Since I can't drive and take pictures simultaneously, Middle Sister did the honors.  She is about as good at photography as I am which means we have nothing to show for our efforts except a flew blurry shots of the landscape and what looks to be a very microscopic bird flying away.  

I will say that taking pictures from a moving vehicle is probably not going to result in any wonderful photographs.

Years ago I would never have noticed the bald eagles and certainly wouldn't have turned around, but my husband's interest in birds has rubbed off a bit.

And in addition to seeing birds in nature, I even occasionally read about them.

Jim Arnosky's book Thunder Birds: Nature's Flying Predators is my most recent read about birds.

From owls to vultures and various birds in between Arnosky gives good information about a variety of animals.  Full page fold outs show the actual sizes of birds, and give information including wing span and height.  Little known bits of information, such as the fact that owl's wings are silent as they fly which allows them to sneak up on their prey, were fun little facts I was interested to learn.

I am adding this to my school's collection of animal books and can see lots of ways teachers could use it, as Arnosky provides a page of text about each animal (not too overwhelming for listeners or readers), along with the beautiful illustrations of each bird.