Flying Through Summer with Creatures of the 5th Day

For the first time in my life I am doing summer school. Yes, you heard me right. I am the self-proclaimed homeschool teacher who said, summer school was for the birds. Yes, it is for the birds, that is why we will be doing summer school, the birds.

We have spent the year in Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Zoology 1, Flying Creatures of the 5th Day. It has been a good study and I wish I could say that we are finished. However we are not. We will continue science through the summer. With the hopes of completing it so we can begin Zoology 2, Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day.

God created some really marvelous creatures. We were talking just this week about all the different kinds of wings He created. Think about it. Birds have wings with feathers, and then different species slight variation which allow for different kinds of flight, the hummingbird can cover, the robin and sparrow flap, while the hawk and eagle soar. Then you have the bat’s which have wings but they are made out of skin rather than feathers, they glide in the air. Then just think about all the different insects that fly. From the gossamer wings of the dragon and damsel flies to the delicate wings of the butterfly and don’t forget about the hard shell of the beetle and lady bug. That is a lot of aerodynamic creation, all created on the 5th day of creation, all the while He was creating the swimming creatures too. He is AMAZING!

Little Man experimenting with aerodynamics.


Our favorite thing:
Literally was watching the birds. We set up a feeder right outside our classroom door and we watched with fascination as the wrens, finches, cardinals, sparrows, and even the crows came and ate their fill there. It was so fun watching the hierarchy system at the feeder. You could always see who was the dominate bird, even if the logistics of which didn’t make sense. Hint: It wasn’t always the bigger bird.

We participated in:
Cornell University Ornithology Department’s Project Feeder Watch.
This required watching our feeder and counting the different species that visited during a set time. It required watching 2 back to back days a week for the entire winter. It required some patience, quietness and dedication. This was all big lessons for Little Man.

On the birds part: while the university is still compiling data, it seems that the Winter Finches and Pine Siskins gave impressive winter showings this year.


Some of Jonathan’s Bird Art:



We were surprised one night driving home to see a Great Blue Herring standing beautifully in our headlights.

Studying about the water resistance of feathers.



Little Man studied about nesting and hatching…

We found a nest in the yard and saved it.
We found an egg fallen from a nest, using the nest that we had previously found, we attempted to hatch it. But, it did not hatch.


Little Man built a bird feeder.

We dissected an egg.
He learned about Pterodactyls.


The summer will be spent studying further into the lives of insects. He spent yesterday on a nature hike searching for insect eggs. I’m sure we will soon enough be doing some insect dissection. Can I just say “blech!” 🙂

Here was our Insect Egg Discovery attached to the side of our apple tree. As you can see, some have started to hatch.

I’m planning a trip to the zoo, to sit in the aviaries and watch many species of birds. I wonder if he’ll cooperate?

Flying Creatures provides a wonderful look into God’s marvelous aerial designs. This is our second in the series. We previously have completed, Human Anatomy. Next school year we are moving on to Swimming Creatures. In the meantime, we finish up Flying Creatures this summer, and because Little Man wanted to know more I purchased Astronomy of the 4th Day, used, from a friend and he is reading it for “fun” on his own during the summer. You gotta love when your child asks to do “Fascinating Facts” in a text book that isn’t even assigned!