Backyard Bird Scavenger Hunt

Let’s head outside to look for birds in the neighborhood. Print our backyard bird scavenger hunt to mark off what birds you find. The printable has 16 photos of common backyard birds. I get commissions for purchases made through the affiliate links in this post.

I created this backyard bird scavenger hunt for an after school nature class I’m teaching at my kids’ elementary school. I made a list of 15 birds that we frequently see in our neighborhood – most of them I have seen multiple times from the school grounds.

Exploring Bird Feathers

Before we started the scavenger hunt, I had the students look at duck feathers I picked up at the craft store. (It is illegal to possess any part – including feathers – of most bird species, so don’t go collecting feathers you find on the ground. You need a special permit for most birds.)

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I encouraged the students to touch the feathers and move them around. Flap them in the air, pull them apart, and put them back together. They could also use a magnifying glass to look at the feathers.

Next, I had them drop water on the feathers. They noticed how the water droplets stayed on top of the feathers at first. As they added more water the feathers soaked up the water and some even changed color.

This was a great hands-on way to introduce birds. We talked about how feathers help the birds.

Read Feathers for Lunch

Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert is the perfect book to read before heading out on a bird scavenger hunt. The story includes several backyard birds.

A silly cat has escaped the house is on the hunt for a bird. The cat can’t fly so the birds keep getting away. The birds are safe and the cat only catches feathers for lunch.

Go on a Backyard Bird Scavenger Hunt

Download the Backyard Bird Scavenger Hunt pdf here for your personal or classroom use. All of the photos were obtained from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Digital National Library or Pixabay.

I printed out enough color copies for my students to work in pairs. I placed the scavenger hunt pages in a plastic page protector so I can reuse them in the future.

Students used markers to check off when they found a bird. They also put tally marks next to the pictures to count how many of each bird they found.

We ended up finding most of the birds on the list. We were able to hear chickadees but not actually see them. They were hiding in the shadows of the tree tops.

You can mark off a bird on the scavenger hunt list if you see it or if you hear it. I like to have field guides on hand to identify birds we see but don’t recognize.

Record Bird Observations in Nature Journals

When we returned from our scavenger hunt, students wrote or drew pictures in their nature journals about some of the birds they observed.

I had a few field guides and other books about birds on hand for reference.

Here are some examples of books about birds. You’ll find a combination of non-fiction reference books and story books.

Do you have any favorite bird books to add to our list?

More Backyard Bird Science Explorations

Try out All About Birds Scavenger Hunt to look for nests, nesting materials, food for birds, bird songs, and more.
Learn how to build a bird house for birds in your area.

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