My love for birds grew from watching my grandmother paint them and my mother hunt through field guides to identify them. Although my grandmother's gone, my mom and I still compare notes over the phone and try to help each other identify unusual birds. Since I regularly participate in the Audubon's Christmas Bird Count, the Great Backyard Bird Count, and Cornell Lab's Project FeederWatch citizen science projects each year, I was excited to see another book published this year on the Christmas Bird Count. This time, a really fun fictional one. Finding a Dove for Gramps Author: Lisa Amstutz Illustrator: Maria Luisa Di Gravio Publisher: Albert Whitman & Co. (2018) Ages: 5-7 Fiction Themes: Chris

If you can't guess - I love nature. I have been fascinated by birds most of my life. This year, my daughter and I had the privilege of watching many birds raise their young in our yard. We especially enjoyed the fledgling Pileated, Hairy, and Downy woodpeckers this year. It was the first time EVER that we had seen a young Pileated or Hairy woodpecker. And I experienced the heart-stopping, harrowing drive an hour north to a Wildlife rehabilitation center, to save a young Downy woodpecker who collided with my window. [She misjudged landing on the feeder.] Fortunately, I had properly wrapped her in a towel and had a box just a bit bigger than the towel bundle. She survived the drive and the cen