I remember an experience I had as a boy that awakened in me a life-long fascination for marshes, and for a life lived wild and free. I was out playing alone on a cold, foggy morning when suddenly I heard a startling chorus of “whouks” coming toward me through the air. I peered intently at the thick fog, hoping for at least a glimpse of the geese. Seconds passed; the tempo of their cries increased. They were going to fly directly overhead! I could hear their wings slapping just yards above me. All of a sudden, bursting through a gap in the fog, came a large flock of pearl-white snow geese. It was as if the sky had given birth to them. For five or six wonderful seconds their sleek and graceful forms were visible, then they merged once again into the fog. Their fading calls seemed to say “follow us —follow us.” When I grew older, I did follow and live with them.

 I live in the forest now, where I seldom see geese. But when they do fly overhead, their calls always tempt me to follow them again.

 Children are especially aware of their kinship with animals. (Their pets, stuffed bears, and animal books and pictures testify to this.) Any child will tell you that the most important part of a nature outing is seeing wild animals. The games in this chapter are designed to teach children simple and well-tested methods for attracting animals.

 Bird Calling

Bird watchers (“birders”) have traditionally been thought of as eccentric types who trudge about the woods and climb trees with unruly collections of notebooks, binoculars and cameras. But if you ever get a chance to observe birds closely, you’ll discover that they’re beautiful to see and listen to, and utterly fascinating in their habits. You may find yourself not only understanding the birders’ obsession, but catching it yourself!

In the bird world you’ll find exquisite beauty and almost unimaginable homeliness; perfect grace and total clumsiness; fearsome power and gentle humility; silent soaring in rarified heights, and earthy cackling and squabbling.

There is a bird call that you can easily do with no more equipment than your own mouth. It attracts many of the smaller species: sparrows, warblers, jays, vireos, chickadees, nuthatches, hummingbirds, flycatchers, bushtits, orioles, kinglets, wrens, and others. In the following section on predator calls, you will learn to attract some of the larger birds.

The call consists of a series of rhythmically-repeated “psssh” sounds. Different rhythms work with different birds. Here are a couple of simple rhythms you can start with:

pssh ...... pssh ...... pssh ......

pssh ..... pssh ..... pssh-pssh ..... pssh ..... pssh  

Each of these series should last about three seconds. Experiment to find the rhythms that work best for the birds in your area.

For the best results when you use this call, wait until you hear birds nearby, then kneel or stand motionless by shrubs or trees that will partially hide you and give the birds something to land on. Begin calling the series, pausing after three or four rounds to listen for the incoming birds.

 The birds will respond quickly if they are going to respond at all. Some birds, like rufous-sided towhees, will fly to the nearest lookout post to find out what is going on. Others, like the wrentit, will slowly, warily come closer. When the birds have come near, a single series or a couple of notes may be all you’ll need to keep them

Children enjoy using this call. Many times I’ve been with groups of children who lay silently on the forest floor, completely absorbed in watching the birds that flew in overhead coming in to answer the children’s signals.

 Using an audio recording of a screech owl will give you even better results. (Screech owls are small owls who sometimes eat small birds.) Many times while using this owl recording I’ve had 50 to 75 birds flock in and begin singing all around me. I like to alternate the calls—first playing the owl recording, then saying a few pssshes, then again playing the screech owl, etc. Because the screech owl call is so effective, it’s important that you avoid using it during the breeding season.

In A Sharing Nature Walk, theaudiocompanioncassette to this book, there’s a recording of a screech owl that’s to be used with the Bird Calling activity.