Ducks, trains, and kids
On Monday, Beth went to New York with her sister, our 8 year-old niece, and our niece's step-sister. The train to New York drives right through NJ's meadowlands and is a great way to do some leisurely birding. Beth was pointing out birds to the kids and the conversation went something like this:
Beth: Look! There are some birds.
Beth's Niece: They're DUCKS!
Beth: Well, ducks are birds.
Beth's Niece: Yeah, but they don't fly!
I guess from a kid's perspective who mostly sees ducks in parks, this is their perception!
3 comments:
Kids are too funny - they have such a creative way of looking at the world.
If you can't convince kids (or others!) that ducks are birds, you can always make the argument that birds and ducks are similar, a comparison that changed bird conservation in North America forever. From a 2001 "Birdscope" article:
About 10 years ago an influential state wildlife director uttered five words that may have changed the course of bird conservation on our continent forever: "Birds are just like ducks!"
That's from a short, worth-reading piece about how birds are just like ducks, and bird conservation overall, written by John Fitzpatrick (keeping the relative dates in mind: article written in 2001, the quote he refers to would be from around 1991).
-Mike
I had a similar sorta "there can't be ducks in trees" discussion a few years ago. Birding from NJ Transit can be quite good in the Meadowlands.
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