Read Online Sadie's Story by Christine Heppermann - Free Book Online Page A

lost this feather, and I’ll tell you what I did while you were gone.”
    As soon as their feet hit the sidewalk, Jess pointed toward a bush in the yard next door. “Okay, nature expert,” she said, as Jess-like as ever. “What are those?” A flock of tiny birds with gray crested heads and white chests were arranged on different branches like football fans on bleachers.
    â€œI don’t know.” Sadie reached into her back pocket for the well-worn guide Ms. M had left her. “But I’ll find out.”

Ms. M’s Birding Tips
    G o outside! Whether you are in New Zealand or New Jersey, a park or a parking lot, chances are, birds are there.
    Although birders are sometimes called “twitchers,” try to stay still and quiet. Pretend you’re a tree. A blue jay might land on you. Or pretend you’re a statue. A pigeon might . . . well, maybe not a statue.
    There’s more to birding than watching. Don’t forget to listen. You might hear a chickadee introducing himself— chicka dee dee dee —or a pileated woodpecker drumming on a pine.
    Everyone enjoys a snack. Set up a feeder inyour backyard or on your apartment balcony and watch customers flock to the Happy Beak Café.
    Speaking of snacks, cats do more than watch. It’s best to keep kitty indoors.
    Field guides are handy, and not just in fields. Who was that dapper orange fellow with the black wings singing outside the window during math class? A good field guide will tell you—after you finish your quiz, dear.
    Find a comfortable backpack or satchel to carry gear such as binoculars, notebooks, pencils, and—if you’ll be out walking for a while—water and a sack lunch. Unless you prefer writing your field notes in invisible ink, leave the wolfsbane home.
    If you’re feeling artistic, try drawingwhat you see. Sometimes I’m in a hurry and settle for little hints: that sparrow had a ring around its eye; that one had a notch in its tail. Anybody can draw an eye or a tail!
    Birding alone is nice. Birding with a friend can be splendid.
    A life list is just that—birds I’ve seen for as long as I’ve been birding. My life list is like a diary or a journal. I can look back and remember where I was when I saw my first bird, a house finch. I remember his red head and cheerful song. And when he flew, he bounced like a small plane in rough air.
    Are you starting a life list? Good for you! What lucky bird will be first?

Have You Seen This Bird?
    Female yellow warbler ( Setophaga petechia ). Answers to the name Ethel.
    Alert, round black eyes.
    Beak like a sharpened pencil.
    Dandelion-yellow face and body, darker wings and tail. Male warblers have rust-colored streaks on their chests, but Ethel’schest should be unstreaked, unless she’s been eating barbecued spiders!
    Last seen in Milwaukee, but could be anywhere in North America or, in colder months, as far south as Mexico or even Peru.
    Likely nesting near marshland in willows, alders, lilacs, or raspberry bushes.
    May or may not have a mate (the gentleman with the streaks).

    Should be wearing her spectacles, but probably not.

    If found, please contact:
    Sadie or Ms. M
    c/o The playhouse
    Sadie’s backyard
    U.S.A.

Magic Books
    Brandt, Deanna. Bird Log Kids: A Kid’s Journal to Record Their Birding Experiences . Cambridge, MA: Adventure Publications, 1998.
    Cate, Annette LeBlanc. Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2013.
    Stokes, Donald, and Lillian Stokes. Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds: Eastern Region , and (separate volume), Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds: Western Region . Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.
    Thompson, Bill, III. The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America . Peterson Field Guides. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.
Magic Link
    Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, www.allaboutbirds.org

Sadie’s Birds
    black-capped