Birds of the Month: February – Magpie, March – Mourning Dove and April – Barn Owl

by heavenstobetty, posted in Homeschool

One of our art goals this homeschool year is to draw a bird every month. We recently moved. Moving is a lot of work. Moving ruins schedules and plans. Moving steals mama’s free time. But I’m not giving up my bird drawing goal, so we crammed our February and March birds in with April! Better late than never, as they say!

How to Draw a Magpie

B age 8
K age 10
S age 13
February – Magpie (marker on card stock)

The only books I can think of that tie in with magpies is the American Girl: Kaya 1764 series. And that’s just because the main character, Kaya, received the unwelcome nickname, Magpie, when she behaved selfishly.

I am also planning on reading “Who Was Claude Monet?” aloud, because of his painting titled “The Magpie”. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyone know of any other books featuring magpies?

How to Draw a Mourning Dove

B age 8
S age 13
K age 10
March – Mourning Dove (pencil on card stock)

We recently got A Cote of Many Colors by Janette Oke but we haven’t read it yet. The book features pigeons which are similar to mourning doves.

We found a mourning dove family in our yard and watched the baby grow up and fledge so we were just feeling excited about mourning doves!

Mama & Baby – Wilma & Plurp

How to Draw a Barn Owl

K age 10
B age 8
S age 13
April – Barn Owl (oil pastel on card stock)

I can think of a few good owl books like Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, and Owl Diaries by Rebecca Elliot.

We found a barn out hanging out in a juniper tree, so we were feeling excited about owls too!

Barney the barn owl

We hope this post inspires you to try drawing some of your favorite birds! There are so many wonderful tutorials on YouTube.

Happy homeschooling!

16 thoughts on “Birds of the Month: February – Magpie, March – Mourning Dove and April – Barn Owl”

  1. They are quite artistic! They certainly seem to have a keen understand of shading and blending.
    I found a company in Missouri, Letsmakeart.com Many times they will have drawings and classes for free. Sarah Cray is my favorite artist. Right now I’m learning more about mixing basic water colors to make other colors. One of the prints was of a bird.
    Your photos are always beautiful.

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  5. How delightful! Our neighborhood has alphabetical streets with bird names starting with Albatross. They go up to Lark before they stop. I didn’t know what a Brant or Curlew was before I moved here.

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  6. Each of the kid’s bird drawings are excellent!
    I bet the move was exhausting and there’s still much to do to settle in. I’m wary of moves because the last time we did 10 years ago, I had body aches for a while. But you are a trooper to make a big transition like that and still go through your goal of drawing a new bird each month! It’s a fantastic way to learn a one bird each month and like how you tie it in with literature.
    Love the consistency.

    Liked by 1 person

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