Scrub jay at our feeder.

I got the idea for this experiment while watching the sand hill cranes feeding in the fields around Hastings, Nebraska. To most people, bird watching means trying to identify different kinds of birds. Really, that is bird spotting. Bird watching means finding a bird and watching it, to see what it is doing.

The following test is a way to evaluate your executive functioning. What is the world is that? Well, it means how good you are at telling your brain what to do, even if it wants to do something else.

A fun part of studying birds is learning about their behavior. If you understand what they do and why, you can use that knowledge to get a better look at them.

Now that we live in Johnson Canyon, Utah, we have all sorts of wildlife wandering through our yard, but we saw plenty of wildlife even when we lived in the city. All it takes is a walk to the neighborhood park.