Birds and Birding
Family Read 2026This year’s Family Read features three books instead of one, allowing families to engage at their own reading levels while exploring a shared theme: birds and our connection to the natural world. Birds are amazing creatures that play vital ecological roles; they’re seed dispersers, flower pollinators, pest predators, and so much more. But many of them need our help; habitat loss, urban expansion, and window collisions have put significant strains on wild populations.
The 2026 Family Read titles invite readers to learn, observe, and take action!
SPRING CHALLENGE
The Family Read is paired with our Spring Challenge. Starting March 1, pick up a BINGO card at any YDL Youth Desk to earn prizes by reading, learning, and exploring together. Young readers who complete any combination of five activities on the BINGO card throughout the month earn a free book of their choice, thanks to Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor and Believe in Reading; adults get a birds of the Midwest identification card. For each extra BINGO kids complete, they get to pick a prize from a Youth Department treasure chest.
Activities on the BINGO card include reading books about birds, learning at library programs about birds, and exploring your neighborhood and websites with bird facts, which you’ll find linked below!
Scroll down to find activities you can do at home to learn more about birds and nature and complete your BINGO card.
LEARN ABOUT BIRDS
BIRD FACTS
Click the links below to find online databases of birds, with photos and bird calls, from Cornell’s Bird Lab and the American Bird Conservancy. Or download the pdf from Flight Path for a quick guide to common birds in various regions of the United States.
KEEPING BIRDS SAFE
MORE INFO
ACTIVITIES TO DO AT HOME
GO BIRDING
MAKE A NATURE JOURNAL
OTHER HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES
Make a bird feeder for your backyard, from a pinecone or cardboard tubes, as seen in the video.
