Counting Birds : Young Naturalist

The remarkable true story of the very first Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

Everyday kids learn how they can help protect bird species, near and far, with Counting Birds - the real-life story of bird counting and watching.

What can you do to help endangered animals and make a positive change in our environment? Get counting! Counting Birds is a beautifully illustrated book that introduces kids to the idea of bird counts and bird watches. Along the way, they will learn about Frank Chapman, who used his bird knowledge and magazine Bird-Lore to found the first annual bird count.

Bird counting helps professional researchers collect data, share expertise, and spread valuable information to help all kinds of birds around the world, from condors to hawks to kestrels and more.

Counting Birds introduces kids to a whole feathered world that will fascinate and inspire them to get involved in conservation and become citizen scientists.

About the Author

Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple grew up in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and after 18 years of living elsewhere, she has returned. She has also returned to the family business—writing children’s books—after working as a probation/parole officer and a private investigator. Heidi is Jane Yolen’s daughter and sometimes writing partner.

They’ve co-authored several books together, including their History Mystery series and Not All Princesses Dress in Pink. They also worked together on the nonfiction middle-grade Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderers, Thieves, and Other Female Villains and their most recent picture book, You Nest Here with Me illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Heidi 'starred' in her mother's 1988 Caldecott-winning book, Owl Moon.