Bird Watching Journal

Whether you’ve started your own Family Bird Watching Club or you just enjoy observing your feathered friends while they flit around your yard, you’ll want a way to record the birds you see.

You need a Bird Watching Journal.

You can record your frequent visitors and make note of those times when you see a bird you don’t normally see. Or you can take it along on a trip and record the birds you find that are different than the ones you normally see at home.

There are so many ways to use a Bird Watching Journal.

You can certainly use a plain notebook for your Bird Watching Journal. But, wouldn’t it be fun to have a fun, pretty, and personalized Bird Watching Journal?

Of course it would! Let’s get started.

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Supplies Needed:

2 Coloring Pages of your choice (I used this one)
Sharpies (or coloring tools of your choice)
Composition Notebook
Mod Podge
Paint Brush
Scissors
Small Piece of Cardstock

Pick a coloring page

You know what fun about this project? You get to start by coloring. Fun, right? Pick out 1 or 2 fun adult coloring pages for your notebook and spend a pleasant evening coloring. I found the one I used at this link.

If you really, really don’t want to color 2 different coloring pages. Pick your favorite and color it with bold colors. I used Sharpies on mine. Once you’re done, take it to a color copier and make a copy. (And, I’ll confess, that’s exactly what I did because I wanted the front and back of my composition notebook to be identical.) No matter what you choose, you need two coloring pages.

Make your bird watching journal

Trim your pages a bit and position them on your composition notebook.

Position your coloring page so that it fits flush against the black binding and overlaps on the top and bottom and side.

Brush an even coat of Mod Podge with a paint brush over they entire front of your notebook. Carefully place your coloring page on top and smooth out your wrinkles. Mod Podge gives you a bit of time to tweak your cover so you have it covered correctly.

Let it dry a bit, then turn your notebook over and repeat the process on the back cover.

Once everything has dried (I found it took a couple of hours on my notebook), trim the overlapped edges. I cut right up to the edge of my notebook.

If you find sections of your coloring page that did not stick, reapply some Mod Podge and let it dry.

Use your Mod Podge to glue your small piece of cardstock to the front of your notebook.

Once dry, label it however you wish. I went with the simple, yet effective “Bird Watching Journal.” Simple always works, right?

Now that your Bird Watching Journal is ready, it’s time to start recording.

Use the journal to record date, time, location, and type of bird. Make a bucket list of birds you would like to see. Create a special list of birds that love your backyard.

I’m sure you’ll come up with tons of ways to use your Bird Watching Journal. Just have fun with it!