Have you heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray illustrated by Kenard Pak

 

This book reads like a poem or a song with the repeated refrain:

"But have you heard the nesting bird?"

This is not a new book (published 2014) but I do love the art of Kenard Pak so I wanted to share this lyrical and beautifully illustrated book with you. Good news the paperback edition of this book is available and it is a good price. 

At the back of the book there is an interview the the robin. Here are some sample questions:

• Why are you so quiet in your nest?
• Where is the father bird?
• Do you have a song?

In this book you will discover many birds and most will be unfamiliar to Australian children but that is why you should read this book because it contains birds you will meet one day in other books and perhaps one day even in real life. I'd love to see a chickadee or a whip-poor-will.

Here are the birds in this book - dove; woodpecker; starling; sparrow; swallow; crow; cardinal; chickadee; catbird; blue jay; whip-poor-will; wood thrush. Here are the doves.

The robin stays quiet through the incubation of her eggs so other predators will not find her babies. Robins do sing at other times:

cheerily, cheer up! my tree makes syrup! syrup so sweet!

I have made the discovery that we do have robins in Australia but they are not related to the robins in this book.  There are also American robins and European robins.

Listen to an American robin.

Image Source Audubon

As welcome as the robin in springtime. Kirkus Star review

Here is a video of Have you heard the Nesting Bird? If you want another book to explore bird sounds try to find this older book by Pat Hutchins:

Here are other books illustrated by Kenard Pak.

Here is the European robin:

Image Source iNaturalist