Today the family went on a rainy day field trip to the Natural History Museum here in LA.  We specifically went to enjoy their Hall of Birds since we’ve been talking about birds, specifically owls, this past week.

There was a lot to see and do in the Hall of Birds.

Listening to various bird calls.

Doo weighing her bones.

Watching a bird’s body change in flight.

Clicking to see which bird ate what food.

Urban birds plus birds in popular culture (Big Bird, Woody Woodpecker, etc.)

California Condors enjoying a little snack.

Ancient avian art.

Hoot!

Yesterday’s lesson coming to “life” – a barn owl gobbling up a rodent.

Snowy Owl.

Great Horned Owl, like in Owl Moon.

Daddy and Doo checking out drawers full of birds, information, etc…

Doo was excited to find a drawer full of bird heads.

A “marsh” that changed between day time and nighttime.

A Great Horned owl in the marsh.

We also explored other parts of the museum – like the cool Dino Lab where we watched a paleontologist at work.

We checked out many animal displays plus saw part of a dinosaur “puppet” show.

Checking out one of Papa’s favorite animals.

Hi Papa!

A lion having a snack.

A hyena having a snack.

Little Paleontologist.

We checked out many critters behind glass.

Python skeleton.

Members loaning area – you can actually borrow animals to take home!

I couldn’t get a good shot of this one – it’s wild life in an urban area.  That’s a house cat in the coyote’s mouth!

At the end of our visit I surprised Doo with a stuffed animal cardinal.  You press its back and it makes an authentic cardinal bird call.  Our bird call book included a cardinal so she was familiar with the bird and its call already.