Could your kid become a birder? It’s not that big of a leap, says Hanae Bettencourt of Birds Connect Seattle.
“Birds are a very accessible form of nature observation, because you don’t even have to leave your house; you can just look out your window and see a bird and wonder about it and, boom, you’ve suddenly dipped your toe into being a birder!”
Bettencourt has been working for Birds Connect Seattle (formerly Seattle Audubon Society) for 17 years, most of that time in youth programming. She’s learned a lot about children’s curiosity about our avian neighbors.
“It’s totally natural for a bird to come into your orbit, and kids are really observant,” Bettencourt says. “They see something and they’re going to ask a question. Once a kid starts realizing that the world of birds is vast, the hook is there naturally.”
She also describes what she calls the “Pokémon collection” nature of birding.
“When they see one bird and then another bird that doesn’t look like that first bird, then you get a book in their hands and they start looking at all the variety of birds that can be found in a Seattle backyard,” Bettencourt says. “Curiosity gets the better of them.”
Programs connect kids to a big word: ornithology
Birds Connect Seattle youth programs include popular summer nature camps for first- to eighth-graders, with naturalist assistant positions available for high schoolers. The organization also makes school visits, rents out Education Kits, and hosts field trips at their headquarters in the Downtown Denny Triangle. A recent 4Culture grant lets school groups visit at no cost.
Birds Connect’s ADA-accessible headquarters includes a retail shop where you can get all your “birdy gifts and goodies,” as well as a museum space with over 650 specimens. Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, the museum invites kids to see and touch, with staff onsite to answer questions. The current exhibit, The Wonderful World of Owls, runs through the end of the year.
Birds Connect also offers a Young Birders program for kids ages 13-18 that includes online meetings with ornithologists, bird-watching trips, and opportunities to work on conservation projects. Emma Perez, a high school freshman, joined the flock through this program.
(Photo courtesy of Birds Connect Seattle staff)
Give’m a camera!
Her interest in birding began at age 8 as a COVID pastime. After falling in love with nature photography on a trip to Yellowstone, she realized the only wildlife she could photograph in her own backyard was birds.
“Once you start looking for them, you can’t stop,” Emma says.
“Emma didn’t want to go on long hikes, but once I put a camera in her hand, she would hike three times as far,” her mom, Katie, says. “She could just sit and watch a bird for hours. A totally different kid was unlocked!”
Emma’s been attending Young Birders, and on the recommendation of one of the group’s walk guides, she applied for and received a scholarship to the 2026 Western Field Ornithologists Conference. She hopes to present her own research at the next conference.
The Perez household is fully immersed in the birding life. They have nine feeders in their yard, which is now an officially certified wildlife habitat, and neighbors have thanked them for all the new birds they’ve brought into the area.
Emma’s favorites are the migrants. “They’re not necessarily the prettiest birds, but you can see they’ve been through some stuff,” she says. “They’re sitting on your feeder for five minutes just relaxing in the rain, and you can tell that this is an amazing feast for them.”
No promise that he chicks will bite
Of course, there’s no promise any one child will fall in love with birding — even if a parent is supportive and enthusiastic.
“I’ve worked at Birds Connect for as long as my kids have been alive and they’ve never been bird-obsessed,” says Bettencourt. But then …
“We were in Arizona last year, and there was a roadrunner in the front yard, and of course they both came dashing through the house, like, ‘Tell Mom!’ ‘Mom needs to see this!’ So they’ve definitely developed an appreciation for it.”
