Birds And A Great Biology Project

So this year, I decided to take things in hand so my son would not be left behind. I strongly suggested we keep our project simple. ''Let's observe some birds in the holly orchard, photograph a few, and try to identify as many as we can.''

My son thought that was a swell idea, because he loves to work on High School Biology Projects. The idea sounded simple until we tried to do it. It is extremely hard to see birds in a holly orchard, and most 8-year-olds lack the patience to be successful wildlife photographers.

I cheated. I went to the store and bought five pounds of bird seed as bait, put it on the deck and set the camera on a tripod in front of the sliding glass doors.

We got birds; I knew we would. They are the same birds that always hang around our house. We didn't even have to search through all the bird guides we bought to identify them.

''House sparrows,'' said the man at the photo processing lab. ''Passer domesticus. Most common bird in America.'' My son and I were assembling his photos, drawings and observations at the dining room table Sunday when my husband -- who was lying on the couch -- observed that we had spent almost $70 on film, developing, books and rub-on lettering.

''It's got to be the most expensive High School Biology Projects ever made,'' he said. ''It wouldn't have been expensive if you had gone to the library before it closed,'' I said. ''But no, you had to buy an engraved Audubon Society bird guide.''

''It will be a valuable reference work for our home library,'' he said, dropping the subject. As I said, my son's science project was a family affair.