Getting children outdoors — Liam’s story 

Liam Hutcheson portrait

I often get questions from readers about Liam Hutcheson and comments about how much they love his photos. Liam started providing The JOLT News with bird photos when he was 14; he’s now 17.  

While I was doing research for my column on how to get children interested in bird watching, I reached out for advice to Liam’s mother, Elizabeth McManus.

In response, she wrote an account of Liam’s youth and encouraged me to make whatever use of it I might. So, as a follow-up to last week’s column, I invited Elizabeth to be our guest writer for the week.

Liam's photos this week are from a recent visit to the island of Kauai. 

— George Walter  

 Hello JOLT readers: George Walter, who wrote a column about how to get kids interested in birds, asked me about my experience raising my son Liam. He wanted to know how Liam became so interested in the outdoors, nature, and how he became an expert birder and photographer.  

Liam is a young adult these days and very much his own person; the days of me being “in charge” of how we spend our time are long past. However, I can share a few memories about what I did when Liam was small.  

I want to preface all this by acknowledging that we had great privilege to do these things.  Although I worked full time outside of the house, I also had lots of help with caring for Liam both from two sets of involved grandparents and, when Liam was school aged, from an amazing nanny. These resources made a lot of things possible for us that are not possible for all families.  

I also work in a field that is nature adjacent. I had friends and colleagues who generously helped to meet Liam’s interests. This includes George, our friend Bill, and the Nisqually weekly bird walk gang. Now that Liam is older, he has a whole cheering section of online and real-life birder friends of all ages. These people have supported him with community and mentorship that I could never have provided and I’m very grateful.  

I think George gave the best advice in last week’s column: Just go outside, notice stuff, be curious, and then reflect on what you noticed with your child later.  

Reflection is the key. Make noticing and appreciating things in the natural world part of your family story -- part of who you are. This can look very different depending on what sparks you and your child’s interest. Try to find some things that you enjoy too, because you’ll be doing it with them when they are small, and your attitude will be contagious. 

We went outside every day. When Liam was the smallest little person, his dad would load him up in a stroller or kid-carrier and take the dog and Liam up to the park almost every evening. Almost every morning, I took my coffee and Liam outside onto the front porch.  

Often that would turn into pulling a few weeds, or picking a few flowers, or noticing something about the weather or the plants or the birds. We didn’t do this with any particular agenda, we just preferred being outside ourselves. (Liam’s father, Will Hutcheson, died when Liam was 3 1/2 years old. 

We also brought nature indoors. We had a nature table, where various collections of rocks and shells and sticks would revolve. Generally, I would pick up something to get it started and Liam would take it from there.  

We also had storybooks about nature. Birdsongs by Betty Franko and Steve Jenkins was a favorite. Chick-a-dee-dee is easy to listen for once you know it, and it unlocks a whole world of what animals might be saying or doing. We had a seed feeder and a hummingbird feeder, and Liam helped keep them full.  

When Liam was old enough to watch some television, we offered old-time nature documentaries and cartoons about nature. Of course, we also had story books about trucks and other stuff, and there were blocks and Legos and race cars and a play kitchen and all that, but we kept the thread of nature appreciation strong.  

As Liam grew older, I paid attention to his interests. Sometimes they were also my interests — picking chanterelles is fun. Other times, they were not so much my interests but close enough. For example, we collected tadpoles and raised them in the kitchen (three years in a row) and returned them to their habitat when they became froglets. 

This can look different for different families. Maybe you grow a little garden or a pot of flowers. Maybe you go outside and look at the moon. Maybe you get a rain gauge and an outdoor thermometer and keep track of the weather. Maybe you pick blackberries and make pancakes or pick up windfall branches and make holiday swags for neighbors. We did all those things. You might have to try a lot before you notice something that fits. 

This is difficult but decide early on how much time you’re going to give to television and the internet and, when kids are older, smartphones and social media. It will get on top of you if you let it.  

We were careful with this when Liam was small, although we also did use a lot of online resources to support Liam’s outdoor interests — whether that was finding where salmon are, or locating different hikes, or using ebird.org to know where to look for certain birds.  

Liam was captivated pretty early on by the collecting aspect of birding — that is, keeping track of how many species of birds he could see, which meant keeping a “life list” of them. At one point, we’d never seen a bluebird. We really wanted to find one.  

We did some research on eBird and asked around to figure out what to do. We were delighted to see our (lifer!) bluebird at West Rocky Prairie in the spring when Liam was in third. A friend knew where they would be and took us. We kept a yard list of birds, and then a county list, and now Liam keeps so many different categories of lists I haven’t kept track of them all in a long time. 

Little kids like to teach the adults in their life. Who doesn’t like to be an expert in something? Help them learn a few facts that are interesting that they can share with others. Liam quickly became (and still is) a better tree identifier than I am.  

Let them take the lead with you following and celebrating their effort. I’ll not forget the Christmas Bird Count, with George, where Liam was calling for barred owls at every stop in the middle of the afternoon. Low and behold — at one stop a barred owl finally answered. We were astonished and delighted.  

George and I have collaborated to develop a quick list of resources for help in getting kids outdoors. He can forward the list to you if you contact him at his email address below. And, if you add your suggestions, we will add them to the list and keep making it available. 

I can say for certain, when I brought in the first rock for the nature table, or rigged up a hook for the hummingbird feeder so it would hang at the window at eye level for Liam, or put the first dandelion flower in water, I never imagined that 10 years later I’d be taking spring break in Yakima to look for canyon birds, or 14 years later we’d go to the Arctic Circle to see three species of eider.  

I couldn’t imagine that 17 years later he’d be texting me from Hawaii where he is helping out as a seabird observer and photographer on a small-boat-based whale research project. It’s been a wild ride, and it all started by going outside.   

George Walter is environmental program manager at the Nisqually Indian Tribe’s natural resources department; he also has a 45+ year interest in bird watching. He may be reached at george@theJOLTnews.com 

Photos for this column are provided by Liam Hutcheson, a 17-year-old Olympia area birder and avid photographer.