You know the expression about the “early bird”? Well, beginning this month my bipedal friends get more than just worms in Balboa Park. That’s because the Museum of Man, Museum of Photographic Arts, Museum of San Diego History, and the Mingei International Museum are all offering great admission discounts to featherless early birds on weekends (and you don’t even need to be up at the crack of light to take advantage!).

From now through May 31, 2010, the Museum of Man, Museum of San Diego History, and the Mingei International Museum are half-price on Saturdays and Sundays, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The Museum of Photographic Arts is half-price on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 a.m. until noon only through the end of October, and then again from January 2 through May 31, 2010.

So after taking Fido or Fifi for their morning walk, do yourself a favor and get “caught up” on the latest exhibitions at these four diverse museums, including Beloved Daughters: Photographs by Fazal Sheikh at MoPA, a showcase of 100 Years of Art in San Diego at the Museum of San Diego History, The Art of Andean Retablos at the Museum of Man, and of course the Mingei’s exhibitions of fine crafts by June Schwarcz and Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman.

If you need any more incentive than that to be up before lunchtime on weekends, then I’m afraid I can’t help you.