Check Out That Bird: Backyard Edition

Save The Bay

Theme

Ecology: Biodiversity & Foodwebs

Age

3rd - 8th

Duration

20 - 30 minutes

Materials

A good sit spot

Binoculars (if you have them)

Check Out The Bird WkSheet

Background Birding Guide WkSheet

Standards

NGSS

3-LS4-2 4-LSI-2

Key Questions: 1. What birds can be found in your backyard or from your window?

2. Which birds live here full time and which birds are migrating?

3. What adaptations do birds have that help them survive?

Objective To observe birds and discover the adaptations they have in order to survive in different ecosystems.

Preparation Find a good birding spot and gather all materials there.

Delivery

1. Give each student a “Check out that Bird” worksheet, binoculars (if you have them), and the background bird guide.

2. Instruct students to take 10-15 minutes to observe as many birds as possi-ble from their birding spot. Students can then choose a bird that is sticking around, or most commonly found, to complete the worksheet.

3. Have your student share what they observed, the species they drew, and the adaptations the bird has in order to utilize resources in its habitat. Ask questions to encourage critical thinking, allow them to inquire about any questions they encountered during their observations.

Encourage the use of phrases such as “I notice… I wonder… It re-minds me of…”

Debrief Discuss what adaptations different birds have to help them survive.

Extension: Discuss with your student whether or not they think the area they’re observing is biodiverse. More info on Background birding sheet.

6/12/18

CHECK OUT THAT BIRD! 

1. Pick a bird to observe. Then, go through these steps to figure out how your bird has adapted to live in this habitat. 

2. Draw your bird in its habitat here: 

 

 

 

  

3. What body shape does your bird have?    

  

4. What kind of beak does it have?    

5. What do its’ feet and legs look like?     

6. Looking at all these different body parts, what do you think this bird eats?        

7. Use the bird guide to identify your bird.            

Small body for perching in trees

Large body and wings to soar overhead

Long neck for spearing 

Legs set back for swimming 

For catching For hookingFor spearing For tearing For straining water 

For nettingFor probing in mud 

For scooping in shallow water 

For swimming  For perching on branches 

Claws for grasping prey 

For climbing trees 

For walking on mud 

Long legs for standing in deep water 

Small birds and rodents

Aquatic plants 

Crabs 

Fish

Insects Seeds and grains 

Surface invertebrates  Under‐mud invertebrates

 

Check Out That Bird Background Information:

• Students observe birds and learn how morphology allows species to harness the resources available in the environment.

• Bill length and shape varies from species to species allowing birds to pursue different prey in the same area at the same time without competing with each other. Because of varying bill lengths, each bird species food source is in a different place or they eat entirely different things.

• The Pacific Flyway: Each year at least 1 billion birds migrate along the Pacific Flyway, which stretches from the North Slope of Alaska to Central and South America. Some species are in serious trouble, and even many common birds, such as the Western Sandpiper, have become far less common. Habitat loss, water shortages due to diversion for agriculture and development, diminishing food sources, and climate change all threaten the birds of the Pacific Flyway.

What type of birds might you see? (The information in columns one and two is from http://www.waterbirdconservation.org/waterbirds/. Unless otherwise noted, information in column 3 is from The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior.) Need help identifying? https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/

Expanding the lesson:

Biodiversity is defined as the total amount of different species within a given area.

With your students, ask whether or not they think the area you’ll be birding in is biodiverse (life+difference). Now students can explore the area and count how many different species of birds they find. Even if they cannot identify the bird, they can give it their own name to mark it separately from others. Once the birding activity is done, ask the question again.

Debrief: Is biodiversity important? Why or why not? How can biodiversity be destroyed? How can it be protected or restored? You can have students read the excerpt from the encyclopedia and answer the questions together.

The Great Potato Famine: https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Famine-Irish-history

• Biodiversity protects ecosystems from disruptions. In the case of the Great Famine, Irish farmers were only growing two specific species of potatoes – because that’s what people liked. However, when a plant disease accidentally came from North America neither of those potatoes was good at combating the disease and the result was a huge loss of crops and eventually loss of life. What may have happened if the Irish potato farmers grew 10 different species of potato?

Picture Group and Behavior Identification

Song birds: Sparrows, finches, juncos, warblers. Perching birds with well-developed vocal organs. Behavior: Mainly ground dwelling, often secretive, brownish and streaked, with conical bills. Feed on seeds in winter and insects in summer. Some jump and push leaves simultaneously (hop-scratch) to find food. Some form large mixed groups, others have specific habitats and don’t mix.

White Crowned/Gold crowned Sparrow: Brown shoulders and wings, dark black striped heads with white or yellow stripes. House Finch: Light tan to dark brown/black shoulders and wings, males have bright red chest/neck/heads American Gold Finch/Lesser Gold Finch: Females gray/yellow with black/yellow wings. Males bright yellow chest/neck. Lesser Finch males back of the neck is black. American golds yellow all the way around.

Corvids: Crows, Jays, Ravens. Behavior: All species are gregarious, usually seen in small groups. Omnivorous but mainly eat seeds and nuts. Flight is strong and bouncy. Noisy and bold and are known to mob predators. Extremely smart, known to use tools and solves multistep problems. Have great facial recognition and are vocal learning birds.

American Crow: Direct flight with bouncy wing beat. Distinctive rattle call kind of a clicking noise. Stellar and Scrub Jays: Bright blue plumage and long tails. Stellar jays have all black heads and a Mohawk. Scrub jays have blue helmets with white lines above the eyes and a white neck. Common Raven: Larger than crows with longer and narrower wings. Long wedge-shaped tail and long bill usually making deep croaking calls. Soars/glides longer than crows.

Humming birds: Anna’s, Costa’s, Behavior: All species congregate at feeders or patches of flowers. All feed on nectar from flowers, but also eat tiny insects. Small size and long bills. Hovering flight.

Anna’s Hummingbird: Relatively short bill for a humming bird. Males red throat and crown females red patch at the throat. Costa’s Hummingbird: One of the smallest birds: tiny and short tailed. Females have pale underparts, adult males have bright purple crowns an neck

Doves and Pigeons: Band Tailed Pigeon, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove Behavior: All have short blunt bill, relatively small head, short legs. Walk with delicate steps and bobbing head. Forage on fruit and seeds from the ground or in tree tops. All give low cooing calls. Flight is strong and direct. Doves may form small groups, pigeons form large flocks and travel far.

Band Tailed/Rock Pigeon: Rock pigeons have extremely variable plumage. Can be spotted, brown, dark and iridescent, light and iridescent, and all white. Band tailed pigeons are larger and longer with a longer tail and rounded wings. Pale gray-lavender all over. Yellow bill and legs. Mourning Dove: Most slender dove with long pointed tail and relatively narrow pointed wings. Subtly colored in brown/gray. Warm brown and black spots on wings.

Raptors: Hawks, Eagles, Kites, Falcons Behavior: As predators, raptors are always relatively scarce, and are often seen at a distance in flight. Identification often depends on subtle differences in wing shape body proportions. Soaring and circling on updrafts is common flying pattern.

Red-tailed Hawk: This is the most common in most areas. Stocky and broad, rounded wings and short tail. Adults distinctive reddish tail. Light morphs and dark morphs – same reddish tail. Vocalization is used in every western movie; a distant sounding, rasping, scraping scream falling in pitch and intensity CHEEEeeeeewv Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s Hawk: These two look very similar. Best identified by the difference in shape and wing beats. Sharp-shinned Hawks have quick snappy wing beats and Coopers have stiff wing beats. Both have reddish brown chests with dark gray/black backs. Tail is long with horizontal stripes. Gray/black crown.

Check Out That Bird Save The Bay

Theme

Adaptations

Age

3rd - 8th

Duration

20 - 30 minutes

Materials

Laminated bird guide sheets

Binoculars

Dry erase skinny markers

Bird guides

Standards

NGSS

3-LS4-2 4-LSI-2

Spanish Key Words

6/12/18

What birds did you identify? ¿Cuales has identificado?

What identifying characteristics were most helpful?

¿Cuáles características de identifi-cación fueron más útiles?

What body shape does your bird have, and what shape is that good for?

¿Cómo es la forma del cuerpo tie-ne del pájaro, y para qué sirve esta forma?

What beak does your bird have, and what shape is that good for?

¿Cómo es la forma del pico del pájaro y para qué sirve esta forma?

How are your birds feet shaped? ¿Cómo es la forma de las patas del pájaro?

What does that shape tell you about where it lives?

¿Que te dice esa forma sobre el lugar donde vive el pajaro?

What do you think would hap-pen to your bird if this environ-ment changed rapidly? For ex-ample, if the mud dried up, or if this area were paved over?¿

Qué crees que le pasaría al pajaro si este ambiente cambiara rápida-mente, por ejemplo, si el barro se secara o si esta área fuera pavi-mentada?

What is the bird doing (wading, flying, eating, etc.)?

¿Qué está haciendo el pájaro? (caminando, volando, comiendo etc…)?