Bird Behavior. Outdoor Nature Exploration. Why Study Birds? Key Questions. Key Concepts

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1 Outdoor Nature Exploration Bird Behavior Why Study Birds? Birds provide an excellent doorway into nature and science investigations. They are easy to see and study. They engage in fascinating behaviors and play important roles in ecosystems. Birds are good indicators of environmental health. Their changing populations often provide clues to the overall health of their habitat. Key Questions How do birds survive and reproduce? How do birds communicate? What do you notice about the beaks and feet of birds in the same feeding guild? Key Concepts Birds must eat, drink, find shelter, stay warm, avoid being eaten, and reproduce. Birds have different strategies to accomplish these tasks. Birds have unique adaptations for acquiring food (bill shape, foot structure) within the same feeding guild. Birds mate, the female lays eggs, and the eggs must be incubated until the young hatch. Most adults must feed their young until fledging. Birds have a unique language that can be understood. Bird calls may be to: attract a mate declare territorial boundaries identify family members announce the presence of a predator convey information about food

2 Description of Activity Observation, the first step in all science, is a skill that can be taught. Students learn how to walk quietly in nature and listen to bird language. A docent guide leads students on a trail through the Museum s oak woodland and along Mission Creek to carefully observe bird activities. We focus on what the birds are doing: preening, catching insects in the air, gleaning insects from trees, sipping nectar from flowers, soaring overhead, searching for insects in leaf litter, building nests, defending territories, feeding their young. Students listen closely to the different sounds in bird language. Following the outdoor observation, students visit the Dennis M. Power Bird Hall to compare and contrast physical structures among various feeding guilds such as birds that sip nectar, birds that eat carrion, birds that eat meat, birds that glean seeds, and birds that eat fish. Words to Know bill: horny part of the jaws of a bird, a beak; adapted to a specific food source and way of eating call: any vocal sound produced by a bird which cannot be regarded as song, for example a companion call or an alarm note feeding guild: birds that live together in the same area and catch the things they eat in the same way; don t always look the same but can often be seen along side one another fledging: young birds leaving the nest when fully feathered and ready to fly gleaning: collecting bit by bit; insects in trees, seeds from plants incubating: warming of the egg by the parent bird; heat being necessary for development of the embryo nest: container or shelter made by a bird out of twigs, grass, or other material to hold its eggs and young preening: running the bill along feathers to arrange barbs, spread oil from a gland just above base of the tail; necessary for efficient insulation and flight raptor: bird of prey; hawks, harriers, eagles, falcons, owls song: a more or less complex series of sounds produced by a (usually male) bird for the purposes of attracting a mate and/or defending a territory against others of its species talon: a sharp claw on the toe of a bird of prey used particularly for grasping, killing, and tearing apart the food item territory: a defended area for breeding or for eating State Science Standards Third Grade Life Sciences 3. Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism s chance for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept: a. Students know plants and animals have structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.

3 State Standards Fourth Grade Life Sciences 2. All organisms need energy and matter to live and grow. As a basis for understanding this concept: b. Students know producers and consumers (herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers) are related in food chains and food webs and may compete with each other for resources in an ecosystem. 3. Living organisms depend on one another and on their environment for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept: b. Students know that in any particular environment, some kinds of plants and animals survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. Additional Activities Nature Break Take a 20 second nature break any time you are outdoors. Look up, down, and all around. Practice watching for bird activity. Practice walking quietly and listening to bird sounds. Bird Behavior Observe birds from the school yard: Where is the bird? What is it doing? What sound is it making? How big is it? Bigger than a hummingbird? As big as a sparrow? As big as a robin? As big as a pigeon? Bigger than a crow? What color is it mostly? What could the bird be eating? Is the bird looking for something to eat on the ground? Does the bird capture insects in the air? Is it looking for nectar? Does it have something in its bill? Are there other birds nearby that look the same? These are just some of the questions students can answer for themselves by watching. Observing bird behavior is the best way to learn about birds. Bird Watch Year of Birds Encourage students to walk to school. In the classroom, make a chart with the most common birds down the left side and the months of the school year at the top. Students walking to school should look for birds. Students record their observations on the chart by marks in the appropriate box. Over the course of a school year, students will see the change in migration, learn to identify local species, find a pattern in bird residents, and increase their awareness of nature all around them. Bird Sept Oct Nov Dec etc

4 Partner Identification Students work in partners, one partner uses a worksheet to identify birds, the other partner checks off the birds they observe. This works well with children at least 8 years old. Set boundaries and observe the same space over time. Check-Off List The whole group observes together and students tell the teacher what birds they observe and the teacher checks them off. This works better with younger students. Do this once a week over the school year to observe changes. Tree Canopy If possible on your school yard, have students lie down under a tree canopy and observe any activity silently for a period of time. Learning to see movement in trees that isn t caused by the wind is a first step in spotting birds. Project FeederWatch Take part in the Project FeederWatch Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site: Resources Books Field guides Birds of Santa Barbara This is a laminated folding guide to the most likely birds for our area. Stokes Beginner s Guide to Birds: Western Region A pocked-sized book provides instant access to the most commonly sighted species in the western half of North America. Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Western Region The book has one page per bird, with the name of the bird in big, bold letters at the top. Under the name are excellent color photographs that reveal the identifying characteristics of the bird. A short paragraph describes the bird, with information about the bird s feeding, nesting, habitat, and song. For students Arnold, Caroline Hawk Highway in the Sky: Watching Raptor Migration Gulliver Green, 1997 (grade 4 and up) This short, informative book details the habits and migration patterns of various raptors and shows, in clear, full-color photos, the capture, measurement, and banding processes used at the HawkWatch international observation site in the Goshute Mountains of Nevada, the busiest raptor trapping and banding location in western North America. Although the book s focus is on migration habits and the capture and tracking of birds, Arnold has included enough information about the classification of hawks, physical characteristics, and habits of raptors to make this title a good source for reports. Children who are fascinated with birds of prey will be drawn to the many outstanding close-up photos. School Library Journal

5 Arnosky, Jim All About Owls Scholastic, 1995 (grades 2 4) Arnosky draws readers in with a life-sized six-page spread, this time depicting a great-horned owl. The conversational tone of the text is simple but never condescending, with a logical flow that covers owl biology and behavior while focusing on the species that live in North America. School Library Journal Burnie, David Bird: The Definitive Visual Guide DK Publishing, 1988 (grades 4 6) Produced in collaboration with Audubon, this is a superb presentation of birds worldwide. It contains a wide variety of representative species, excellent photographs, and a CD featuring some 60 bird songs from around the globe. School Library Journal Markle, Sandra Outside and Inside Birds Aladdin, 2002 (grades 2 4) Amazing, full-color photographs combine with a lively text to create a solid introduction to the world of birds. Among the topics Markle tackles are feathers, flying anatomy, eating habits, senses, birth, and growth. Other pictures examine in close detail the outsides of the winged wonders: their feathers, feet, preen glands, wings, beaks, and much more. This title is more suitable for a younger audience than Burnie s book. School Library Journal Parry-Jones, Jemima Eagles and Birds of Prey DK Children, 1997 Discover the world of birds of prey: how they grow, fly, live, and hunt. This is an informative guide to birds of prey around the world. The superb color photographs give the reader an eyewitness insight into the world of eagles, vultures, hawks, owls, falcons, and other birds of prey. School Library Journal Stefoff, Rebecca Owl Benchmark Books, 1998 (ages 4 8) This book examines the physical characteristics, life cycle, and natural habitat of various kinds of owls. School Library Journal Web Sites Educator s Guide to Bird Study. Students design their own research. Inquiry-based. The best resource for bird information. BirdWatchin.com Celebrate Urban Birds. Take part in a unique opportunity for your school to collect data for Cornell s Lab of Ornithology. Bird anatomy, various beaks, feet, and legs illustrated.