Antarctica. by Joanne Mattern HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT

Transcription

1 of Birds Amazing Antarctica by Joanne Mattern HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT

2 of Birds Amazing Antarctica by Joanne Mattern ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Susan Carlson PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS: Cover Marco Simoni/Getty Images; tp Stockbyte/SuperStock; 3 13 Photodisc, Inc.; 4 Norbert Wu/Getty Images; 6 (l) Wolfgang Kaehler/Corbis; 6 (r) Doug Allan/OSF/Animals Animals Earth Scenes - All rights reserved.; 7 Maurice Joseph/Alamy; 8 Bill Curtsinger/National Geographic Image Collection; 9 Marco Simoni/Getty Images; 11 (l) Wolfgang Kaehler/Corbis; 11 (r) Stockbyte/SuperStock; 12 Bob Gibbons/Alamy; 13 David Hosking/Alamy. Copyright by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers, Attn: Permissions, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida Printed in China ISBN-10: ISBN-13: If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers retains title to the materials and they may not be resold. Resale of examination copies is strictly prohibited. Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or any portion of it, into electronic format.

3 Table of Contents Penguin Power 4 Penguin Nests 6 A Snowy Bird 7 Food and Shelter 8 Eyes of Blue 9 Fishing Frenzy 10 Frequent Flier 11 Strange Nest 13 Glossary 14

4 South Atlantic Ocean Ellsworth Weddell Sea Land Ronne Ice Shelf Queen Maud Land ANTARCTICA Indian Ocean South Pacific Ocean Marie Byrd Land Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea Antarctica is a large continent surrounded by cold ocean waters. It is home to many types of birds. Welcome to Antarctica! When people think of Antarctica, they picture a strange world of ice and snow. However, this frozen place is also filled with life. Some birds live in Antarctica year-round. This book will give you a closer look at how these birds live in such a cold place. 3

5 Penguins are strong and graceful swimmers. Penguin Power The first bird we re going to meet is the penguin. All penguins live in the southern part of the world. Four types live only in Antarctica. Penguins have wings, but they cannot fly. Instead, a penguin s wings act like flippers. This makes them great swimmers. Penguins eat fish and tiny animals called krill. 4

6 Penguins have a thick layer of fat under their feathers. This fat is called blubber, and it helps them stay warm. A penguin s feathers also help keep it warm. Soft down feathers, which keep out the cold, are next to a penguin s skin. Its outside feathers are waterproof. This means it can swim all day without getting cold. Penguins spend so much time in the water that early explorers thought that they were fish! Penguins also huddle together in groups to stay warm. This helps them share body heat. 5

7 Penguin Nests There are no twigs and leaves in Antarctica to build nests with. Penguins have to use other materials to build their nests. Adelie penguins pile up rocks to make nests. Emperor penguins don t build a nest at all. Males use their feet to carry and guard the eggs. The Adelie penguin makes its nest on the ground using rocks. Male emperor penguins guard their eggs for many weeks. 6

8 Chunks of ice make good homes for the snow petrel. A Snowy Bird The snow petrel has been called the most beautiful bird in Antarctica. This bird is white with black eyes and beak. The snow petrel likes to live on ice. It does not feel stranded there. To a snow petrel, ice means home, sweet home! 7

9 A hole between some rocks makes a snug nest for a snow petrel. Food and Shelter Snow petrels eat krill. They hunt by flying low over the water. Then, they quickly dip under the surface to catch their dinner. Snow petrels also build nests on rocks. Sometimes they build nests on a cliff because it is a safe, dry place to lay eggs. 8

10 Eyes of Blue Look at the bright blue eyes on this bird! It s easy to see how the blue-eyed shag got its name. This bird also has a bright-yellow or orange growth on its beak. This display of color helps the bird find a mate. The blue-eyed shag also has white feathers on its belly and neck. A blue-eyed shag has a colorful head and a long, sharp beak. 9

11 Fishing Frenzy Like most birds on Antarctica, the blueeyed shag eats fish or krill. Hundreds of shags dive into the water at the same time. This scares the fish so that they don t know where to swim. Usually, fish end up swimming right into a shag s mouth! Shags nest near the water. They live on the tops of cliffs in nests made of big piles of seaweed and grass. They are the only birds that stay in their nests all year long. Their nesting area is a very noisy place! 10

12 An albatross egg is very large, and so is the baby chick inside. An albatross flies thousands of miles during its lifetime. Frequent Flier The wandering albatross spends almost all of its life flying. It spends years in the air! Although its wings are about 12 feet wide, it hardly ever flaps them. Instead, it sails along on air pushed up by the ocean waves. 11

13 Albatrosses often follow fishing boats, looking for food. An albatross has good eyesight. It can see fish and other animals in the water. A baby albatross flies away from its parents when it is about a year old. It flies all around until it is ready to build its own nest. Then, the albatross returns to the place where it was born. 12

14 Strange Nest The skua doesn t build a nest. Instead, it just lays its eggs on the ground. Don t worry. It does protect them. It will attack any animal that comes near its nest! As you can see, there are many types of birds in Antarctica. They all make this frozen place their home. The skua is a small bird, but it is very fierce. 13

15 Glossary blubber a layer of fat under the skin of a penguin, seal, or whale down soft feathers iceberg a big, floating piece of ice that has broken off from a larger body of ice krill tiny animals that live in the ocean waterproof able to keep out water 14

16 Responding TARGET SKILL Cause and Effect What things allow penguins to thrive in the Antarctic cold? Copy and complete the chart below. Cause? Cause? Effect Penguins are able to stay warm. Write About It Text to Self Which amazing bird of Antarctica do you find most interesting? Write a paragraph in which you explain why you think this bird is the most interesting. 15

17 TARGET VOCABULARY alert concluded display fractured graceful huddle standards stranded vision weariness TARGET SKILL Cause and Effect Tell how events are related and how one event causes another. TARGET STRATEGY Summarize Briefly tell the important parts of the text in your own words. GENRE Narrative Nonfiction gives factual information by telling a true story. 16

18 Level: O DRA: 38 Genre: Narrative Nonfiction Strategy: Summarize Skill: Cause and Effect Word Count: HOUGHTON MIFFLIN Online Leveled Books