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Learn how climate change affects different species of birds in Kentucky. |
During this unit you will research and participate in hands-on activities to learn and practice how to observe and identify birds. To become familiar with birds common to Louisville, Kentucky, you will:
-join a collaborative team to learn about a family of birds.
-individually research one type of bird to become an expert in identifying it.
You will use what you learned to help our class identify your bird when we go birding on the school grounds. Our class will also become citizen scientists by participating in improving our school bird habitat and logging our observations of the birds we identify on eBird.
Together we can make a difference for birds!
-join a collaborative team to learn about a family of birds.
-individually research one type of bird to become an expert in identifying it.
You will use what you learned to help our class identify your bird when we go birding on the school grounds. Our class will also become citizen scientists by participating in improving our school bird habitat and logging our observations of the birds we identify on eBird.
Together we can make a difference for birds!
...........Get Ready to Bird with Some Practice
What bird is most like you? Take the survey above to find out.
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Ready to test your bird ID skills? Click the game above to begin.
See Mrs. Ryan for the username and password. |
Ready to test your listening skills? Click the game above to practice identifying birds by their song.
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Before Birding, View These Bird Watching Tips: (Thank you to our Washington state friends!)
......... Now Let's Dive Deeper:
What Makes a Bird a Bird?
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DK
Offers information about how birds are different than other types of animals. the site also offers information about various birds. Birds: BrainPop
Discover just how many species of birds there are as well as what makes a bird a bird. You’ll learn about bird flight, bird feathers, and the key differences between male and female birds. This movie is anything but for-the-birds! |
Bird Groups (categories)
For conservation planning purposes, birds are often classified (split) into the following categories:
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Bird Identification
How Many Birds Can You Identify.... (Wonder of the Day 1516)
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Do you know the Keys to identify birds?
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How to Identify Birds articles:
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Bird Academy: Inside Birding 4 Keys to Bird ID (video series):
Inside Birding: Size & Shape Inside Birding: Color Pattern Inside Birding: Understanding Behavior Inside Birding: Habitat |
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Additional Information:
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Common Birds of Kentucky
Blue Jay Cardinal Goldfinch
Robin Carolina Chickadee Red Tailed Hawk Mallard Mourning Dove Chimney Swift Downy Woodpecker Red bellied Woodpecker Mockingbird Song Sparrow Carolina Wren Bluebird Hummingbird Crow Canada Geese Wild Turkey Turkey Vulture Tufted Titmouse (chickadee family) Blue Heron |
Identifying Individual Birds Websites:
Databases |
Search Engines/Directories
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Bird Nests
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Finding the nest materials is key to a bird selecting a habitat to raise its young. Different birds use different materials to build its nest. Research to find:
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Padlet posts from some of your classmates. |
Click on the Padlet button to post your investigation notes.
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Bird Habitats
A habitat provides the food, water, cover, and space each living thing needs to survive and reproduce.
- Water includes where it finds its drinking water and how it gets water.
- Food includes what it eats and where it forges (hunts) food.
- Cover includes nesting areas, places to sleep or rest, places to hide or escape, places to lay its eggs and protect its young.
- Space refers to having enough of the right habitat for a bird to survive.
Bird Apps
There are apps available to help you identify birds and help you keep track of the birds you find.
Paid Apps
It contains 944 species of North American birds, including both common and rare species. It is designed to help both experienced and novice birders identify and learn about their bird
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Free Apps
Good App for
Bird Research Projects Has 821 North American species with sounds, images, and range maps. You can also see which birds are being reported where on eBird |
Great Backyard Bird Count
Use App to log the birds you identified This free resource makes it easy to keep track of what you see, while making your data openly available for scientific research, education, and conservation. |
Good App for Identifying Birds
When You Go Birding First, Merlin asks you a few simple questions. Then it reveals the list of birds that best match your description. It then shows photos, sounds, and ID tips about your bird! |
Bird Adaptations
Some birds can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all in a particular habitat. A bird’s features and how each feature functions impact its chances to survive and reproduce (have babies) in a habitat. The bird’s beak, feet and feathers are important features.
Click on the link below or video to learn more about beaks, feet and feathers and the function of each. Then use nonfiction books, databases and websites to research your bird’s features and how each functions to discover if it can survive in our school yard habitat.
** Bird Beak Investigation:
In your classroom you investigated how different tools/simple machine (tweezers, scissors, straws, clips, etc) functions to pick up different types of food. You also discovered how certain tools are better suited to pick up certain types of foods. These tools are similar to different bird beaks.
Write your discoveries on the Bird Adaptation Padlet to share with others in our birding community.
In your classroom you investigated how different tools/simple machine (tweezers, scissors, straws, clips, etc) functions to pick up different types of food. You also discovered how certain tools are better suited to pick up certain types of foods. These tools are similar to different bird beaks.
- Now that you researched the beak of your bird work with your partner to determine which tool/simple machine your bird's beak is most similar to and why you think this is true.
- Now that you researched your bird's features and the function of each, do you think your bird can survive in our school yard habitat? Why/why not?
Write your discoveries on the Bird Adaptation Padlet to share with others in our birding community.
Cornell Lab’s Feeder Watch Live Webcam
Citizen Science
Citizen Science is a movement in which citizens work with sceince to answer real world questions. It allows students to participate in science globally. To make them feel like their observations count for something bigger than just a grade on a paper. You can be a citizen by participating in a citizen science project below:
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Improving our School Yard Bird Habitat
Backyard Birding |
Making a Bird Friendly School Yard
Bird Houses
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Audubon Take Action
eBird |
The Great Backyard Bird Count
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Even if our bird identification skills aren’t perfect, we can get started and we can become citizen scientists by helping Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Based on your research, you have become an expert on a bird so you can help by identifying that bird for the lab. Your observations will join those of others in an international network of eBird users. Cornell, the organization that owns eBird, shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. In time these data will become the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribution across the western hemisphere and beyond. Log your bird observation data on this website.
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Bird watchers of all ages count birds to create a real-time snapshot of where birds are.Your observations are important because no single scientist or team of scientists could hope to capture so much information about birds around the world in only four days. Each year tens of thousands of people submit checklists reporting many millions of birds. Your information provides a long-term record of how bird populations may be changing over time. Make sure your birds are represented by counting them for the GBBC!
The next GBBC is February 16-19, 2018 |
great_backyard_bird_count_information_powerpoint.pptx | |
File Size: | 3678 kb |
File Type: | pptx |