> Click here to learn more about A-M-T (Acquisition-Meaning-Transfer)

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

• How is form related to function in bird beaks?
• What adaptations help a bird survive in its environment?
• How do birds spend their time?
• What interactions do you observe –between birds, and between birds and their environment?
• Can birds be identified by a variety of features?
• How do human impact birds and how can negative impacts be mitigated?
• What is a system?
• What does it mean to think using a systems approach?
• How have I experienced ‘Systems’ at ODS? (e.g. how birds interact with each other and their environment)
• How am I connected to ‘Systems’ in my everyday life?

INTRODUCING THE ACTIVITY
1) “Step into the circle if”: Gather students in a circle and step into the circle if the statement applies to them, then step back out.

• You can name three species (ask them to define term) of birds found in B.C.
• You can name three things birds eat and which birds eat them.
• You have every used binoculars.
• You have seen a live eagle (or hummingbird depending on the season)

2) Explain that they will be discovering the amazing world of birds today.

3) Walk towards Fuzzy’s Foot Path. Stop prior to entering and explain the Walk and Talk activity.

• Q1 – What do the terms “form” and “function” mean in relation to animals?
• Q2 – Come up with two or three examples of form and function in birds or mammals
• Discuss with students how the shape “form” of an animal, or part of an animal determines what the animal can do “function” g. – giraffes’ long necks allow them to reach leaves that are not available to other animals.  Birds have beaks and feet adapted to their life styles and food types

4) Eye Spy- used to learn what field marks in birds are.

• Put students into pairs, have partners describe each other using hair colour, size, clothing type and colour, eye colour, footwear.  Compare these characteristics to how field guides identify birds (colour, size, distinguishing features, …).  Would all features of their partners be the same in different seasons?  Note birds change plumage sometimes with the seasons (or with age!).

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

• How is form related to function in bird beaks?
• What adaptations help a bird survive in its environment?
• How do birds spend their time?
• What interactions do you observe –between birds, and between birds and their environment?
• Can birds be identified by a variety of features?
• How do human impact birds and how can negative impacts be mitigated?
• What is a system?
• What does it mean to think using a systems approach?
• How have I experienced ‘Systems’ at ODS? (e.g. how birds interact with each other and their environment)
• How am I connected to ‘Systems’ in my everyday life?

FOREST LAB

 1) Prior to entering – Ask students to have a good look at the items set up, particularly as they relate to form and function. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH the items.  Then sit down at table.

 2) Everyone seated – Have students try to identify the birds using field guides (think about features you can use to identify them from eye spy game), include where in the forest they live if desired, discuss aging of bald eagles if desired (this is one of the largest gathering places of bald eagles in North America in the winter)

 3) Describe what the group will be doing

i) using cards, match bird beak with food type and grouping of bird (wading, swimming, perching…); try out different beak simulators to see how they are used to get their food 

ii) Using manipulatives – try picking up different types of food and see which simulated beak type would work best 

iii) Review representations of beak types – what was good about the simulations, what did they not simulate?

4) Go outside to observe birds and look for their adaptations (form) that suits what they do (eating, flight, walking…)

a) Binoculars – go over rules for use and demonstrate how to focus (use “Binocular Basics” sheet in lab)

i) Leave all cases and lens covers on table if possible (some are attached to binoculars)

ii) Follow bird map to see what you can find!

b) Time Study of birds

i) Find a location along your walk with quite a few birds (use the chickens if you need to!

ii) Using the Time Study sheets, each student/pair does a 90s observation of a bird recording what activity it is doing

iii) Discuss with a partner what you observed – was the bird’s activity what you expected? What was surprising?  Is this representative of what a day might look like? Why or why not?

5) Return to lab – share observations as you walk

6) Leave binoculars on table to dry. Group discussion of observations.

7) Walk and Talk debrief – What did you learn today about form and function that you did not know already? What did you see that you had not observed before?

FOREST LAB BIRDS

Left to Right: 

• Great horned owl – raptor – eats meat (has most diverse diet of all North American raptors – mammals, reptiles, birds, insects, …)
• Barred owl – raptor – eats meat (small mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles)
• Red breasted sap sucker – woodpecker – eats sap, insects & fruit
• Blue grouse – ground feeder (like a chicken) pecks at ground – eats leaves, conifer needles, small invertebrates
• Male mallard – sieves food out of water, wide bill, strainer – dappler – eats aquatic plants, seeds, aquatic insect larvae, earthworms, shrimp
• Crow (top) and Raven (bottom) – not forehead and how raven beak goes as a shallow angle to head whereas crow has more of a definitive forehead. Raven also has a spade (wedge) shaped tail when flying, crows have squared off tails – eat everything!!
• Belted Kingfisher (male on top, female on bottom) – strong shortish beak for jabbing and grabbing food – eat mostly fish, will eat snails, amphibians, crayfish)
• Male bufflehead – note back of head is going bald from being touched – dive for food – aquatic invertebrates, snails, invertebrate larvae, clams…

BIRD BEAK TYPES

 Pliers– strong short, for cracking seeds = finch

Tweezers/forceps – more pointed, grippers on inside of forceps, for getting insects; also could be for grabbing slippery fish in the water (grippers) = chickadee, merganser, kingfisher

Chopsticks – long, not too strong, for reaching into water and jabbing at food; ok for grabbing slippery fish if have rough ends (like forceps) – heron– note difference between chopsticks vs tweezers when picking up smartie

Scissors – sharp, tearing; for tearing meat (raptors, birds of prey) = hawk, eagle, owl

Skewer in straw – thin, not strong beak with long tongue = hummingbird 

Food types:  smarties – seeds, fish eggs, slippery fish (although they are not that slippery really!); licorice – meat; leather bits – worms, insects (millipedes); string – small worms, insects

Characteristics of birds

• Swimming birds (ducks) – spoon-shaped bill for sieving water, nail on end for digging roots; webbed feet for swimming in water
• Wading birds (herons) – long, spear-like bill for jabbing into water for fish, frogs, etc.; long legs with long-toed feet for standing in water;
• Shorebirds – short or long bill, possibly curved for different types of probing in sand and mud; longish legs for feeding in, or near, the water
• Birds of Prey – strong, hooked beak for tearing meat; strong feet with sharp talons for gripping prey;
• Chicken-like birds – short, fairly heavy beaks, and strong feet for scratching the ground for food
• Perching birds (warblers) – narrow, needle-like bill for picking up insects; feet with three toes forward and one toe back for perching
• Finches – strong, conical beak for cracking seeds; feet with three toes forward and one toe back for perching

Other small land birds – any birds that do not fit into the above categories!

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

• How is form related to function in bird beaks?
• What adaptations help a bird survive in its environment?
• How do birds spend their time?
• What interactions do you observe –between birds, and between birds and their environment?
• Can birds be identified by a variety of features?
• How do human impact birds and how can negative impacts be mitigated?
• What is a system?
• What does it mean to think using a systems approach?
• How have I experienced ‘Systems’ at ODS? (e.g. how birds interact with each other and their environment)
• How am I connected to ‘Systems’ in my everyday life?

EXTENSION

Fight of the Feet (Birdquest)

Used to show the special functions of different foot types:

• Try to push water with the fingers of the hand spread and then cupped: cupped hands push more and are better for swimming (compare webbed feet)
• Try to hold on to a stick (cardboard tube, pointer) without wrapping a thumb around it, then with the finger and thumb around it, while someone tries to pull it away; we get a stronger grip when using the thumb (compare to the hind toe of a perching bird)
• Stand on one leg on tiptoe, then flatfoot to show that it is easier to keep your balance when standing flatfoot (compare to the large size of feet in herons that balance while hunting)
• Hold an eraser with your fingertips and have someone try to pull it away from you; then hold it with your fingers curved and nails digging into it, and to the same thing to show that curved fingers and nails give a better grip (compare to the feet of birds of prey)

Supplies:  erasers, sticks (cardboard tube)

Battle of the Beaks (BirdQuest)

Use to show the special functions of different beak types.

• Pick up sunflower seed with tweezers (warbler) vs. pliers (finch) – finch beak is better adapted to cracking larger seeds. Both can be used to pick up small insect-like things (string or bits of thread) as birds with both these beak types feed insects to their young

Similarily for other types of beaks:

• Try to break off a piece of licorice using tweezers, then pliers, then scissors (birds of prey)
• Try to pick leather or string out of water using a scoop or a spoon, then a sieve (like the lamellate bill of ducks)
• Try to pick up something slippery (button, jelly bean) with smooth chopsticks, then rough or serrated ones (like merganser’s bill, heron bill)
• Probe in an aquarium, or bucket of sand or gravel using tweezers and then chopsticks (to reach different depths) – kingfisher diving for food, heron, American dipper