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Post-Visit Activity, 4+
Adapted from California
Environmental Education Guide, 1988
Objective
Students will compare and analyze the adaptations of various
bird beaks for food gathering.
Materials
- Pictures of birds from magazines
- Poster board, chart paper or blackboard
- Toothpicks (300)
- Pennies (300)
- Marbles or grapes (300)
- Plastic spoons (one per student for 1/3 of class)
- Scissors or tweezers (one per student for 1/3 of class)
- Chopsticks or popsicle sticks (one per student for 1/3 of
class)
- Paper cup or funnel cup made from sheet of old paper (one
per student)
Background
Animals have adaptations that allow them to obtain food,
move, protect themselves and minimize the effects of extreme temperatures. One example of an adaptation can be found by
looking at bird beaks. Beaks help birds
obtain and eat food. The variety of shapes
and sizes of beaks allow birds to consume different types of food.
- Insect eaters:
slender pincerlike beaks of varying lengths (swift, swallow, warbler)
- Fish eaters: long,
sharp beaks sometimes with hooked ends (cormorant, merganser)
- Birds of prey:
powerful, hooked beaks for tearing and cutting flesh (eagle, owl)
- Seed, nut eaters:
short, stout beaks for cracking seeds open (finch, sparrow)
- Nectar feeders:
long, slender beaks and tongues for reaching into flowers (hummingbird)
Preparation
Find an area about 30 feet by 30 feet to conduct the
activity. Lawns work best so the marbles
don't roll. Collect bird pictures or
have students collect pictures from old magazines. Prepare two class data sheets (see below) on
a poster board or on the blackboard.
Procedure
- Display bird
pictures and discuss ways that the birds are alike (feathers, lay eggs, etc.)
and ways that they are different (color, size, body shape, beak and feet
shape). Review the term
"adaptation." Focus on one variation
that the students described and ask how the variation might be an adaptation
that helps that particular type of bird survive.
- Tell students that
bird beaks are adapted to the type of food they eat. Students will be learning how birds use their
beaks. Divide the class into three
groups and assign a different bird beak (spoons, scissors, chopsticks) to each
group. Pass out the appropriate
beaks. Give each student a cup to serve
as their stomach.
- Distribute one of
the food items (marbles to represent seeds, toothpicks to represent worms,
pennies to represent beetles) around the study area. Explain that students should pick up as many
of the food items as possible using their "beaks" and then drop the items into
their stomachs during the allotted time.
- Give a signal to
begin feeding and allow the round to proceed for a couple of minutes.
- Gather students
into their three groups, have them count and then record the total number of
food items they collected (as a group).
- Repeat steps 3 to
5 with the other two foods one at a time.
- Discuss the
results. Which bird beak was able to eat
the most worms? Seeds? Beetles?
- Repeat the study
one final time distributing all types of food at the same time and record
results on the second data sheet.
- Discuss: If only one kind of food is available in a
certain area, do you think you would find lots of different birds there? What happened when all the food items were
available at once?
One Food at a Time
Food Item
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Scissors Bird |
Spoonbill Bird |
Chopsticks Bird |
| toothpicks/worms |
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| marble/seeds |
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penny beetles
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All Foods at Once
Food Item
|
Scissors Bird |
Spoonbill Bird |
Chopsticks Bird |
| toothpicks/worms |
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| marble/seeds |
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penny beetles
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