1.+Why+Birds?


 * Lesson 1: Birds in My World**


 * Indoor and Outdoor**

drawing paper and pencils chart paper or a board bingo cards and dry erase markers
 * What do I need?**


 * Getting Ready...**
 * Gather the supplies
 * Prepare to go outside

Refer to BirdSleuth Briefs - Silhouette Species
 * Background Information**

Birds interact with their environment, including interactions with humans.
 * Big Idea**

Students will be able to:
 * Learning Objectives:**
 * list the characteristics of birds.


 * Activity**


 * 1. What features make a bird a bird?**

To find out what your students know about birds and their physical characteristics, pass out drawing paper and colored pencils and ask the students to quickly draw a picture of a real bird. Let them draw whatever bird they wish. Give them 10 - 15 minutes to complete this task. Don't let them look at real birds or pictures of birds during this task.

Put drawings around room-- compare and contrast. What similarities between these birds do you notice? What differences do you notice? What are the birds we've drawn doing? What colors are represented?

Create a chart. List the following characteristics that birds have on the chart (with the help of your students, if appropriate):
 * feathers
 * hollow bones
 * lay eggs
 * endothermic (warm blooded)
 * beaks

Many of these characteristics help birds fly! Feathers are light, beaks are light, bones are light. Like insects and bats, they also have wings.


 * 2. Bird Bingo and Tally Birds**

What you'll need:
 * Bingo cards
 * Dry-erase markers

To find out what your students already know about the birds in your area, start by leading a short discussion during which you can ask questions such as:
 * Do you notice the birds in your area?
 * What kinds of birds do you see?
 * Have you noticed any interesting bird behaviors, such as collecting materials to build a nest, or feeding babies?

Go outside to play a travelling bird bingo game, checking off the things you see with a dry-erase marker. Try to get four in a row, to complete at least 8 of the 16 spaces, or to complete the whole card.

After the bingo game, do a bird count, taking 10-15 minutes to tally the numbers of individual birds and bird species you see (make sure everyone knows how to make tally marks and what a species is).

When you return to the classroom, determine who successfully completed the bingo game and see how close the predicted counts were to the actual counts. Consider talking about:
 * What were the birds doing?
 * How were the birds we saw similar? Different?


 * 3.What has a bird done for you lately?**

Following this discussion, challenge participants to share their ideas about birds through a "Moving Opinion Vote." Indicate that one side of the room is "completely, totally agree" and the other side is "completely, totally disagree." In the middle is the range from agree to disagree. If you are undecided, neutral or don't know, the place to be is the middle of the room. The statements for you to read aloud are below. The statements are ordered from most basic to most complex for you to use as a tool to keep your group interested and thinking. O nce everyone is standing in the appropriate place, ask different students why they chose to stand where they did. If you want, share the background information provided about each statement and encourage further discussions and critical thinking. Remind your students that in this activity, there are no right or wrong answers. Students are entitled to change their minds and move positions as they listen to their peers, and encourage them to explain why they found a classmate's argument so compelling.

1. Statement: Birds are cool! Fact: Birds come in many amazing colors, shapes and forms, and have a lot of really interesting behaviors ( for example, see the following Life of Birds clips - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS1tEnfkk6M, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y). On the other hand, some people are afraid of birds, find them to be a nuisance, or worry they carry diseases.

‍‍‍2. Statement: Caging, killing, or hurting one bird won't effect bird populations. Fact: On the one hand, one bird is just that - one bird - and it is only a drop in the bucket of thousands of birds. On the other hand, if every person, even in just one town, decided to cage, kill, or hurt one bird, the numbers would start to add up very quickly, and the impact on bird populations would be significant. Furthermore, to successfully protect bird populations now and into the future, it is important to create a culture of conservation attitudes and behaviors, and such attitudes and behaviors include being respectful of all birds - even just one - and not harming them in any way.

3. Statement: Plants and birds are equally dependent on each other. Fact: Without birds to keep insects populations in check, insects would damage hundreds of trees by eating their bark and leaves. A real life example of how birds keep forests healthy is that of the territory of Guam. Of the approximately 40 species of trees on Guam, about 60 to 70 percent once depended on birds to eat their fruits and disperse their seeds. The birds may have just nicked and dropped seeds somewhere along a flight path, or they could have swallowed the seeds, digested their tough coats and excreted them else where. Sadly, this dependance is now apparent after the introduction of the Brown Tree Snake. The snake has decimated this island’s bird populations, and as a result its forests are dying. On the other hand, birds need plants for many important things. What kinds of things do you think birds need plants for? (Examples: building their nests, food, etc.)

4. Statement: Farmers love birds. Fact: Some farmers feel a strong dislike for birds, because they damage or destroy their crops. On the other hand, research shows that many birds help control agricultural pests. For example, research has demonstrated that birds help reduce insect populations on coffee plantations, which contributes to more successful harvests and helps farmers earn higher incomes. In apple orchards, birds protect the crops crops by eating up to 98% of a major apple pest, the codling moth larvae. need citation? (Ecological and Economic Services Provided by Birds on Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee Farms)

5. Statement: Birds can help people earn money. Fact: Birding is a fast-growing outdoor recreational activity throughout the world. In Latin America, birding attracts thousands of tourists each year. In 1999, for example, it was calculated by Tourism Institute of Costa Rica that almost half of the 1 billion dollar tourism income came from bird watching that year. In North America, about $20 billion per year is spent by Americans on bird-related materials such as feeders and seeds, or trips to see birds in other countries (such as Costa Rica).

On the other hand, birds can be costly to keep away from crops, airports, etc., and bird conservation efforts undertaken by governments and/or non-profit organizations can be very expensive.

6. Statement: For birds in desperate need of habitat, a small patch of forest is better than nothing. Fact: On the one hand, it is a good thing for a bird to have at least a small patch of forest to build a nest, find food, raise a family, etc. On the other hand, in a small patch of forest, predators can get to birds more easily, so these tasks can become harder for them. Some forest birds just won't survive in patches that are too small.

7. Statement: Habitat loss is the biggest issue facing birds. Fact: Habitat loss is definitely a huge issue, because without habitat conservation efforts cannot succeed. But birds are also harmed by bad habitat (as discussed above); pesticide use in growing food; predators, migration challenges, and climate change.

‍‍‍8. Statement: I can help birds in my community. Fact: Many birds migrate. In the Western Hemisphere, birds migrate between Central/South America and North America, while in the Eastern Hemisphere birds migrate between Africa and Europe. Therefore, it is equally important for these species to have good habitat across many nations. On the other hand, creating habitat and/or helping birds in your own backyard is a great way for you to make a difference when it comes to bird conservation, plus you set a good example for family, friends, and neighbors, and can inspire them to help birds too! ‍‍‍

9. Statement: Helping birds helps people. On the one hand, helping birds supports income-earning activities for humans, such as agriculture and ecotourism. On the other hand, birds can also cause problems for people that lead to systematic bird-reduction policies. For example, in big cities, overwhelming pigeon populations can lead to concerns about sanitation and health.

*Need to order these from most basic to more complex. New Question? "Helping birds helps people."

After facilitating this activity, summarize what students think through a short discussion. Ask questions such as:
 * Why do you think birds are so appealing to some people?
 * Are they appealing to you? Why or why not?
 * Do you think birds benefit you? Why or why not?
 * Do you think birds benefit society? Why or why not?
 * How do birds benefit the environment?

Try to leave some time at the end of this lesson to encourage students to reflect on the things they learned. Ask questions such as:
 * Wrap-up and Reflection**
 * What is something new that you learned through these activities?
 * Did any of these activities make you think differently about birds or the environment?
 * Will what you learned make you behave differently towards birds? If so, how?