Friday 4/24: That’s for the birds!

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Birds are amazing creatures! There are over 10,000 different species of birds! All birds have wings and feathers, lay eggs, and are warmblooded (that means their temperature always stays the same temperature). Birds’ bones are hollow, like a straw. This makes their bones extremely light and helps them to fly. We have solid bones.

Another amazing feature about birds are their feathers. While they are often beautiful, they work hard to keep them nice! Birds preen their feathers. Preening means that they use their beaks to adjust and interlock their feathers that have separate. This helps them keep out small bugs and parasites. Birds also keep clean by taking baths. They take both water baths and dust baths! Believe it or not, birds will even sometimes let ants crawl on their feathers to help move or get rid of parasites! Feathers not only help bird fly, but they also help keep birds dry and warm.

About 75% of birds in North America migrate. Migrating means that they fly and live somewhere else during certain parts of the year. They migrate because of the changing temperature and weather which affects their food supply and when they can have babies. Some birds migrate only a few hundred miles, while summer birds can migrate up to 40,000 miles in a year!

 

Let’s do some LIVE bird watching!

Birds are fascinating to watch, especially large birds and birds that are a little more rare to areas where people live. It’s amazing to see how these birds make nests and feed and care for their young. Depending on where you live, you probably don’t get to see eagles, red hawks and ospreys. But guess what??? You’ll get to see them today!! There are different organizations that have web cams on bird nests that let you get a sneak peak. Below are links to live feeds of nests. Remember, you aren’t always in your house, so you may need to check back a couple of times until you catch the bird in its nest. Currently, a lot of the nests will either have eggs or babies. Click on the name of the bird to go to that live web cam.

Barred Owls                      Red-tailed Hawks                Savannah Ospreys               Royal Albatross

 

Let’s explore some other birds!

Visit this National Geographic Kids site to explore several other species of birds. See amazing photographs and learn neat facts! Click here to go to the website!  For a writing connection Click here to find a print out that you can use to take notes on different birds. You can use this note sheet for both birds found on this website and birds you see outside!

Interesting Facts about Birds– Primary & Intermediate (K-5)

 

How Birds Fly?– Primary & Intermediate (K-5)

 

Time to Make a Bird Feeder!

You’ve watched and learned about lots of different kinds of birds. Now it’s time to help birds in your neighborhood. You’ll also be applying “the 3Rs” by reusing & recycling. Instead of throwing away common household items, you can use them to make a simple bird house. Here are a few sites and videos to give you some ideas. We’d love to see what you come up with!

Make Your Own Bird Feeder– All ages

32 Easy Homemade Bird Feeders by Happy Hooligans   Click the title to go to the site

Easy Homemade Bird Feeders for Kids by The Spruce Crafts   Click the title to go to the site