Materials:
- Cup with water (nectar)
- Straw
- Gummy worms
- Tweezers
- Large bowl with water (pond)
- One inch celery pieces (fish - place in bowl of water)
- Slotted spoon
- Nuts
- Nutcracker
- Bird identification book
Set up the following food stations:
- Cup with water to represent nectar in a flower
- Gummy worms in flour to represent worms in the soil
- Several pieces of one inch celery in a bowl of water to represent fish
- Some nuts or seeds to represent, what else, nuts and seeds
Place all the "beaks" (nutcracker, slotted spoon, straw, tweezers) on the table. Try "catching or collecting" the different foods with all the "tools", then match the right "tool" with the right food. Look in a bird identification book to find a bird that feeds on water animals and plants, nectar, worms and nuts or seeds. Notice the shapes of their beaks and how it matches the primary function of the beak.
Answers:
(straw = hummingbird beak, they drink nectar; tweezers = robin's beak, they collect worms to eat; slotted spoon = flamingo, they are filter eaters in water; nutcracker = parrot or finch, they crack open hard seeds and nuts)
Bird Creation
Materials:
- Construction paper
- Crayons
- Markers
- Scissors
- String
- Tape
This is a fun activity to do with friends. Write the following sentences on separate cards so each person can pick a card:
- You catch fish with your beak.
- You tear flesh with your beak.
- You hammer holes in trees with your beak.
- You catch mice with your feet.
- You paddle around in the water with your feet.
- You climb up and down trees with your feet.
Design the bird body part big enough to wear. Have each friend draw a card without everyone looking at it, then act out your adaptation and see if your friends can guess what it is.
Option:
Using clay, pipe cleaners or any materials you want, you could develop a model of the adaptations.
Bird Feeder Construction
Materials:
- Empty cardboard quart milk cartons with pointed tops
- String or cord
- Nail
- Kaytee Suet
- Kaytee Wild Bird Food
Get a milk carton and wash with soap and water, then rinse completely and allow to dry. Cut a window on one side of the carton, approximately 4x4 inches. Glue or tape the top of the carton shut. Punch a hole in the very top of the carton with the nail, and thread the string or cord through the hole making a loop so the feeder will hang. Place Kaytee Suet or Kaytee Wild Bird Food in the feeders. Hang from a branch outside your window and watch for new bird friends to frequent your yard.
Suet Feeder for the Birds
Many birds need food high in fat. Peanut butter and shortening both have a lot of fat. This is a fun activity to do with an adult. Search the forest floor for a fallen tree branch about 75 100 mm in diameter (3 4 inches). The branch should be about 60 cm (2 feet) long.
Materials needed:
- Branch
- Saw
- Wood glue
- Eye screw
- Peanut butter
- Twine or small rope
- Shortening
- Dowel 7 mm (1/4 inch)
- Wild bird mix
- Drill
- Drill bits - 25 mm (1 inch) and 7 mm (1/4 inch) bits
Cut the fallen branch to about a 2 foot (60 cm) length. Drill the 1 inch (25 mm) wide holes about 1/2 inch (13 mm) deep. Place them around the branch on different sides. You should be able to fit about six holes on the branch. Drill a 1/4 inch (7 mm) hole 2 inches (5 cm) below the wide hole. Cut dowel into 4 inch (11 cm) pieces. Put wood glue in the small holes. Hammer the dowel pieces into these holes for perches. Screw the eye screw in the top of the branch. Cut a piece of twine or rope and thread through the eye screw for hanging. Mix one part peanut butter with one part shortening. Add a wild bird seed mix. Fill the large holes with this mixture. Hang on a tree branch and watch the woodpeckers and other birds enjoy this treat.