Overview
Each student is required to make their own local bird guide based on observations of eight bird species in their neighborhood. Every two weeks students should spend at least 45 min. outdoors looking at birds. See below for bird-watching instructions. The guide will have one page per bird and include the information listed below. Students will choose their own way to organize and display the information on each page, and they will add both an attractive cover and a concluding reflection to their booklet.
Purpose: Skills and Knowledge
The purpose of this assignment is to help you practice the following skills that are useful in many different academic fields and life endeavors:
- Careful observations of the natural world
- Clear writing of detailed notes
- Sketching shapes accurately
- Composing meaningful questions
- Reflection and writing about learning experiences
- Visual and auditory recognition of different bird species
This assignment will reinforce the following important content knowledge in avian biology as well as enrich your on-going pandemic experience:
- Names and classification of 8 local bird species
- Anatomical features of birds such as feathers, beaks, wings, and feet
- Behaviors of wild birds
- Sizes, shapes, and colors that are used to identify birds
- Recognition of avian habitats
Task
- Before setting out on your bird walk, record basic information about date, time and weather.
- While on the bird walk, make a list of all the birds you see. Pick two birds that you find interesting and study them closely.
- Upon returning home, record the behaviors and specific locations where you saw each focal bird.
- Read the descriptions about the bird species in the AMNH field guide and the All About Birds (Links to an external site.) (Cornell Lab) and Audubon Guide to North American Birds (Links to an external site.) websites (or other pertinent resources if outside the U.S.). Study the images.
- Plan the layout of your personalized bird guides pages, picking suitable placements of the illustration and required information (see below). Use non-lined paper and write on one side only.
- Fill in the sections of each page neatly. Subheadings are recommended. Aim for accuracy in the body shape and proportions and coloration of each bird drawing. Two pages will be completed every two weeks.
- As the quarter proceeds, keep notes on specific challenges and benefits of bird-watching and of completing the bird guide pages, so you can incorporate those observation into the final reflection page, which is due near the end of the quarter.
- As you are preparing your final two pages, compose your reflection paper, which should be one page with 1.5x line spacing, 1” margins, and 12-point font. Discuss what you learned from bird-watching in your neighborhood and also what you learned from making the bird guide. Be sure to include specific examples and key moments as you compose your reflection.
- Before turning in the final bird pages and reflection, make an attractive cover page that will entice readers to open your guide to learn about your local birds.
Required Information
Use this checklist to make sure every page is complete.
- Bird’s common name, scientific name in the proper format, Family, and Order.
- Date, time, and weather when bird was observed. Give the approximate temperature and report conditions of sun, clouds, rain, or wind.
- Specific location relative to particular building, intersection, or local landmark; indicate neighborhood (like Capitol Hill in Seattle), city , state, and country. Note habitat where bird was situated in terms of height (ground, shrub, tree, or sky), vegetation or surface type (e.g., wood chips, grass, rhododendron, pine tree), and surrounding area (such as lawn or thicket).
- Describe the bird’s appearance in terms of overall size (give metric values for length, wingspan, and weight from the field guide), and shapes and colors of head, body, tail, wings, beak, and feet. Include your own color illustration.
- Write a couple of sentences indicating the behaviors, such as locomotion, foraging, vocalization, or social interactions, you observed while watching the bird.
- After reading the species description in the field guide, considering the various topics covered in class, and thinking about your direct observations of the bird(s), write two questions about the individual or species that demonstrate your engaged curiosity.
Criteria for Success
Bird guides will be scored based on the accuracy of information, completeness of observations, clarity of presentation, and depth of thinking.
NEED SOMEONE LOCATED IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST PREFERABLY, OR WEST COAST US
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