"More birds please!" (3rd grade)

[SilverMoon]

DD/3rd has done nothing but birds for science this year and is not satiated yet. We've done a basic intro to the science that just grazed the surface, she's devoured North American Birds, and she's about to dig into the Burgess book. I'll pad it with unit study type activities, but I doubt it will last long.

 

What are your favorite bird resources? Or what would you do with this kid?

 

 

(Apologia does not work for us.)

[hermione310]

Memoria Press makes a great bird study. We used it this past year and DD absolutely loved it. Although the target audience is 5th (?) graders, it could easily be adapted for younger kids if the subject enthusiasm is there. The text introduces students to bird biology, habitat of individual birds, and a focused study of the songs/key facts associated with a core group of birds. The Peterson Field Guide and associated coloring book are also really well done. 

[Guest]

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/619291-memoria-press-bird-study-and-tree-study/?p=7127828

[Chrysalis Academy]

Birdology!   This whole Young Naturalists series is great - we're doing Zoology right now, and have Treecology lined up for later this year. 

[2_girls_mommy]

Hatch chicken or quail eggs. Our county extension office hands out eggs and incubators and instructions to schools and homeschools every spring. We've done both. We went to Audubon Society meetings and joined them for the Christmas Bird Count one December. There is the Backyard Bird Count in February, I think too.

 

I love the Peterson Field Guide Coloring Books on Amazon. We each have one in our house, so that we can all work in our own. And we enjoyed the Apologia Flying Creatures notebook. We never used the textbook. The notebook had plenty of activities and book lists to keep us busy, and we had the Memoria Press Bird Unit that we worked through too. It had us looking up and learning bird calls online. Then we learned to go outside and identify them by sound in our own yard. That was fun.  We took lots of walks around lakes and such looking at birds and for nests and learned from the Audubon Society man who was patient enough to take us around for the bird count where to see them in places we never noticed before. It amazed me how many large and kind of exotic birds live in the middle of a city and neighborhoods when you know where to look. That was a great science year for us. We built birdhouses from kits from Home Depot I think. ?? Is that where they do the Sat. workshops. I think it is. Anyway, we eventually did the insect chapters from Apologia that year too, but we really mostly did birds all year, and it was a great year.

[2_girls_mommy]

Sorry, I didn't see you don't like Apologia til after I typed. But you can still do all of the activities, without using that notebook. It was just another good resource for us that year. :)

[CelticHaiku]

I don't have a specific resource but if you run out of bird stuff you could start a study by habitat and sneak in some earth science. Look at birds by habitat: rainforest, tundra, artic, savana, desert, forest, etc. Or look at birds based on where they nest: cliffs, trees, ground, underground (there is a species of owls that lives in little tunnels).

[ElizabethB]

Do the great background bird count. The big count is in February, but you can count and participate anytime, and they have some interesting data.

 

http://gbbc.birdcount.org

Edited October 5, 2016 by ElizabethB

[Micron4]

My dd was really into birds around that age. One of the best things we did was attend bird walks with our local Audubon society. We were almost the youngest ones there; it was mostly senior citizens, and they were sooooo passionate and knowledgeable about birds. And they were happy to help because they really want to see birding get passed on to future generations. There is really no substitute for being around people passionate about your interest.

 

Also my dd liked the Merlin bird app, bird documentaries, and a bird guide that was specific to my state.

[Alice]

Cornell Lab of Ornithology has tons of resources. We do Project Feederwatch every year and have used some of their other stuff but have really only scratched the surface. 

[SilverMoon]

Thanks everyone! We're looking at all the options together to see what peeks her interest. This is the first time she grabbed a topic and ran with it like this, so I'll let her chase the rabbit trail to her heart's content. That Birdology book looks fun! I'm terrible at coming up with good activities in my own. We have plenty of songbirds in the neighborhood for her to watch, and a riparian preserve with great hikes not too far away.

[3girls4me]

My daughter has the first 2 of this set and is really enjoying them. They aren't cheap, but are fantastic quality, beautiful pictures and very educational.

https://www.milestonebooks.com/item/1-2751/

[Guest]

My kids LOVE The Life of Birds by BBC dvd set. We bought ours on amazon.

[daijobu]

The Great Backyard Bird Count.

[Tranquility7]

Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study. It is *fabulous*! Even though it is technically written to the teacher, my DD6 and DS10 LOVE it. And even I like it (and birds are not really my thing). It starts out with general info about birds and then has chapters on individual types of birds.

 

The link above is for a free audiobook version (7+ hrs long!) through Librivox. It is well done (as I recall - it has been a while!) and is a single reader all the way through, which is nice. I highly, highly recommend it! And it's free! :-)

[Bics]

I don't have many suggestions for resources but what about transitioning birds to dinosours by way of discussing how birds evolved from dinosaurs?

I just wanted to copy this in rather than leave it as a link because it is so important that people quit using the fake archaeoraptor as a basis.  This really did not receive the attention it deserved.  We have one of the original examiners of the fossil recanting its veracity.

 

 

Archaeoraptor Hoax Update—National Geographic Recants!

on March 2, 2000

 

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As more evidence of altered fossils begins to surface, one must seriously question the integrity of the fossil industry and the stories these fossils are supposed to tell.

In stark contrast to their sensationalistic “Feathers for T. rex†article, National Geographic has printed a brief, yet revealing statement by Xu Xing, vertebrate paleontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing. Xu's revelation appears in the somewhat obscure Forum section of the March, 2000 issue, together with a carefully crafted editorial response. The letter from Xu Xing, vertebrate paleontologist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, reads:

National Geographic followed the letter from Xu with this statement:

 

“After observing a new feathered dromaeosaur specimen in a private collection and comparing it with the fossil known as Archaeoraptor [pages 100–101], I have concluded that Archaeoraptor is a composite. The tail portions of the two fossils are identical, but other elements of the new specimen are very different from Archaeoraptor, in fact more closely resembling Sinornithosaurus. Though I do not want to believe it, Archaeoraptor appears to be composed of a dromaeosaur tail and a bird body.â€1

 

As more evidence of altered fossils begins to surface, one must seriously question the integrity of the fossil industry and the stories these fossils are supposed to tell. A Feb. 19, 2000 New Scientist article sheds light on the growing problem of faked and altered fossils. Referring to the Chinese fossil birds, paleontologist Kraig Derstler from the University of New Orleans in Louisiana says, “almost every one that I’ve seen on the commercial market has some reconstruction to make it look prettier.â€3

 

“Xu Xing is one of the scientists who originally examined Archaeoraptor. As we go to press, researchers in the U.S. report that CT scans of the fossil seem to confirm the observations cited in his letter. Results of the Society-funded examination of Archaeoraptor and details of new techniques that revealed anomalies in the fossil’s reconstruction will be published as soon as the studies are completed.â€2

 

The illegal yet highly profitable market of Chinese bird fossils has enticed the local farmers into creating marketable fossils, real or not. Derstler points out that “adhesives and fake rock have become very easy to make and very difficult to spot.â€4

 

The paleontologist Luis Chiappe, of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, describes how one such specimen almost fooled him, till he noticed that one leg was longer than the other. “I wasn’t sure what was wrong with it,†Chiappe said. Only close examination revealed that two slabs had been mortared together. “On the surface you really couldn’t see that.â€5

Dr Larry Martin of the University of Kansas, who is a staunch critic of the dino-to-bird theory, commented, “I don’t trust any of these specimens until I see the X-rays.â€6 Joints and gaps in the reworked fossils are revealed with X-rays. Martin went on to say:

https://answersingenesis.org/dinosaurs/feathers/archaeoraptor-hoax-update-national-geographic-recants/

“The farmers do not believe this is wrong, they look at it as restoring an art object to make it more marketable. The whole commercial market for fossils has gotten riddled with fakery.â€7

 

Edited October 16, 2016 by Whippoorwill

[Guest]

One fake fossil has not dismantled the entire working theory of the evolution of birds, since of course it is not based on one fossil specimen.

 

 

http://amp.livescience.com/24745-archaeopteryx.html

[El...]

What a great fascination for a kid to have! 

 

My cousin-in-law, when she was in college, helped capture, band, and track falcons in New Mexico and Arizona.  I don't know where you are, but perhaps you could find out if something like that is going on in your area and go observe? 

[arliemaria]

What a great fascination for a kid to have! 

 

My cousin-in-law, when she was in college, helped capture, band, and track falcons in New Mexico and Arizona.  I don't know where you are, but perhaps you could find out if something like that is going on in your area and go observe? 

 

I am in Missouri and I know they had an event during the summer to track hummingbirds at a local state park.  This would be fantastic to add to a bird study.

[Bics]

okbud,

did I say it did?

and,

did you actually read the article? If so, how did you miss that this is about more than one fossil?

 

If you have a bone to pick about macro-evolution, please find someone who also is trying to engage it that debate with you.  I am only really interested in having conversations with others who are calm and want to get closer to the truth through contemplative conversation. I am turned off by anyone who just tries to zing someone with a one-liner.

 

[Guest]

okbud,

did I say it did?

and,

did you actually read the article? If so, how did you miss that this is about more than one fossil?

 

If you have a bone to pick about macro-evolution, please find someone who also is trying to engage it that debate with you. I am only really interested in having conversations with others who are calm and want to get closer to the truth through contemplative conversation. I am turned off by anyone who just tries to zing someone with a one-liner.

This is all really uncalled-for, man. Stem to stern.

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited August 18, 2022 by SilverMoon

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited August 18, 2022 by SilverMoon

[Guest]

There are several goose-specific things my son reminded me about this morning, too.

The Goose man (picture book)
Fly away home (Jeff Daniels movie)
BBC doc, Earth flight

I feel like im forgetting something...

Besides the geese, there's PBS My Life As a Turkey.

These are all just fun for the bird lover.

They make little stuffed birds with real bird call buttons inside of them. Those are awesome.

There is also a ton of wonderful owl-specific resources! Docs, books, guides, etc.

Edited October 18, 2016 by OKBud

[Heather in VA]

Memoria Press makes a great bird study. We used it this past year and DD absolutely loved it. Although the target audience is 5th (?) graders, it could easily be adapted for younger kids if the subject enthusiasm is there. The text introduces students to bird biology, habitat of individual birds, and a focused study of the songs/key facts associated with a core group of birds. The Peterson Field Guide and associated coloring book are also really well done. 

 

We loved this too. It was very well done.

[Lynn in Caribbean]

I agree with the poster above about getting on board with your local Audubon group.  Our group is also mostly senior citizens, and some of them have been birding for decades.  They have such a wealth of knowledge, and are so happy to share it with us.  The Audubon group plans lots of field trips, even beginning birder classes.  My dh is an avid birder, and goes birding most weekends.  There is just no substitute for "getting out there."  

 

Check out the ebird site - run by Cornell.  You can set up an ebird account, log your findings, and be a part of the birding community in that way.  Also, ebird is the best way to see what is going on - you can see where the birders are going in your area, what the birding "hotspots" are, and see their lists of what they found there.  Then when you go birding, you know where to go and what to look for.

 

We loved (LOVED!) reading the Burgess bird book around here.  But the chapters that we could relate to, were the chapters about the birds we had actually seen and observed locally.  Again, there is no substitute for simply going birding!  Have fun!!

 

Edited October 20, 2016 by Lynn in Caribbean