LEVELED BOOK • N
Weird Bird Beaks Weird Bird A Reading A–Z Level N Leveled Book Word Count: 530 Beaks
• R H • N Written by Joe Slade
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Weird Bird Beaks Level N Leveled Book Correlation Written by Joe Slade © Learning A–Z LEVEL N Written by Joe Slade Fountas & Pinnell M All rights reserved. Reading Recovery 20 DRA 28 www.readinga-z.com www.readinga-z.com Table of Contents
Bearded Barbet ...... 4
Crossbill ...... 5
Rhinoceros Hornbill ...... 6 Bearded Barbet Huia...... 7 I am a bearded barbet. Sword-billed Hummingbird ..... 8 I have a large, thick beak that has Brown Pelican ...... 9 pointed parts on the bottom like Shoebill Stork...... 10 sharp teeth. Hairlike feathers look like a beard on my beak. Spoonbill...... 11 I live where it is dry in Africa, Toucan...... 12 where I build my nest in a Glossary ...... 14 dead tree. I feed on fruit and sometimes on insects.
Weird Bird Beaks • Level N 3 4 Crossbill Rhinoceros Hornbill
I am a crossbill. I am a rhinoceros hornbill.
My beak is crossed like an X, which I have a horn on the top of my beak helps me to pull the seeds out of that I use to knock down fruit. a pinecone. I also use my horn to fight and Pinecones grow on trees called sometimes to attract a mate. conifers, but conifers don’t produce I bring food to my mate when she good pinecones every year. sits on our eggs. I travel all over to find pinecones If you think my horn looks weird, instead of living in one place. you should see my eyelashes! I am one of the few birds that have them.
Weird Bird Beaks • Level N 5 6 Huia Sword-Billed Hummingbird
We are huias (HOO-yuhs). We I am a sword-billed hummingbird. lived in New Zealand until we I am a very small bird with a very became extinct. long beak. I’m the only bird with “I am the male. My beak is thick a bill that is longer than my body! and strong.” I use my long beak and even longer “I am the female. My beak is thin tongue to get nectar from tube- and curved.” shaped flowers.
Our beaks are so different that for a I can stick my tongue out and pull long time, people thought we were it back in again about 13 times completely different types of birds. per second!
Weird Bird Beaks • Level N 7 8 Brown Pelican Shoebill Stork
I am a brown pelican. I am a shoebill stork.
I have a pouch of skin under my My beak is shaped like a shoe beak that can hold a lot of fish. with a hook on the end that helps me eat fish. I hunt in the ocean, diving down from the air. Sometimes, I’ll eat frogs and even small crocodiles. I sometimes steal fish from other birds, but they steal from me, too. I hunt fish by waiting for one to Gulls even sit on my head and swim by and then falling onto it back while they take fish right out with my mouth open. of my pouch!
Weird Bird Beaks • Level N 9 10 Spoonbill Toucan
I am a spoonbill. I am a toucan.
I have a long beak that flattens My huge and colorful beak is out at the end like a spoon. actually very light because it’s full of air pockets. Because I am white and pink, people sometimes think I’m a flamingo. I eat fruit, seeds, insects, and eggs.
To find food, I sweep my beak My beak helps me to reach fruit back and forth in the mud and while I sit in rainforest trees. I have shallow water. two claws that point forward and two that point backward to help me I like to eat frogs, shellfish, seaweed, hold onto branches. and small fish.
Weird Bird Beaks • Level N 11 12 Glossary extinct (adj.) having died out completely (p. 7) Many of us have weird beaks. shellfish (n.) animals that have shells Sometimes they help us to catch and live in the water or eat food. (p. 11) air pockets (n.) areas of air surrounded Sometimes they just look wild! by matter (p. 12)
Weird Bird Beaks • Level N 13 14