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Creamer's Field Student Activity Book Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge Fairbanks, Alaska Page 2 Alaska Songbird Institute Table of Contents Introduction Waterfowl (Geese & Ducks) Welcome to the new Creamer's Field Greater White-fronted Goose...........4 Student Activity Book! This book Canada Goose...................................5 includes a coloring guide to many Mallard.............................................6 of the common birds you can see at Northern Pintail................................7 Creamer's Field. It also includes some Birds of Prey (Raptors) pages to use in school and at home. Bald Eagle........................................8 Peregrine Falcon...............................9 We hope that you will remember to Cranes bring it with you every time you visit Sandhill Crane.................................10 Creamer's Field and to share what you Flycatchers have learned with others! Alder Flycatcher...............................11 Chickadees If you have feedback or questions, Black-capped Chickadee..................12 please contact the Alaska Songbird Kinglets Institute. This book and other Ruby-crowned Kinglet.....................13 educational materials are available Thrushes on our website at: Swainson’s Thrush...........................14 http://aksongbird.org. American Robin...............................15 Warblers This book was provided for you by Orange-crowned Warbler.................16 the Alaska Songbird Institute with support from Yellow-rumped Warbler...................17 the Alaska Department of Fish & Game. Wilson’s Warbler..............................18 Sparrows Slate-colored (Dark-eyed) Junco.....19 White-crowned Sparrow..................20 Lincoln’s Sparrow............................21 Finches Common Redpoll.............................22 Data Collection.....................................23 Think Like a Chickadee........................24 ©2013 Alaska Songbird Institute. Birds Around Your Home.....................25 All rights reserved. Conservation Hints...............................26 Limited permission is granted to educators to Your Notes & Sketches.........................27 reproduce these materials for use by their students. Checklist...............................................28 Page 3 Alaska Songbird Institute Before you go to Creamer's Field... What kinds of plants and animals do you think live at Creamer's Field? Draw them or describe them here. What do you hope to see at Creamer's Field? What do you want to learn about? Draw or write about it here. Page 4 Alaska Songbird Institute GWFG Greater White-fronted Goose Food (Anser albifrons) 1 5 grasses 9 5 2 & grain 5 5 Habitat 1 2 5 2 color code 2 1 white 8 2 black 8 wetlands 5 brown 8 orange 9 pink Cool Fact: Like many geese, Greater White-fronted Goose pairs stay together for years. Pairs migrate together, often with their LEGEND young from previous years. Parents summer and siblings may continue to travel together throughout their lives. winter year round Page 5 Alaska Songbird Institute CANG Canada Goose 1 (Branta canadensis) 2 color code 5 2 1 1 white 5 2 black 5 brown 5 5 5 5 1 1 5 2 1 2 Food Habitat grasses wetlands & grain Cool Fact: Some Canada Geese do not go as far south in the winter as they used to. LEGEND Why? What has changed? summer Scientists think it may be due to changes in winter farmlands and weather that have made more food available in the fall and winter. year round Page 6 Alaska Songbird Institute MALL Mallard Cool Fact: The Mallard is the (Anas platyrhynchos) ancestor of nearly all domestic ducks! 7 color code 3 1 white 1 2 black 5 3 yellow 10 5 brown 6 6 6 gray 1 8 orange 10 10 blue 6 1 6 2 2 8 1 Food Habitat LEGEND grasses, grain, summer seeds, & insects wetlands winter year round Page 7 Alaska Songbird Institute NOPI Northern Pintail color code (Anas acuta) 1 white 2 black 5 brown 6 gray 10 light 5 10 blue 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 6 1 Food Habitat grasses, grain, wetlands seeds, & insects LEGEND Cool Fact: The Northern Pintail summer is one of the earliest nesting ducks in North winter America. They will build their nest and lay eggs as soon as the ice is out in Alaska! year round Page 8 Alaska Songbird Institute BAEA Bald Eagle 3 color code (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) 1 white 3 yellow 1 5 brown Food 5 5 mostly fish & 5 birds Habitat 5 1 5 1 forested areas near water Food Habitat Cool Fact: Bald Eagles were taken off the endangered species list in 2007 after 35 years! Eagles almost went extinct because of illegal hunting, loss of habitat, and a chemical called DDT. People used DDT to protect crops LEGEND from insects, but it accumulated in the summer environment and harmed many predators, winter including Bald Eagles. When DDT was banned and eagles were protected, their populations year round recovered. Page 9 Alaska Songbird Institute PEFA 3 3 6 Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) 2 color code 1 white 6 1 2 black 3 yellow 6 gray 6 1 3 3 3 Food Habitat mostly birds open habitats The name "peregrine" Cool Fact: LEGEND means wanderer. Peregrine Falcons have one of the longest migrations of any bird in summer North America. Birds that nest in Alaska may winter travel over 15,000 miles each year going from year Alaska to South America and back! round Page 10 Alaska Songbird Institute SACR Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) 4 1 1 color code 1 white 2 black 4 red 5 light brown 6 6 6 gray 5 5 6 2 2 Food Habitat grasses, grain, seeds, & insects wetlands LEGEND summer Cool Fact: Sandhill Cranes dance! You may see them bow, jump, run, toss sticks winter or grass, and flap their wings. Cranes often year dance to bond with their mate. round Page 11 Alaska Songbird Institute ALFL 2 Alder Flycatcher 7 3 Cool Fact: (Empidonax alnorum) 1 Most songbirds need to learn their color code song from their 7 parents. However, 1 white flycatchers and their 2 2 black relatives (called 3 bright subocines) are born yellow 2 with the all the 7 olive instructions they green 7 2 need to sing the 1 right song. 7 Food Habitat LEGEND summer insects shrubs winter year round Page 12 Alaska Songbird Institute BCCH Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) color code 1 white 6 2 black 3 light yellow 1 6 gray 6 Cool Fact: 2 Black-capped Chickadees are the smallest birds that can survive 1 winters in Interior Alaska. Each fall they hide seeds and insects 2 1 3 to eat in the winter, and their brains grow new neurons to help them remember thousands of hiding places! Food Habitat LEGEND summer winter insects & seeds mixed forests year round Page 13 Alaska Songbird Institute RCKI Ruby-crowned Kinglet 7 (Regulus calendula) 4 7 color code 7 7 1 white 4 red 7 olive green 1 Food Habitat insects mixed forests Cool Fact: Ruby-crowned Kinglets are tiny birds that lay a lot of eggs. A group of eggs in one nest is called a clutch. A female kinglet's clutch LEGEND can contain as many as 12 eggs and summer weigh more then the female herself! winter year round Page 14 Alaska Songbird Institute SWTH color code 1 white Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus) 3 light yellow 3 5 brown 5 Cool Fact: Almost 60% of the world's Swainson's Thrushes nest in the boreal forest. The boreal forest stretches across most of Canada and Alaska and is an important nesting habitat for many 5 of the world's birds. 3 5 1 Food Habitat LEGEND summer insects & berries forest edges winter year round Page 15 Alaska Songbird Institute AMRO 2 3 American Robin (Turdus migratorius) color code 2 black 3 light 6 yellow 4 red 4 6 gray Food Habitat insects & berries open woodlands LEGEND summer Cool Fact: The oldest American Robin on record was 13 years winter and 11 months old! year round Page 16 Alaska Songbird Institute OCWA color code 7 olive Orange-crowned Warbler (Vermivora celata) green 8 8 orange 7 7 7 7 Food Habitat insects shrubs LEGEND Cool Fact: Orange-crowned summer Warblers flit through vegetation removing insects from the tips of branches and leaves. winter This way of feeding is called gleaning. year round Page 17 Alaska Songbird Institute MYWA Myrtle (Yellow-rumped) Warbler (Dendroica coronata) color code 3 3 1 white 6 2 black 6 3 bright 2 yellow 1 6 gray 6 3 1 Food Habitat insects mixed forests Cool Fact: There are two different kinds of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Myrtle LEGEND warblers are found in the east and north (including Alaska). Audubon's warblers summer are found in the west. Both have a yellow winter spot on their rumps that has earned them the year nickname "butter rump!" round Page 18 Alaska Songbird Institute WIWA 2 Wilson’s Warbler 3 (Wilsonia pusilla) color code 7 2 black 3 bright yellow 3 7 olive green 7 3 Food Habitat insects shrubs Cool Fact: Wilson's Warblers LEGEND are named for Scottish-American naturalist summer Alexander Wilson. He traveled throughout winter North America in the early 1800s watching, painting, and describing the birds he saw. year round Page 19 Alaska Songbird Institute SCJU Slate-colored 9 6 (Dark-eyed) Junco (Junco hyemalis) 6 color code 1 white 1 6 gray 9 pink 6 1 Food Habitat insects & seeds mixed forests LEGEND summer Cool Fact: The male Dark-eyed winter Junco's song is an even trill that many people think sounds like a telephone. year round Page 20 Alaska Songbird Institute GWCS 1 1 2 2 1 White-crowned 6 9 Sparrow Food (Zonotrichia leucophrys) color code 1 white 2 black 5 insects & seeds 5 brown 5 6 6 gray Habitat 5 shrubs 6 LEGEND Cool Fact: A migrating White- summer crowned Sparrow was once tracked winter moving 300 miles in one night! year round Page 21 Alaska Songbird Institute LISP Lincoln’s Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) 5 5 1 6 6 5 6 5 6 3 6 3 5 color code 1 3 1 white 3 3 light 1 yellow 5 brown 6 gray Food Habitat insects & seeds wetlands LEGEND Cool Fact: Lincoln's summer Sparrows live and feed in dense grasses and shrubs.