The Turtle Dove's Journey–A Story of Migration

Curricula designed to accompany The Turtle Dove’s Journey–A Story of Migration

by Madeleine Dunphy, illustrated by Marlo Garnsworthy

Part hero’s journey, part guided tour, this account of the turtle dove’s annual migration carries readers’ imaginations into unexplored territories. Starting in the prim hedges of Su olk, England, instinct drives the dove high into the night skies for a 4,000 mile (6,400 km) trip to the savannahs of Mali, in West Africa.

Along the way are lonely, moonlit ights above the sea, a cozy hideout in the bushes of Bordeaux, France, a meeting of the birds at Gibraltar, the fountains of Casablanca, winds owing “like a river” down canyons of the Atlas Mountains, and a Sahara sandstorm churning below.

With carefully researched prose and luminous paintings, this book is perfect for anyone who has ever wondered about the mysterious journeys of Earth’s feathered creatures. Discussion Questions

Children’s book authors weave more information into their books than you may realize. Answer the questions below to see what you have learned about turtle dove migration from reading e Turtle Dove’s Journey. Provide evidence for your answers by referencing page numbers in the book.

1) Why does the turtle dove migrate?

2) How does the turtle dove know where to go?

3) How long is his migration?

4) How fast does he y?

5) How many miles does he go?

6) When migrating, why does he travel at night?

7) Where does he sleep? Why does he pick these sites?

8) What does he eat?

10) How does he bathe?

11) What predators does the turtle dove need to avoid?

12) What adverse weather conditions does he encounter? What does he do to protect himself?

13) What positive weather conditions does he encounter? How does he take advantage of them?

14) Does he travel over water? If so, where?

15) What is his nal destination? Why did he pick it?

16) Why are turtle dove populations declining?

Search these websites below (from page 32 of the book) to nd the answers to the following questions:

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds www.rspb.org.uk

Operation Turtle Dove www.OperationTurtleDove.org

BirdLife International www.BirdLife.org

What are environmental organizations doing to protect turtle doves?

What can you do to help protect turtle doves?

is map shows the migration of a turtle dove named Titan that was tracked by satellite telemetry by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). e red line shows Titan’s migration south from Su olk, England, to Mali in the autumn of 2014; the black line shows his journey north to his nesting grounds in England in the spring of 2015; and the green line shows his migration south again to Mali in the autumn of 2015.

e author of e Turtle Dove’s Journey, Madeleine Dunphy, based her book on Titan’s two migrations south shown here. e map shows:

• red, southbound, autumn 2014 • black, northbound, spring 2015 • green, southbound, autumn 2015.

Permission to reproduce and distribute this page has been granted by the copyright holder, Web of Life Children’s Books. ©2020. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and distribute artwork has been granted by the copyright holder Marlo Garnsworthy. ©2020. All rights reserved. You might wonder how scientists get such accurate data when tracking migratory birds. ey do this through satellite telemetry. Turtle doves are tted with small satellite tags that transmit information about their journeys to scientists via orbiting satellites in the sky. You might see these satellites, which look like tiny stars moving very slowly on a dark night.

e satellite tags have a rechargeable battery charged by a solar panel. In order for the batteries to recharge regularly, the tags ‘rest’ between transmission cycles. Titan’s tag was on a ‘10 hour ON, 48-hour OFF’ cycle. When fully charged, the tags can also transmit the location of the bird at night or when birds are hidden in trees, for example.

Go to https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conservation/satellite-tracking-birds/tracking-turtle-doves/ to see satellite maps of Titan’s migrations. Zoom in and you can actu- ally see surrounding landscapes, buildings and roads. On this same page, you can click on the migrations of other turtle doves that were tracked by satellite telemetry. Compare these migrations with Titan’s.

e photograph is of a turtle dove named Titan who was tracked by satellite telemetry. e light weight tag on Titan’s back enabled scientists to track his migration from Suolk, England to Mali and back again. (Photo by Tom Churchyard.)

1) Using a colored pencil, draw the turtle dove’s migration route in e Turtle Dove’s Journey on the map on the next page. (Refer to page 3 in the book.)

2) On the map, write the names of the places the turtle dove visits in e Turtle Dove’s Journey. (Refer to page 3 in the book.)

3) Find out the names of other countries in Europe and Africa and write them on the map. Refer to an atlas in the library or use the Internet to get this information.

ese two links can help:

https://kids.kiddle.co/images/0/0e/Europe_countries_map_en_2.png

https://www.ilibrarian.net/agmaps/africa.jpg

Titan on his favorite song post in Suolk, England. (Photograph by John Mallord.)

Permission to reproduce and distribute this page has been granted by the copyright holder, Web of Life Children’s Books. ©2020. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and distribute artwork has been granted by the copyright holder Marlo Garnsworthy. ©2020. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and distribute this page has been granted by the copyright holder, Web of Life Children’s Books. ©2020. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and distribute artwork has been granted by the copyright holder Marlo Garnsworthy. ©2020. All rights reserved. Research the Places the Turtle Dove Visits in The Turtle Dove’s Journey: A Story of Migration

e turtle dove can be found in 13 di erent locations in the book. Research one or more of these locations.

ings to research:

• Do people live there? • What are some of the geographical features of the location? • What other animals live there? • Is it a city, farm, country, or other environment?

Explore these and other questions selected by your teacher. (Links for Kiddle, a children’s online encyclopedia, can be found below.)

Compare and contrast the places.

Find photos of the place.

1) Suolk, England https://kids.kiddle.co/Su olk

2) London, England https://kids.kiddle.co/London

3) English Channel https://kids.kiddle.co/English_Channel

4) Bordeaux, France https://kids.kiddle.co/Bordeaux

6) Seville, Spain https://kids.kiddle.co/Seville

7) Strait of Gibraltar https://kids.kiddle.co/Strait_of_Gibraltar

8) Casablanca, Morocco https://kids.kiddle.co/Casablanca

9) Atlas Mountains https://kids.kiddle.co/Atlas_Mountains

10) Western Sahara https://kids.kiddle.co/Western_Sahara

11) Mauritania https://kids.kiddle.co/Mauritania

12) Fôret de Bandia Reserve, Senegal https://kids.kiddle.co/Senegal http://www.reservedebandia.com/home.html

13) Mali https://kids.kiddle.co/Mali

Permission to reproduce and distribute this page has been granted by the copyright holder, Web of Life Children’s Books. ©2020. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and distribute artwork has been granted by the copyright holder Marlo Garnsworthy. ©2020. All rights reserved. Illustrating The Turtle Dove’s Journey e illustrator of e Turtle Dove’s Journey, Marlo Garnsworthy, had to research the places in the book, too. She looked for pictures of each place on the Internet. (She even visited London, England, and Seville, Spain, to take reference photos!)

View of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben from the top of the London Eye Pod on top of the London Eye

She used these pictures for references as she designed each illustration in the book. She took the pictures above from the top of a huge Ferris wheel called the London Eye. (By the way, she’s scared of Ferris wheels!) First, she did rough sketches, like this one.

Finally, she painted the nished artwork.

1. Choose one of the places the turtle dove visits and look for pictures of it on the Internet. 2. Draw the scene below. 3. You can draw the turtle dove in your scene, too, if you like!

Name of Place:

Diagram the turtle dove’s body parts. Color it in.

Body Parts Feathers ☐ Head ☐Abdomen ☐Flight feathers (remiges): e feathers on a bird’s wings. ☐ Eye ☐Leg ey are divided into primary feathers, secondary feathers, ☐ roat ☐ Clawed toe and tertiary feathers. Primary feathers are those farthest ☐ Beak ☐Wings from the body and are most important for ight. ☐ Nostril ☐ Tail ☐Tail feathers (retrices): ey work like a rudder and help the ☐ Neck bird steer and brake for landing.

Write and illustrate your own story about turtle dove migration. Incorporate information you have learned about turtle doves into your story.

Use colored pencils or paints to illustrate your story, or print images from the Internet to make a collage or a diorama. Cut out the turtle dove images on the next page and then tape or glue them into your story or place them in your diorama.

Authors and illustrators rst plan their stories and illustrations. Use the space below to write down and sketch your ideas.

Permission to reproduce and distribute this page has been granted by the copyright holder, Web of Life Children’s Books. ©2020. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and distribute artwork has been granted by the copyright holder Marlo Garnsworthy. ©2020. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and distribute this page has been granted by the copyright holder, Web of Life Children’s Books. ©2020. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce and distribute artwork has been granted by the copyright holder Marlo Garnsworthy. ©2020. All rights reserved. About the Author

Madeleine Dunphy is an author and has her own publishing company, Web of Life Children’s Books— which is devoted to publishing picture books about the environment. Madeleine is also a teacher, activist and mother. She has taught special programs at museums and schools in northern California and abroad.

She has traveled extensively to research her various books, including visiting the mountain gorillas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, camping out in the Amazon rain forest in Peru, visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia, and scuba diving with sea turtles in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Madeleine lives in California, USA, with her husband, daughter, two cats and a dog.

About the Illustrator

Marlo Garnsworthy is an Australian-American illustrator, author, science communicator, and adventurer. Her published books include ction and nonction. She is also a children’s book editor and wildlife artist.

She has been on two research cruises to Antarctica, so far, and it is her favorite place on Earth. She also works with Antarctic and Arctic scientists to teach children and adults about these incredible polar places and climate change. She has been serious birdwatcher since she was a little girl, and birds are her favorite thing to draw and paint. Marlo lives near the beach in Rhode Island, USA.