Birds of Bouverie Preserve
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Birds of Bouverie Preserve CLASS READINGS Some Common Birds of Bouverie (iNaturalist) What Makes a Bird a Bird? (Nature Scope, 1985) The Incredible Egg (Greij, 1998) FAQs about Birds Bird Topography (Sibley Guide to Birds, 2000) Flappers & Wing Beat Chart All About Feathers Bird Adaptations & Bird Bills (Teachers’ Packet) What is a Raptor? Hummingbirds (Bay Nature Magazine, Laws, 2010)) The Underappreciated Undertakers (Bay Nature Magazine, Eaton, 2014) Basic Ornithology for ACR Volunteers Caching In: The landscaping ideas of jays CALNAT: The California Naturalist Handbook Chapter 6, pp. 167‐169 Key Concepts By the end of class, we hope you will LOVE Woodpecker, Hummingbird, Peregrine Falcon or BIRDS and be able to: the Turkey Vulture, and Talk to students about how bird bills and feet are Name 4 characteristics that all birds share, adapted to each bird’s habits and foraging Identify at least 3 adaptations that allow birds to behavior. fly, List some characteristics used to identify birds in the field, Identify the parts of a feather and encourage 3rd & 4th graders to speculate about the different functions of flight feathers, contour feathers, and down feathers, Observe birds in the field and speculate about subtle differences in habitat that affect how and where birds live, Amaze students with tales of some of Bouverie’s charismatic resident birds, such eas th Acorn Resources Online Check out ACR’s online field guide to Some Common Birds of Bouverie Preserve on iNaturalist at www.inaturalist.org/guides/2118 All About Birds, the public website of Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology, includes species‐specific information and general information on identifying birds. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds Sonoma County’s chapter of the National Audubon Society is Madrone Audubon. It offers ongoing bird walks, learning opportunities, newsletter and more. http://www.audubon.sonoma.net/ For information on local birding hot spots and bird counts, go to: www.sonomabirding.com/ Explore the Point Blue Conservation Science (formerly Point Reyes Bird Observatory) website at http://www.pointblue.org/. A wealth of information on local and global conservation science as it relates to birds. Meet the Geese! One of the great excitements of spring at Bouverie is the arrival of the Belltower Geese. Each year, in March or April, a pair of Canada Geese builds a nest on top of the Belltower in to which Mama goose lays a clutch of 2 to 8 eggs. She won’t actually sit on the eggs until the last one appears, insuring that the entire brood hatches about the same time — after about 23 to 30 days incubation. The goslings are able to leave the nest within 24 hours of hatching, fully able to swim and feed. The most exciting day is jumping day and there are no bungees involved! We install a landing tarp so that the flightless Belltower goslings have a soft landing. The adults then lead the goslings to the Quarry Pond in the Lower field for their first swim. In the Bouverie Library (alphabetically by title) Bird Feathers. By S. David Scott and Casey McFarland. (2010) Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA A brand new resource for our library with excellent photos for comparing feather types and species. Birds Nests and Eggs. By Mel Boring. (1996) NorthWood Press, Chanhassen, MN. Bird Tracks and Sign. By Mark Elbroch and Eleanor Marks. (2001) Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA. The Birders’ Handbook. (1998) . By Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye. Simon & Schuster Inc., New York. California Birds, Their Status and Distribution. By Arnold Small. (1994) Ibis Publishing Company. Field Guide to the Birds of North America. (2000) One of the birders’ Trail Tip bibles, published by the National Geographic Society. Have your students try out their “wings” by extending their arms Manual of Ornithology: Avian Structure and Function. By Proctor & Lynch. (1993) Yale University Press. and flapping away. See how long they can keep up an easy pace of one flap per second before Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North America (Second Edition). By Paul getting tired. Baicich And J.O. Harrison. (1997) Academic Press. Then tell them that some birds, The Sibley Guide to Birds. By David Allen Sibley. (2000) Alfred A. like the lesser golden plover, can Knopf, New York. fly for 48 hours straight flapping the whole time. The Sibley Guide to Bird Behavior. (2001) Edited by Chris Elphick, Do their arms ache? Of course John Dunning, and David Allen Sibley. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. they do because humans get around by walking so our leg Sonoma County Bird Atlas. By Betty Burridge (1995) muscles are much stronger than our “wing” muscles. But for most birds (except ostriches and other What the Robin Knows. By Jon Young. (2012) Houghton, Mifflin, big walkers), it’s just the Harcourt. The art and science of Bird Language and how to use it to opposite. sharpen your nature observation skills. Use the wing beat chart on the “Flappers” page in your reading to see what kind of bird your hikers can fly like. Get them flapping. If they can flap 2-3 beats per second (20 flaps in 10 seconds), they are flying like a crow, a robin or a pigeon. What about a starling (that’s 4 to 5 beats a second!). Hummingbirds? At 60 to 70 beats per second….they are the champs! SEQUOIA CLUB More Key Concepts: By the end of this class, we hope you have a better understanding of The evolutionary relationship between birds and other animal groups, especially dinosaurs and modern day reptiles, The mysteries of bird migration, and The very cool way birds breathe. Some Common Birds of Bouverie Preserve (August 2015) Nuttall's Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Acorn Woodpecker Picoides nuttallii 1 Picoides pubescens 2 Dryocopus pileatus 3 Melanerpes formicivorus 4 Northern Flicker Western Screech-Owl Northern Spotted Owl Great Horned Owl Colaptes auratus 5 Megascops kennicottii 6 Strix occidentalis caurina 7 Bubo virginianus 8 Barn Owl Mourning Dove Band-tailed Pigeon Anna's Hummingbird Tyto alba 9 Zenaida macroura 10 Patagioenas fasciata 11 Calypte anna 12 Allen's Hummingbird California Quail Great Blue Heron Peregrine Falcon Selasphorus sasin 13 Callipepla californica 14 Ardea herodias 1 Falco peregrinus 15 American Kestrel Cooper's Hawk Sharp-shinned Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Falco sparverius 16 Accipiter cooperii 17 Accipiter striatus 18 Buteo jamaicensis 19 Red-shouldered Hawk White-tailed Kite Turkey Vulture Tree Swallow Buteo lineatus 20 Elanus leucurus 19 Cathartes aura 21 Tachycineta bicolor 22 Violet-green Swallow Baltimore Oriole Western Meadowlark Oak Titmouse Tachycineta thalassina 13 Icterus galbula 23 Sturnella neglecta 24 Baeolophus inornatus 25 White-breasted Nuthatch House Wren Pacific Wren Bewick's Wren Sitta carolinensis 26 Troglodytes aedon 27 Troglodytes pacificus 28 Thryomanes bewickii 29 American Robin Hermit Thrush Western Bluebird Varied Thrush Turdus migratorius 10 Catharus guttatus 30 Sialia mexicana 30 Ixoreus naevius 31 Ash-throated Flycatcher Olive-sided Flycatcher Pacific-slope Flycatcher Black Phoebe Myiarchus cinerascens 13 Contopus cooperi 27 Empidonax difficilis 27 Sayornis nigricans 13 Cassin's Vireo Warbling Vireo Hutton's Vireo Ruby-crowned Kinglet Vireo cassinii 27 Vireo gilvus 32 Vireo huttoni 30 Regulus calendula 33 Dark-eyed Junco Song Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Golden-crowned Sparrow Junco hyemalis 34 Melospiza melodia 34 Spizella passerina 35 Zonotrichia atricapilla 36 White-crowned Sparrow Spotted Towhee California Towhee Northern Mockingbird Zonotrichia leucophrys 37 Pipilo maculatus 19 Melozone crissalis 38 Mimus polyglottos 39 Black-headed Grosbeak Western Tanager Wilson's Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler 27 40 12 Pheucticus melanocephalus Piranga ludoviciana Cardellina pusilla Setophaga coronata 12 Black-throated Gray Orange-crowned Warbler Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Bushtit Warbler Oreothlypis celata 32 Polioptila caerulea 27 Psaltriparus minimus 42 Setophaga nigrescens 41 Cedar Waxwing Brown Creeper Western Scrub-Jay American Crow Bombycilla cedrorum 43 Certhia americana 44 Aphelocoma californica 45 Corvus brachyrhynchos 46 Common Raven Steller's Jay Lesser Goldfinch House Finch Corvus corax 47 Cyanocitta stelleri 48 Spinus psaltria 49 Haemorhous mexicanus 22 Purple Finch 50 Haemorhous purpureus Photos: 1. 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