How do Indigenous peoples observe birds so closely, and how did we come to build airplanes? With all these questions in mind, we turn the classroom into a little corner of mixed forest by bringing the flying critters to us.
Together we study the anatomy of their feathers and understand lift by handling specimens from our beautiful collection.
We compare different nests, look at an ostrich egg from South Africa and dissect an owl pellet. Finally, our young ornithologists learn the secrets of the calls and songs of ten British Columbia bird species.
A workshop that will have everyone singing like a lark!
Learning goals (elementary)
- Classify birds within the animal kingdom and by class.
- Match parts of a bird’s body with their functions (wings, beak, feet, feathers).
- Describe how birds adapt to their environment (nests, migration).
- Match some birds with their diet (carnivore, omnivore, herbivore).
- Sort some birds by their song.
