Bird Adaptation and Survival

British Columbia PLO's:

• Science 6, 7, 8

Background:

Throughout this activity students will explore bird adaptations and predict what birds are most likely to survive – or perish – in the face of global climate change. This is an advanced activity that is somewhat complex and requires students to have independent work skills, and be able to use computers to search the internet, unless considerable preparation is done before the class.

This is a good activity to do after some discussion on abrupt climate change and the impacts that it will have on marine and coastal environments. The students will get the most out of this activity if they have a good understanding of the global impacts of climate change and how specific ecosystems and organisms will be affected.

If you do this lesson in early December or February you may be able to time the lesson with participation in either the Christmas Bird Count or the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Birds are an amazing group of animals underappreciated by many. All birds are in the Class Aves of Kingdom Animalia, with over 9600 species. Birds have very unique adaptations that allow them to take advantage of a variety of habitats. Most birds have hollow bones for flying, horny bills (lighter than teeth) for eating, and feathers as strong waterproof insulators.

Some birds are very specialized and may be susceptible to changes in their environment. Many species are already in decline due to habitat loss and declining food sources and are further threatened by climate change. Such bird species will likely decrease in numbers and distribution, and some may go extinct over the next century.

Materials:

• Ocean News article: What about the birds?
• Bird books
• Bird posters
• Bird images from magazines
• Markers
• Poster paper
• Access to computers
• Journals/notebooks
• Computers with internet access
• Printouts of images of predicted global temperature and rainfall changes

Optional

• Binoculars
• Spotting scopes
• CBC clip from The Big Melt special on the National
• BBC Life of Birds movie
• Internet connection with projector for classroom viewing of CBC

Procedure:

1. Read the What about the birds article in Ocean News as a class or individually.
2. Have the class list the bird species that are found in the local area or any other species they have seen. Books and posters will help with this activity.
3. As a class, make a list on the board of bird adaptations (i.e. bill for eating, feathers, ability to fly, feet for pecking or swimming, hollow bones, egg laying). Review how birds are related to other organisms including humans in terms of kingdoms, phyla and classes. The Tree of Life website can be a good source, as well as Wikipedia.
4. In small groups get the students to look at the species they have named and their corresponding images. Ask them to list the adaptations that allow these birds to thrive in different environments: temperature tolerance, food choice, nesting sites, colour/camouflage, incubation periods, migration, defense/warning systems etc. Have a recorder in each group write down the ideas.
5. As a class, ask the students how climate change will affect seabirds and shorebirds specifically. Ask them to consider the topics in the Ocean News article including coastal habitat, fish and plankton populations, storm frequency, etc.
6. Break the class up into small groups that will look at specific species of birds and how they might be affected by climate change.
7. The groups will look at four areas for each bird species they examine. By combining the data they will make predictions about how their birds will survive in a changing climate. Depending on the class, you may want to choose the bird species in advance and prepare some of the information in a condensed folder of some sort to minimize time spent on searching.
8. Place the instruction sheet on an overhead or hand it out to the students to keep the students on track.

Things to consider about bird survival

1. Habitat - How the bird's winter and summer habitat change in terms of temperatures and precipitation over the next few decades, centuries due to climate change will greatly affect the survival of the birds. Ask the students to consider if the birds have very specialized habitat needs, or live in a variety of areas. What areas do the birds depend on and how will these areas be affected by abrupt climate change? Have the students ise maps and bird books to study their bird's habitat.

2. Migration routes - Remembering that the birds will stop along the way and rely on these regions in order to complete their journey how will the areas used during migration be affected by climate change? The students need to take into consideration temperature and precipitation changes, but also increased storm intensities, rising sea levels, other abrupt climate change impacts. Use the predicted temperature and percipitation change maps ti understand how areas will change.

3. Food supply and specialization - Food resources will also greatly influence bird survival. Have the students compare the birds being studied to the images of the birds bill adaptation chart. Ask the students to consider if the bird's prey species are at risk or not when making their predictions about bird survival. Are they specialist or generalist eaters?

4. Historical data - The Audubon Society has been conducting Christmas Bird Counts since 1900. During this time data on bird populations and distributions have been collected and entered from across North America. Their website has a great tool where you can create graphs for bird species that have been observed over the years, the numbers observed and their locations. Have the students create and examine the maps and graphs for their bird species in North America . Have them look at how the observations have changed. The students should incorporate this data into the predictions on whether on not the species will thrive or struggle over the next several decades.

Have the students work on their species for the remainder of the class and finish any necessary components as homework.

Next Day
1. Have the groups create a presentation that will share their ideas with the rest of the class. This can be a short, simple poster or a piece of writing or a skit depending on what you want the focus to be on. This should include their prediction and a short explanation. Give them approximately 20 minutes to prepare. Presentations should be between 2-4 minutes.
2. Have the groups present their presentations.
3. To end the section, time permitting, watch either the BBC's Life of Birds episode (45 minutes), or the CBC's The Big Melt: A Tale of Two colonies (8 minutes).

Discussion:

• How will some birds be more suited to a changing climate than others?
• What areas of the world, and thus the birds of that area, will be most affected by climate change?
• What geographic area of Canada will be most affected by climate change that could affect bird populations? What birds depend on this area?
• What other species of birds that are not specifically seabirds or shorebirds but will be impacted by changing ocean conditions around the world due to abrupt climate change?

Extension and Resources:

• Map showing how the temperature is predicted to change around the globe http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/climatechange/scenarios/globalannualtemp2050
• Map that showing the predicted precipitation changes due to climate change http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/climatechange/scenarios/globalannualprecip2050
• The Christmas Bird Count is run by the Audubon Society and has been held for over 100 years with participants from across North America.
• The Great Backyard Bird Count happens in each year. It is a great way to start bird-watching and can be done easily with small groups.
• Take the class on a birding trip. This can be around the school yard or perhaps to a local bird sanctuary. This will help them learn more about birds and add to their species list.
• Encourage the students to continue their bird lists at home with their families on their own time. Revisit their lists throughout the year and make a class list that can be added to.
• The BBC Supergoose series tracked Brant geese from Ireland to Canada 's Arctic . The larger study is complete but there are still geese being tracked and you can learn about the program online and track the surviving goose. It is a great site to show students what types of studies are being done.
• BBC's Life of Birds is a documentary that focuses on birds around the world and their special adaptations. As a class watch one or several of these 45 minute videos. They all specialize on different aspects of bird life.
• CBC's The Big Melt installment A Tale of Two Bird Colonies is a short clip from a larger series. The 8 min feature shows two bird colonies in the Canadian Arctic and how climate change is affecting the area. This is a good way to end the class on section on birds.
• A good general bird article for the students to read is found in Environment Science News “One in four bird species could disappear by century's end”
• A great webpage that can help students identify birds on line is What Bird.com which includes images, geographical range, audio clips of their calls.

List of bird species

This is a list of some of the species that you can use for this activity. This list is composed of seabirds and shorebirds with at least partial distributions in Canada.

• Common Eider
• Thick-billed Murre (Brunnich's Guillemot)
• Common Murre
• Common Loon
• Pacific Loon
• Brant Goose
• Rhinocerous Auklet
• Ancient Murrelet
• Marbled Murrelet
• Ivory Gull
• Glaucous Gull
• Harlequin Duck
• Surf Scoter
• Black Scoter
• Greater Scaup
• Roseate Tern
• Belted Kingfisher
• Black Oystercatcher
• Common Goldeneye
• Pelagic Cormorant
• Bufflehead
• Cassin's Auklet
• Green-winged Teal
• Horned Puffin
• Iceland Gull
• King Eider
• Manx Shearwater
• Sooty Shearwater
• Marbled Godwit
• Lesser Yellowlegs
• Parasitic Jaeger
• Pigeon Guillemot
• Red-necked Grebe
• Red Phalarope

Risk management:

Outdoor activities always involve some risk management. Make sure that while birding students are still being aware of their surroundings and not just focused on looking for birds. If leaving the school property ensure that all the paperwork and appropriate supervision is complete. Birding is done best in the mornings. Make sure that the students are dressed for any weather conditions that may occur.

Downloadable PDF of this lesson plan.