Activities

Activity 2
Looking for Field Marks

Teacher-Led Field/Classroom Activity
Science/Research

 

How do you figure out what kind of bird you’re seeing?

Objective:

Students learn to observe birds, recognize and record field marks, and use field guides and other resources to identify the birds’ species.

Students will need:

• Naturalists’ Journals
• “Field Mark Clues” reproducible, at least two for each student
• Binoculars (optional)
• Pencils
• Resources for identify birds, including local and regional field guides

Suggested time:

Twenty minutes in class to review field marks; one class period for a field trip; one class period or homework time to identify birds.

What to do:

1. Make plans ahead of time for a trip to an area where birds can be spotted.
2. Have a class discussion about how to tell one kind of bird from another. Review “Who’s That Bird” on page 3 of the Get to Know Birds student magazine, found here. Discuss birds’ field marks—characteristics such as size, color and patterns, crests, beak shape, tail shape, and so on.
3. Look through field guides and have students identify field marks of birds shown in pictures.
4. Distribute copies of the “Field Mark Clues” reproducible. Have multiple copies available for each student.
5. In the field, students observe and record the field marks for as many different perching bird species as possible, using the reproducible as well as their Naturalists’ Journals.
6. Back in the classroom, students can use field guides and other resources to identify the species of the birds they saw in the field.

Alternative:

If you are unable to take students on a field trip, you can do this activity using unlabeled photographs of local or regional bird species.

Follow-up/Extension:

Have students create silhouettes to record the field marks of other kinds of birds, such as wading birds, swimming birds, woodpeckers, and birds of prey such as hawks and owls.

Photos: Camilla Cerea; depositphotos.