Birds
Birds
Birds
Birds
ENRE
Ecology and Natural Resource Education
Development Research Communication & Services Centre
Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 5 1
'Creative lesson plan on Birds' (Selections from ‘Basbhumi’ : booklet - 5)
Copyright - 2004 ENRE project / DRCSC (Contributions towards printing cost : Rs. 30 / also
available on exchange with EE materials & publications)
Booklets are available in Bengali also.
Your contributions will help us to keep producing forthcoming booklets.
No restrictions on copying for educational and non-commercial purposes, but do mention the
aource and if possible please send us a copy.
We are thankful to AEON Group Environment Foundation (Japan) for partial financial
support towards the production & distribution cost of this booklet
Review and Make Sure (Step 2) – for platform towards next step
Review & Discussion 38
Teachers' Note : 'Source Books for Birds' 39
Put it Together & Gap Filling Work 40
Teachers' Note : 'Supportive Materials for Learning 43
Birds'
Lesson plans and their feedback (Step 3) – Investigation / Project
Work
Activity (A) 'What is their Relation? - Agriculture, Birds and
Scarecrows' 46
Activity (B) 'Inviting Birds into SchoolYard' 52
From ENRE 78
We hope this booklet is useful for other teachers and educators, as well
as community workers and even for those parents who are actively
involved in environmental education or environmental activities in their own
local
<how this booklet has been prepared>
community.
And we shall be Basbhu
mi ☺ ☺
topic 4
delighted if this - Med.
p la n ts
booklet can 5 - Bird
V
6 - Fue
help in 1st step
l • teachers get an idea about
the lesson plans and activities
nurturing the 2nd ste
p V
mind & spirit of 3rd ste
p
young • teachers work out with
children according to the
generation who lesson plans
Feed
back
can take a key modifying &
from
teach training of ENRE
ers
role for caring additional à teachers
information v à Overview of the Expert
their own
booklets on each topic
environment ☺ ø
Birds
and community ENRE Resource æ reference
=
ø
life. ☺ æ Centre
ø ø books
æ
æ
For home :
Ø You can try out some of these activities with children in your home
during their school holidays. We are sure you can design your own
'home –based' activity for a greener world, because we have already got
feedbacks about this.
• In ‘reference’ section, we have included expert’s view point on the topic and
also have introduced some useful documents. You can get some ideas how
community based activity can be related and contribute to global environmental
issues etc. and hopefully you can utilize these resources & information to
strengthen your capacity of facilitating activities.
Curriculum connection
Creative lesson plan has an integrated curriculum approach. This helps you to
weave what you are doing in science or EVS (environmental studies) with math,
language, social studies, geography and art etc. We illustrate below how each
activity in this booklet can be connected to school curriculum.
We are getting positive feedback from network teachers that children had certainly
shown increased interest to learn other
school subjects and developed
their leadership abilities after
practicing activity-based Environment
lesson plans. Art Education
=
Science
Maths
Social Science
n Activity Steps
=
ð Step 2 Review & Make Sure
=Activity (A)
'Birds in Stories'
= Activity (B)
'My Experience with
Birds'
collecting & classifying observation, keeping
information records, classifying
literature, reading skill writing skill (Language),
(Language), ranking drawing (Art)
(Maths)
class periods required 2~3 class periods required
periods; 11/2 hrs per peiod - 3~4 periods
v
to create child-oriented activity. Children can apply their
collected information into designing studies which are
meaningful for the community.
= Activity (A)
'What is their Relation ? –
= Activity (B)
'Inviting Birds into
Agriculture, Birds & Schoolyard'
Scarecrows'
field trip, interview, data practical work,
analysis, art work, writing awareness
report campaign, craft
Sure
class periods class periods
required 4 ~ 5 periods required 3 ~ 4 periods
, have a discussion with children to (1.5 hours/period) +
ork. Put any missing information and regular observation &
necessary points for the next step. taking care of birds
question and initiative solution.
Observation skill ü ü ü ü ü
Bird's external morphology ü ü ü
Birds & food chain / web ü ü
Birds' habitat ü ü ü ü ü
Birds & Agriculture ü ü
(injurious / beneficial
birds)
Bird watching ü ü
Conservation of birds ü ü
=
Lesson Plans
=
Feedbacks
= Objectives
• To create childrens' interest on common birds.
• To try out integrated subject approach to increase children's eagerness to learn
about birds.
• To help children to observe common birds more carefully.
è Children
want to
know more
about
birds; their
names,
habitat,
food habits
etc.
If there are some, those children are requested to tell the outline of the story & how the
bird is described there.
= Information Collection
Collect more stories with the children. They can visit a school library and go through the
books or ask other teachers/parents if they know any stories in which birds appear.
There are several good stories in the “Panchatantra”. After the children have searched
for stories by themselves, the teacher can tell the children more stories if necessary
(see the following list).
It would be better to use a separate sheet for summarising each story. (One record
sheet per story)
Discuss with the children what points need to be mentioned for keeping a record of
stories.
Develop a format that the children can use every time they want to make a record of a
story. This practice is very useful for developing language and writing skills and to in
crease their vocabulary, especially the words describing characters & behaviours.
4. "Himsuka"
v
ry book/publisher/year
Old stork tricked the
fishes and ate them
crab realized stork's all up. The
trick and finally stork
by crab. Other fish, fro was killed
g & crab are all happ
that. y after
n Description of
Bird (in story)
• lives in tank
• eats fish, frog, crab
• character : Wicked
, liar
n Comment of th
e Recorder
I have not seen stork.
I wonder if bird beco
how they hunt food? mes old
n Des
crip tion of
Bird
Likes m
oon
n Com
ment
Mrs. Ow
l can als
mother to o blame
ld if we Mr. Owl.
h ear the My gran
may hap owl's vo d
pen, but ice, bad
I don't th th ings
ink so.
(student'
s name,
class, d
ate)
It is interesting to find out which bird appears in stories most and make ranking on
'popular bird in stories' (same stories should be treated one story).
Then put summary information into a chart which shows the result at a glance. (popularity
ranking, described bird's character / attitude, habitat and food etc.) Don't forget to
mention the basic information, for example
In addition to these information, children can put birds' drawings to these and information
based on their daily observation children can put any saying or proverb related to the
particular bird on the information sheet also. (eg. hearing owl's voice is unlucky sign etc).
Example summary sheet is shown on the next page.
v
2 (Background information) example summary sheet
v
Popular Birds in Stories and Our Observation
We (14 children class IV - V) collected total 36 stories, folk tales,
and poems in which birds appear from books & our neighbours
4. Birds 'Birds of
(general) a feather
flock
together'
5. Parrot
Feedback
Step 1 – Activity (A)
= Feedback Summary
Name of
group
(Ashurali) (Swanirvar) (Swanirvar) (Swanirvar)
General
information
n Students from one of the Swanirvar group (teacher : Amal Sarkar) collected 6 stories
and 3 rhymes on birds. The list is given below :
Collected stories : 'Heron and Wolf', 'Getting friends', 'Heron eats fish', 'Un
known birds', 'Tailor bird & cat'.
1. H e r o n / Greedy Top of the Fish, crab Back of Top of trees Various kind fisher-
Egret bamboo canal, pond, of fish & man bird
irland of river crab
4. Parrot / Clever Bird cage Grains Old trees, Hole of tree Ripe fruits
Parakeet ricefield, trunk grain
orchard
7. Macaw Intelligent Bird cage Chick pea Zoo Hole of Grains Clever
trees bird
8. Baya Clever & Palm tree, Palm tree Palm tree Paddy, Weaver
wise nest looks like wheat, bird
lamp cover small
insects
n Students of the village Gokulpur under the guidance of teacher Tarun Mondol have
collected 6 stories and 2 poems on birds. This group concluded that most popular
birds in the stories are
1. Koel 2. Crow 3. Tailor bird
The collected stories are : Helon and crow, Crow, deer & fox, Cowherd boy & lame
duck, Clever duck & fox, Tailor bird and cat, Three queens and cuckoo, Old women
and parrot, Lemon girl, Cuckoo & cat, Sparrow and tiger, Crow & vessel.
Name
ame of the bird - Warbler
(mentioned in the story)
Name of the story - Warbler and the Cat
Source - Bengali book of class III,
Writer - Upendra Kishore RoyChowdhury
Outline of the story - Once a Warbler has made his nest upon a brinjal plant. There was two
baby birds in the nest. A cat used to come there everyday with an
intention to eat the babies. But the mother Warbler protects her babies
away from the cat by a wise trick. Everday when the cat come, the
Warbler please him with a praising bow. But when the babies learnt to
fly then the Warbler kicked the cat and flew away.
Characteristics of the bird - The Warbler lived in brinjal plant, fed her babies and have tried to satisfy
(mentioned in the story) the cat.
Remarks - I think that the Warbler is a very clever bird.
Baby Goldar - class IV
(teacher - Sudip Kr. Mondol)
Imaginary birds
Poem
Oh peacock dear,
My little one is very angry
Please come here.
When you lift up your plumes
When you lift it up high
It seems like a rainbow
I have seen Painted in the sky.
crow
☺ Tailor Bird - Tuntuni is known as tailor bird. By his sharp beak a Tuntuni have used tree
fibres, silk worm and weles as threads, and prepare fine nests.
Fisherman - Kingfisher is known as Fisherman Bird. They are very colourful. We observed
Bird they sat on bent branches of the trees, upon the sides of ponds and river and was
waiting for fish. When a fish appeared over the water, they quickly caught the fish
and came again at the same position.
Weaver Bird - Babui is known as Weaver Bird. By bits of dry grass and leaves they can make
beautiful nests. It looks like a water vessel in reverse position.
Pranati Saw – class V
(teacher - Aloke Majhi)
☺ Crow - Crows are supposed to inform about the death, which mean they convey bad
news. Crows sit comfortably on the dead bodies of the various animals, which
floats along the river and have it. Crows mainly eat rice, dead-decaying animal
bodies and insects, dal, fruits of the banyan tree, ripen papaya & other fruits. Their
nests are made of 'Kano' leaves. It's meat is not eatable. Cannot speak and so are
not domesticated. It's also known as the sweeper bird. It cries caw caw.
Magpie Robin - Usually these feed on earthworm, termites etc.
Egret - These are found mainly around ditches. Fond of fishes. During the afternoon and
evening they sit on the lower branches of the trees surrounding marshy areas and
keep on looking into the water. As soon as any fish swims in the upper layer of the
water, they catch them to have it. Before it grows dark they back to their nests.
Can't speak and are not domesticated. They make their nests in bushes and on
bamboo trees with grasses.
Owl - In an assembly of animals and birds, the king of the jungle instructed that the worst
or ugly looking birds are to be thrown out of the forests. Being very clever the owl
volunteered, "My Lord, I want to take the resposibility". The king understood the
shrewdness and ordered, "it is allright, no one will have to leave the forest. All of
them will live together in this forest." An owl hoots.
(illustrations put by ENRE)
24 Selections from 'Basbhumi' : booklet - 5
1 – (A) Feedback
= Teacher's Comment
Children got interest on birds through this activity. They learn about birds in Nature
Science and Life Science classes. So there are scopes to use these lesson plans
effectively in school curriculum also. (Sourendra Nath Sen)
Sharing Ideas
= To know about Birds' nicknames is interesting starting point to learn about birds
and their habit. Encourage children to find out the fact behind the nickname given to
a certain bird. For example, when children search the reason why 'koel is called
lazy bird', they can learn about species of parasitic birds and foster birds. (ENRE)
Makes nest by folding over leaves in When a bird species puts the
the form of funnel by stitching along the responsibilites of nestbuilding, incubation
edges. and rearing of its chicks on to another
species it is known as a parasitic bird.
Uses soft fibres, cotton wool and other The species that performs the above
plant matter, line the nest. duties, is known as a foster bird or a
foster parent. The koel is a classic
Nesting season is April to September. example of a parasitic bird, while the
House Crow is an example of a foster
Lays 3-4 eggs, reddish/bluish white parent. The koel is not the only parasitic
spotted with brownish red. bird. The cuckoo family has this peculiar-
ity all over the world.
Female alone incu-
bates and both Varied species of birds are selected as
parents share the foster parents. It is
domestic duties. rather strange that
majority of the
foster birds are
smaller in size
than the parasitic
birds.
Extract from "Nature Scope India : Birds, Birds, Birds" (CEE, 1999, pg 29 & 34)
= Objectives
• To create children's interest on common birds.
• To know what children already know about birds.
• To grow children's skills of observation & keeping record.
= Success Indicators
=
Activity
Create Interest & Motivation
Ask children what kind of experience do they have with birds. Teacher explains even
small & tiny experiences are welcome and tell own experience as an example. Then
ask some children to share their experience in group/class. Other children can ask
questions to him/her too.
= Information Collection
Collect more stories of experiences with birds. Ask children to write down own experi-
ences. Better use a format for writing. It helps, because children will not miss all
necessary points and it makes easier to arrange those information later. Use one
sheet for one experience.
Tell children that writing clearly is very important. They need to mention several points
like when it happened, where it happened, what happened and they can add how they
felt? This practice provides good opportunity for developing language skills especially
for expressing & logical writing.
Children can write any small experience which they remebered. If children are eager to
do more, ask them to keep record of their new experiences for one week. Try to put
encouraged drawing also. It helps to make their writing clearer & attractive.
Some example sheets are shown here (experience 2-4 are in the next page) :
bird's name
Sheet One couple of Dove made their nest in the bush of paper flower under the window of
3/4 my house. I saw one egg in the nest. But a few days later the egg had disappeared
& the doves were gone too. I wondered whether some other bird ate up their egg.
(middle of April, 2000)
Sheet Beside my house one house is under the construction, water was kept on the roof for
4/4 settlement. Water depth was about 7-10cm. Many kind of birds used to come there
for taking bath. I could
observe crow, magpie robin,
dove, kingfisher, mynah and
bulbul's baby too.
(May-June'00)
Read & listen to all experiences gathered. Put all sheets on the wall according to
the birds. How many kinds of birds gathered in childrens' record? Make ranking of bird
according to the number of occurance. It shows us which one is the most common bird
for children.
Children are requested to summarize information for each bird by group work. Later put
those summaries in one sheet.
Children can put drawings / photos for identification of bird. It can be interesting to even
put feathers if they could find them.
1. Magpie 34
Robin
2. Bulbul 28
3. Dove ----
= Feedback Summary
Name of
group
Swanirvar Swanirvar
General
information
= Results
Crow
ds
My experiences on Bir
stored his
Heading : I have seen how a crow
excess collected food for later days.
My experiences on Birds
rted
What I felt : When two kingfishers sta
away, this acc nt could not
ide
fighting, if I had chased them
e I was busy... From this
have happened. But that tim
birds had jealousy & envy for
experience I realized those
each other.
Bl ac k Dr on go Tailor bird
on Bir ds
Sh ee t : My ex pe rie nc es
My experience a
Heading : Black Drongo was catching
caterpillar
When : June-July
t
Where : In a Jeol tree of the marke Shek Rakesh, class V
ck Drongo was on the
What happened : One Bla
there for a long time, then
branch of the tree. He was Chil
erpillar from under the
suddenly he picked up a cat
still on the same spot.
leaves. After eating he was
prised that
What I felt : After seeing this I was sur
r so easily & see ms to find
the bird eats up a caterpilla itch ing & pain if
Md. Sarik
a Khatun,
l so mu ch class V
them so tasty, though we fee trees get
y and ma ny
catterpillar touches our bod
ter pillar. I rea lly wonder why the birds Parkee
t
damaged by cat
en catterpillar is in their
don't get any pain itching wh
mouth.
VII Teacher : Sourendranath Sen
Maulbox Garui, class
Gokulpur Project
Md. Fa
rida Khatun
, class
V
01. Duck White & black Snail, Panck Godess Saraswati Tamed in
rice-dust panck (A bengali goddess home
of wisdom and fine arts)
03. Hen Black & white Rice, Kawk- Not existed Tamed in
puffed rice, kawk home
bread etc
04. Sparrow Grey and ash Rice & fruits Chi-chi Not existed In deserved
coloured building &
upon trees
06. Koel Having a Ripe fruits Kuhu- Not existed On the branch
contrast of kuhu of trees
black & white
07. Parakeet Green Gram, rice, Ti-ti, Not existed In the holes
chilli, banyan, kitch-kitch of coconut
fruits trees
10. Koel Ash coloured Grass seeds Kuhu- Not existed On branches
kuhu of trees
3) Students enjoyed the activity very much, but usually they can not get
time for activity because of taking private tuitions in leisure time.
n Our students were quite happy to do these activities. Class 4-6 students learn
about birds' behaviour, nature & identification feature in the Nature & Science or
Biology curriculum in second term.
Therefore alongwith class work I think students can also get activity based
learning opportunity through this Basbhumi lesson plans.
= Lesson Plans
= Feedbacks
o After conducting the preparatory work (with A or B), you have now an idea of the children's
experiences and what they already know about Birds.
In this Review session, let's have a look at the summary charts prepared by the children
and have discussion in the class what they have understood from preparatory work.
List up all initial conclusions and also further questions that what children are interested
to know more & investigate.
Some indications are mentioned here.
Introduce Story
"Bau salikh & Bangburo" (see Teacher's note)
Teacher's Note
• The following books are recommended for identification of birds' name and as good
references for bird drawings.
1 3
2 4
• To think about Birds & ecology there is a good story book. "Bausalikh ar Bangburo"
("Jui Phuler Rumal" / Kartik Ghosh / Sishu Sahitya Samsad / 1996)
You can introduce reference books or supportive learning aid like Data Cards (see
Teacher's Note p.49) for children to fill up missing observation points.
Through this activity children can aware of each Bird's character and why different
bird has different shape of beak & feet etc.
Make sure that children know the parts of the bird's body which they need to observe
carefully.
Crown
Nape
Beak
Chin
Back
Breast
Wings
Rump
Belly
Tail
Feet
Insect/fruit eater
(myna) Perching
(crow)
Seed eater
Climbing
(sparrow )
(parakeet)
Seed/fruit eater
(parakeet)
Catching prey
Meat/fish (kite)
(raptor)
Collect information and learn about birds' nest and seasons of laying eggs. Children
must realize that there are various types / shapes of nest made of different nesting
materials. These studies will help children's further activities for birds conservation.
Type (Example birds)
• Ground nests (Jungle fowls)
• Nest on trees / buildings (a large number of birds)
• Tree hole nest (owls, woodpeckers, resident ducks)
• Tunnel nests (Kingfishers, hoopoes, bee eaters)
• Mud nests (Swallows)
Shapes (Example birds)
• Cup-shaped nests with using cobweb (iora, orioles, reed warblers)
• Domed or ball-shaped nests made of twigs, (Munias and some Babblers)
grass, rootlets
• Pendent nests which are suspended from branch or twig
• Woven oblong purse which are attached to (Baya weaver bird)
stems of tall grass or low bushes
• Stiched nests (Tailor birds,Wren-warblers)
Teacher's Note
As you see examples on page 40-41, supportive materials for birds are prepared by ENRE
to activate the observation skill of the children about birds as natural resources in their
surroundings.
This material contains Bird's 'worksheet' and 'data-cards'. Line drawing of 12 birds which
are commonly observed and taking important role in local eco-system in West Bengal are
introduced in the worksheet. Children will fill-up its content according to their observations
and concepts. Same way, children can collect data for other birds also. Through this
materials children can learn how to describe the each bird's character.
= Lesson Plans
= Feedbacks
= Objectives
• To learn about the role & function
of birds in agricultural field.
Art
Create scarecrow, Science,
birds' drawing Environment Study
Health
Agriculture, Birds & Food chain and
Pesticide & human health Scarecrow food web
Organic agricultural Productivity Bird type according
to food
How to interview farmers'
Writing report knowledge on crop protec-
tion, effect of pesticide
Language use, organic farming Social Study
= Review
Activity Process
into chart/poster.
Bird
s da
how
we rice f mage
can ield
Summarizing inc
rea
se t
he
Information m
how
we
can
pr
ot
ec
t
b) Children can try out several ideas for attracting the beneficial
birds to the rice field /
vegetable field. Keep
records to see whether
these ideas work well or
not. (eg. putting high
sticks where birds can
sit/perch stand). Also
make posters to grow
awareness for protecting
beneficial birds.
Protect birds
such as egret, cuckoo, wood pecker, stork,
Warbler & babbler which feed on insects.
Owls, bats and peacocks help to control
rat and mice populations.
ê
Evaluation Each group are requested to make report how their practice worked
out. Teachers guide children to summarize what they learn about the
relation between birds - insects - crops - pesticide.
Teacher summarize the important points to cover the overall goal of
whole series of activity. It is also important to set up ocassion that
children can share their survey results with farmers & community
members.
Feedback
Step 3 – Activity (A)
= Feedback Summary
Name of
group
(Swanirvar) (Swanirvar)
General
information
The information that children collected from local farmers and trials.
(Swanirvar group)
è
• Whether 'scarecrow' is effective or not ...
- To observe scarecrow children went to the field and
found out that birds were not scared of 'scarecrow' at
all. Satoko
Even they saw a bird sat on the head of scarecrow ! 'Scare crow' made of
earthen pot ( ) stands in
è
rice field around
- Children prepared scarecrow by themselves using harvesting season.
straw & coloured earthen pot and put it some old (Bihar, ENRE)
clothes.
(* there is no mention about the result, whether their
scarecrow worked well or not, ENRE)
Satoko
2. Crow Riped papaya & Mango • Harvesting fruits earlier than birds.
4. House sparrow Unriped snake gourd • Nothing can be done except driving away
by clapping hands
6. Pigeon Wheat •
9. Little Egret Paddy of 'Boro' crop season • Driving away by clapping & just chasing away
11. Hen Paddy & destroy • Chasing away or keep hen in cage
vegetable garden
• There is a chapter on birds in the school textbook of life science. But we could
not cover this chapter in class period. A series of activities of Basbhumi gave
children a good chance to learn about birds.
• It is helpful if children can get pictorial booklet on birds.
= Objectives
• To understand birds' role & function
in our environment.
• To apply the knowledge & skills
that children have learnt to
increase the diversity of
birds in the schoolyard.
• To increase childrens' interests on
birds in school.
= Review
Activity Process
ê
Discussion Teacher asks children to observe what kind of birds can be seen in
the schoolyard now. List them up. Discuss with children why those
birds are in the schoolyard (eg. may be there some garbage pile
therefore some crows are there etc.)
Then teacher asks objective questions for creating discussion
more -
• How we can increase birds more in our schoolyard ?
• Why we want to increase birds more ? (If more birds come to our
schoolyard, what changes will take place ? .....)
ê
Summarizing & Summarize childrens' ideas & opinion and explain birds role in the
Making Decision environment again.
eg. • birds eat some insects which damage some plants in garden
• birds can help to spread fruit seeds just as we plant trees
• birds can help to pollinate for vegetables & flower crops
• birds provide us peaceful singing
• birds habitat like trees are decreasing so we need to provide
their house etc.
ò
[We want to invite birds]
Work Out ê
Planning Ask children to list up the required condition for the birds. [birds
need ....]
eg. • Fruits trees (Zizyphus, Guava, Jamun etc)
• Flower trees (Hibiscus, silk cotton, flame of the forest)
• Water place for bathing & drinking (birds don't need the water
to be too deep)
• Standing places (top of the stick, wire etc)
• Nesting place (nesting box)
• Food (grain, fruit etc)
Children are divided into groups & take responsibility, which facility
they will create for the birds. Children can get information &
designed from several bird watching books.
Useful Information Sources
sweet
lime peel
nesting
box
coconut
grains
protect from
animals
water bath
(earthen pot)
ê
When your student are doing this activity other children in your
Producing Posters /
school must also show their interest, they will want to know what
Charts for other
your children are doing & why.
Children
It is good chance to share information & to grow many childrens'
interests in your whole school.
Suggest your children to make posters & charts for creating other's
interest on birds.
eg. Chart on birds which can be observed in your school yard.
Hope the variety will increase after your children conduct the
'Invitation Birds' activity.
a) Chart Birds Visiting our School Yard
Add new
bird
observed
b) Poster
We are a
lso planti
ng trees
We he
lp pest
control
What
about
you ?
ê
Evaluation For this activity children need to take care for & give attention to
the birds regularly. They need to change bird feeder & water time to
time and need to clean up nesting box after nesting season is over.
Observe whether birds are visiting your schoolyard more & more
and any environmental change has taken place or not. Still a lot of
crow are coming for eating school garbage.
If your school garbage are not scattered any more (they are put in
dust bin with covers or put in holes covered with soil etc) and
various trees are growing this activity is successful, for your
children, school yard and for the birds also.
= Variation
• This activity has possibility to be linked with school gardening activity like growing
vegetable, herbs and fruit trees.
• "Producing our Bird Books"
Children can design & make a colouring book of birds with all information which
children learnt for information sharing.
eg. interesting children's work introduced in "Skipping Stone", (vol.15 no.2).
Jamie Michell Hansen, 9, Phoenix, Arizona, USA produced :The Bird Health Book"
according to her experience with her pet cockatiel, Peanut.
If you want a bird for a pet there are Cats and birds just aren't friends. It's
some pets that aren't really safe to dangerous to leave a bird alone with a
have. Only pets that are circled and cat.
crossed out are ones you can't have
when you own a bird. Why is the cat
about to
eat the
bird?
Bird's claws are one of the most Make sure you feed your bird 20 percent
important parts of their bodies. seed and 80 percent fruit and vegeta-
You have to have them clipped bles. Feed it well so it can be healthy
by a veterinarian. and live a long, happy life.
Why does a
bird need
short claws?
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Step 3 – Activity (B)
= Feedback Summary
Name of (Chandannagore) (Swanirvar)
group
General as home based activity
information Green Sprout
☺ Shantonu (class VI) & Manosi Chatterjee (class III) made cloth hanger of birds they
have observed. They painted 14 birds with fabric (Acrylic) colours.
• Children also kept food for birds; like puffed rice, beans, cooked rice and
water. They observed after sometime several birds (mainly Mynah & Crow)
came to have the food.
Manosi
English à Bengali
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41. 54.
White Wagtail
(Motacilla alba)
Every year their arrival signals the change in weather, the end of the wet monsoon and the
onset of autumn with a cold nip in the air. With its energetic movements and constantly
wagging tail, the White Wagtail is the messenger bird that brings the news of the arrival of
the migratory birds to a birdwatcher like me. White Wagtails breed in summer in the
high altitudes of the Himalayas.and in September, when the higher altitudes gets too cold
they migrate to our plains, to our rooftops or the lawn in our garden. They, and the hordes
of other bird species that arrive in the environment around us to spend the winter, always
fascinated me. They along with the resident birds around us add colour and marvel to our
surroundings.
Bird watching is a fascinating hobby and there are millions of birdwatchers throughout the
world who cultivates this healthy habit. Having kept some pet birds when I was young, I
soon found that there is a vast world of wild birds lying out there in nature to observe. The
diversity of birds in almost every habitat is enough to keep a birdwatcher active. Even
inside the city, there is a number of bird species for an interested birdwatcher to observe.
Going out into nature, into the wild forests and wetlands one is bound to be overwhelmed
by the diversity of birds.
Birds are one of the most conspicuous and beautiful companions that we have in our
environment. The nine thousand odd bird species that share our planet are unique in that
they possess feathers. These feathers have given the bird the power of flight and with it
the mobility to live in almost every environment of the world. They are found in the icy
polar regions, like the Penguins of Antarctica, and in the hot deserts like the Ostriches.
birds. In West Bengal we have the sea in the south and the lofty
Himalayas in the north and each of the different habitats in between
has its own complement of bird species.
One of the most exciting part of birdwatching is the identification of
birds. One is fortunate nowadays because there are some good bird
books that help in the identification of birds. However, identification is
the first step of birdwatching. While observing the behavior of birds,
an entirely new and enchanting world opens up before us. While
looking at birds and noting down their behavior, I have often wondered
Penguins cannot fly because Golden Eagle An ostrich is about 2.5m tall
their wings have become (Aquila chrysaetos) and weight 150kg, nearly as
more like flippers. They use much as two adults. It is too
them to swim. heavy to fly, but runs very fast.
Peregrine Falcon
(Falco peregrinus)
Cattle Egrets
(Bubulcus ibis)
Just a few decades ago while traveling through our countryside we used to observe
hordes of birds like the Black Drongo or the Blue Jay on the telegraph wire above the
fields or the Cattle Egrets following the grazing cattle. Now it is a rare sight.
Birds as indicators
As a birdwatcher, one can always see the change that is taking place in the environment
around us. The sudden appearance or the disappearance of certain birds points out the
changes for us. In that way as a birdwatcher, one serves the useful function as a watchdog
for our environment. Birdwatchers throughout the world have noticed the sudden fall in
population of the once very common House Sparrow. This once ubiquitous bird was noticed
to have declined in number in countries like England where they regularly keep a count of
their birds. Unfortunately for us in India, birdwatching is only a new hobby still not popular
Importance of Birds
There are other birds that play a very important role in our environment
and among them, the Red Jungle Fowl is perhaps the most important.
This bird, which is found wild in the forests of northern India, is the
ancestor of all domestic chicken and they harbour the wild genes,
which may turn out to be very important to the multi billion-dollar
poultry industry of the world. The wild Red Jungle Fowl may have
Red Jungle Fowl
(Gallus gallus) characters in their gene that could be useful for our domesticated
breed. For example, it might have some immunity to some kind of
diseases, which may affect the domesticated fowl. These genes can
be infused back into the domestic breed by crossing the Red Jungle
Fowl with the domesticated breed and thus prevent the occurrence of
the disease.
Birdwatching is a hobby that the children should be encouraged to take up. It is a simple
hobby, which does not initially require much investment. The naked eye is good enough to
observe most of the birds observed around our home. A pair of binoculars certainly adds a
new dimension by bringing the subject close. There are good bird books available in the
market, which deals with our local birds. The main aim of a birdwatcher should be observation
in the field. Though birds can be observed from your own home, a field outing to places with
different habitats for birds makes one familiar with a diversity of bird species. The compound
of your school, a wetland nearby or a dense fruit orchard could be exciting places to find
interesting species of birds. A well planned longer trip to a forest or to wildlife sanctuary will
be wonderful to a birdwatcher.
Carefully noting down whatever she or he notices about the birds in a notebook is a very
important exercise to a birdwatcher. Our memory may always fail and hence the notes in
your notebook will remain as a ready reference that can be consulted later on. Being easier
than studying most other forms of life like insects, fishes, etc., birdwatching is a natural path
that leads to the closer understanding of nature among children. They learn about the different
functions performed in nature, gain knowledge about the ways nature react with our changing
environment and prepares them for a lifestyle that would sustain our environment in the best
possible way. No wonder that many of our present day eminent natural scientists and
crusaders for nature were birdwatchers in the beginning who realised the need to conserve
nature from practicing this humble hobby.
• Watching Birds / Jamal Ara, NBT, 1970, 61p. / (A) (B) (C) _ P
• The Book of Indian Birds / Salim Ali, Bombay Natural History Society,
1996, 354p / (A) (B) (C) _ P
• Littele Friend-Save Us, We are your friends/ S.Gupta & G.Das / (A) (B)
(C)
• Nature Watch / Kushwant Singh, UBSPD, 1997, 132p. / (A) (B) (C) _ P
• Joy of Learning : Standard 3-5 (Activity;4,6,33) / CEE, 1995, 87p. / (A)(B)
• Joy of Learning : Standard 6-8 (Activity;6,26) / CEE, 1996, 67p.
/ (A)(B)
• Bird Watching for Beginners / BNHS & CEC, 20p. / (A) (B) (C)
_ P
• ABC of BIRDS : A book for little Bird Watchers / Roger Tory
Petersons, Universe Publishing, 30p./ (A) (B) (C) _ P
• Many Years Ago / Naresh Chandra Jana, Shishu Sahitya
Samsad, 1994, 33p. / (A) (B) (C) _ P
• Our Featherd Friend / U.C. Chopra, CBT, 1984/ (A) (B) (C) _ P
• My Own Book of Birds / Yash Muthanna, TATA Donneley
Ltd.,1999, 48p. /(C) _ P Nature note through
a year shows a lot of
• 50 Simple Things Kids can do to Save the Earth / The Earth observations of birds
Works Group,USA, 1990, 156p./(A) (B) (C) _ P along with pretty
illustrations
Bengali Books
• Paschim Banglar Pakhi / Pranabesh Sanyal / 1994 / Ananda / 101p. (A) (B) (C) _ P
• Pakhir Upakatha / Naresh Chandra Jana / 1994 / Sishu Sahitya Samsad (C) P
• Jib Jantuder
• Jui Phuler Rumal / Kartik Ghosh (A) (B) (C) P
• Jadavpurer Pakhi / Basundhara / 7p. (A) (B) (C)
• Pakhir Basa Pakhir Din / Ananda (A) (B) (C)
You can find a lot of Web sites on Environmental Education and related activities.
The following are the examples of some useful websites on Birds. You can directly access
to each web site or contact us for the detail.
Birds in General
• Northern Indian Bird Network www.delhibird.org
• To know about birds in Kolkata www.kolkatabirds.com
• Naturalist’s Notes from Western North
Carolina Nature Centre
(They have topical Index on birds-
Feeding & Observing Our Fethered Friends) http://wildwnc.org
• All about birds is a well illustrated website located at www.enchantedlearning.com
here you can find many interesting basic facts about all kinds of birds. Children who
can read English will enjoy a visit to the site.
The same site also has information about butterflies, mammals, plants, sharks,
whales etc.
• If you want to watch the birds that visit your backyard, you must visit the website
www.backyardnature.net
Here children & teachers both can find a lot about beaks, eyes, feathers, ears, bird
feet, bird song, bird eggs etc. and learn the skills of birdwatching.
Birds Calls
• Bird Audio is a website hosted by www.enature.com where songs & calls of more
than 550 North American birds can be listend to. This site also has photos &
information about various fish, insects, spiders, trees etc and interested students/
teachers can get a free e-mail bird newsletter.
Bird Beaks
• At www.uen.org teachers can find some very interesting lesson plans, one of them is
for 5th grade children, where they can learn about various kinds of beaks birds have
and how it helps their survival in a particular environment.
Bird Nests
• A lesson plan for elementary school children can be found at www.warrennet.org
Bird-Vision
• Do birds see colour as we do? If you are curious about this question do visit the site
www.bbsrc.ac.uk
From this site instructors/teachers can find a lot of interesting information. Another
scientific site with similar information is www.users.mis.net
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