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Admissions at Northland

Stockton Island birding

General information

  • Topic: birding
  • Location: Stockton Island south shore
  • Age: sixth-grade
  • Number of participants: maximum of 20
  • Time: Approx. 5:30-7:00 am
  • Program: Optional

POW

Because of the early morning, some bird food (granola bars and sunflower seeds) will be given to the participants to feed their minds and stomachs.

Theme

Birding is not only fun and an educational hobby; it challenges the birder to find the bird that they know is out there waiting to be seen.

Goals

  • The students will have an understanding of many of the different species that are found right in their backyard and throughout most of the Northwoods.
  • The students will know more about and help identify some of the birds that are found on Stockton Island .
  • The students will have an introduction to some of the various birdcalls that they hear and ways to remember what they have heard.
  • The students will see what the different parts of the bird are and how they differ between species.

Objectives

Learning objective:

The students will be able to identify a bird by the different field markings that are found on its body.

Emotional objective:

The students will have a sense of how important birds are in our ecosystem and why they should never be harmed.

Behavioral objective:

The students will be required to use their sense of sight and sound to determine where and what bird they are seeing/hearing.

Main body

This information will be given to the students first thing in the morning while sitting in a circle around me.

  • There are over 130 species of birds that can be found on Stockton Island during the Spring and Summer months.
  • The species of birds on Stockton Island range in size from a humming bird all the way up to a Bald Eagle.
  • Body parts of a bird (the student will refer to the bird parts handout in their journal) we will relate the bird body parts to human body parts. I will discuss each body part and then point to a participant and have the others tell me out loud what color or characteristics that body part has. The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate how easy identification of birds is, if everyone states the different field marks they see. This method promotes teamwork within a group.
    • Beak - The mouth of the bird
    • Eye Ring - The circle that surrounds the eyes of some birds
    • Eye Stripe - A line of stripe that runs through or above the birds eyes
    • Wings - The body part that will allow the bird to fly
    • Rump - the rear or behind, found on the back of the bird before its tail
    • Tail - At the rear of the bird
    • Wing Bars - Rows of white feathers that are found at the shoulder of the wing, creating a bar like pattern.
    • Breast - The chest, or front of the bird
    • Legs – Allows the bird to walk or hop.
  • Bird vocalizations
    • Birds will give a call or song to attract a breeding mate
    • Birds will also vocalize to mark or defend their territory
    • Birds also communicate between themselves with their calls and songs.
    • Virtually all birds have a different song from each other, allowing one to identify the bird without even seeing it.
  • The scavenger hunt
    • Before the scavenger hunt, I will hand out binoculars that are provided, some students may have to share. The students will need to focus their binoculars on me to make sure they are adjusted for their eyes.
    • I will then hand out some bird field guides to the students, these will need to be shared. I will give them a very brief introduction on how to find some of the birds in the guide that we may see that day.
    • As a group we will take a stroll throughout the main campsite area because most of the birds that are on their scavenger hunt list can be found in or around the campsite.
    • The students will have a list and pictures that show what birds they will be responsible for finding.
    • After each identification, the students will need to show the leaders what they saw from a bird book or pictures.
    • The birds on the list will include:
      1. Song Sparrow
      2. Black-capped chickadee
      3. White breasted nuthatch
      4. Common Flicker
      5. Ring-billed Gull
      6. Common Raven
      7. Killdeer
      8. Eastern Phoebe
      9. Yellow Warbler
      10. Red Wing Blackbird
      11. Blue Jay
      12. American Robin
      13. Downy Woodpecker
      14. American Crow

Conclusion

  • A recap of the morning bird sightings will be restated and put into by comparing how many birds are in northern Wisconsin.
  • I will imitate a few of the bird songs that we heard during the morning and have the students tell me what species it is.
  • I am going to restate the theme of the program and relate our overall program by talking about how different birds migrate at different times, if they even migrate at all, creating a timeline for birders.

Questions and Evaluation

  1. How can certain birds give us information of different habitats?
  2. Why are birds important to the ecosystem of the north woods?
  3. I will describe some field marks of a bird to the participants and they will be responsible to tell me what bird it is by looking in the field guide. I will provide some hints if needed.

Resources and Materials

  • Golden Guide: The birds of North America
  • National Geographic Guide: The birds of North America
  • Binoculars
  • Photographs or pictures of Scavenger hunt birds
  • Diagram of a birds body part
  • Fandex Bird Field Guide
  • Granola bars and sunflower seeds