Rainforest Alliance

Materials

- Photocopied pictures of overwintering and neotropical migrant birds (one set per pair of students). The Neotropics include Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.

Overwintering birds		Neotropical migratory birds
Black capped chickadee		Ruby throated hummingbird
American raven		Turkey vulture
White-breasted nuthatch		American robin
Blue jay		Red eyed vireo
Pileated woodpecker		Yellow warbler
Great horned owl		Wood thrush

Procedure

1. Have the class observe birds at a feeder near the classroom or somewhere on the school grounds. Ask students to make observations about each bird in order to determine whether each bird migrates during winter months or spends winter in temperate forests.
2. Have students work with a partner. Give each pair of students a set of bird pictures. Challenge students to use their prior knowledge and observations of the birds at the feeder to separate the pictures into two categories: (1) birds that live in their area year round and (2) birds that migrate somewhere else during part of the year.
3. After sorting the bird pictures, have students discuss their ideas about the following questions. Ask them to share their theories for the entire class to discuss.

Discussion Questions

1. What physical characteristics, if any, influenced your decision to sort the birds into their respective categories?
2. What behavioral characteristics, if any, influenced your decision to sort the birds into their respective categories?
3. Why do you think some species like chickadees live in below freezing temperatures when snow is up to our hips and other species like warblers fly 2,000 miles to live in a warm, rainy, luscious forest during the winter?
4. Why would a bird living in a tropical rainforest, with plenty of shelter, refuge, food and resources abandon its warm, winter home at the onset of spring, and risk the trials and tribulations of flying 2,000 miles north in order to raise a family, only to fly back six months later?
5. Do you think warblers (and the other migrants) really require two homes? Or are these just affluent birds indulging in more than they need? What do the warblers have that the chickadees don't?
6. How do you think migrating birds can help sustain both temperate forests and tropical rainforests?

Materials

- Sorted bird pictures from Step 1
- Research materials
- True/False statements

Procedure

1. Ask students to work together to make any corrections to their initial sorting based on the discussion in Step 1.
2. Students use field guides, birding books and Internet sources to research answers to the questions in Step 1. After finding answers, students make additional changes to their original sorting.
3. Challenge students to take the True or False quiz. Tell them that the answers will be revealed afterwards, and the quiz is intended to offer experts' insights into bird migration.
4. Reveal the correct answers and engage students in follow-up discussion about any confusing points.

True or False?

1. Most birds that live in northeastern United States do not migrate.
2. There is much less food for birds to eat in temperate forests in winter.
3. Most non-migrating species depend on humans to survive the winters in the northeastern United States temperate forest.
4. Birds leave the rainforest in spring and migrate north because it gets too hot for them there.
5. Migration is a movement from temperate forests to tropical forests.
6. Penguins migrate.
7. Some birds migrate as far as 22,000 miles in one year!
8. Migration is an adaptation birds have for survival.
9. Humans used to migrate like birds before modern heating systems.
10. Birds help forests by scattering seeds and eating insects that may harm trees.
11. Birds help forests by providing food for other animals that eat them and in turn help disperse seeds as well as nourish the forest soil with nutrients when they die.

Answers:

1. False. Approximately 520 of the 650 birds that inhabit North America migrate.
2. True. Due to the cold weather and snow, many food sources are inaccessible or have been eaten, forcing the birds to migrate.
3. False. Most birds survive without the assistance of humans.
4. False. Birds migrate north to establish breeding sites, mate, and raise their young.
5. False. Some birds spend winter in temperate areas and migrate north to the Arctic Circle to take advantage of the abundance of life brought on by twenty-four hours of sunlight in summer months.
6. False. Penguins move periodically throughout each day and after breeding season, but they do not migrate.
7. True. Arctic terns make the longest migration of any animal on Earth. Each year, they fly from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back.
8. True.
9. False. Human migration generally has a different meaning than bird migration. Humans have moved from place to place for many reasons, regardless of modern heating systems. Many humans inhabited the northern latitudes despite the cold without modern heating conveniences.
10. True. Birds are important in maintaining a healthy food web in tropical rainforests.
11. True. Birds are important in maintaining a healthy food web in tropical rainforests.

Internet Resources

• Do penguins migrate?

Materials

- Black tape for outline of continents
- Colored tape
- Index cards
- Art supplies
- World atlas
- Research materials (bird books, Internet)

Procedure

1. Students choose neotropical migratory birds which interest them and research the following aspects of the species' natural history: winter range, summer range, migration arrival/departure times, migration distances and duration of migration, feather coloration throughout the seasons, bird calls and songs, food sources, description of habitats, how the forest provides food and shelter, etc.
2. Students create a draft drawing of their bird's year. Each drawing should include a map of the bird's migration patterns and symbols to represent different behaviors. For example, when birds are in mating season, the symbol may be a bird with bright plumage calling a female with hearts in the air to denote attraction of a mate. This draft will be translated onto the large diagram on the classroom floor.
3. Using a world map as a guide, students draw outlines (using chalk, black tape, etc.) of North America, Central America, and South America on the classroom floor.
4. Using colored tape and index cards, students translate their draft drawings onto the classroom floor. Each student's addition should highlight their bird's route to and from their temperate and tropical rainforest habitats. Encourage students to draw symbols on index cards and tape them alongside the route.

The symbols should represent primary activities at each of the birds' habitats and intermediate destinations. Specific dates of migrations and a picture of their bird may also be helpful.

Materials

- Migration chart on classroom floor
- Students' draft drawing of their selected bird species

Procedure

1. Students take younger students on a simulated tour of their selected bird's year. Their description should include things like time of migration, reasons for migration, distance, how the forests supply what the birds need, how the migrants supply the forest with what the forest needs, and knowledge of where this bird might be at the present moment.
2. After the younger student completes the tour, ask him/her to take on the role of tourguide, and explain what he/she learned about bird migration and its relation to forests.