November 26, 2002

Bird Cuisine by Will

A Study of My Pets at Home by Carly

A Comparison of Birds of Oregon and Florida by Sierra

Poetry

Bird Songs  by Courtney

Bird Poem  by Christine

Northern Harrier  by Janessa

Art / Photographs

Blue Jay by Michael

Northern Cardinal by David

Peregrine Falcons by Nick

Common Snipe by Bryce

Eastern Screech Owl by Christian

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Bird Songs
By Courtney, Grade 4
Cushman School
South Dartmouth, MA
Mrs. Sweeney

Birds sing stupendous songs,
It makes you want to sing along.
Their tiny throats
make beautiful notes,
Some get hoarse
But, oh, of course.
They sing the strongest songs of them all.
They may be small but that doesn’t matter at all.
With their head held high,
to the sky,
You may wonder why
They sing all day.
It probably makes them feel good that way!

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Bird Poem
Christine, Grade 7
Gowana Middle School
Clifton Park, NY
Mrs. Smith

A bird takes flight up in the sky,
Swoops and soars from low to high,
Gazing down upon the land,
At grass and rock and sea and sand,
Landing softly in its nest,
When it’s time to stop and rest.

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Bird Cuisine
By Will, Grade 5
St. Agnes School
Charleston, W.V.
Mrs. Miller

My hypothesis is that birds in Kanawha City liked suet better than birdseed.

I set out two equal squares of food The suet weighed 5.8oz. and the birdseed weighed 4.9 oz. I left the food out for 24 hours in our front yard. We have dogs in our back yard and I didn't want them interfering with the birds.

After 24 hours I weighed the squares again. The suet weighed 2.3oz. and the birdseed weighed 3.9oz.

                                              Suet                     Birdseed (oz.)       

Starting Weight (oz.)           5.8  (100%)                  4.9  (100%)

Amount Left Over (oz.)         2.3   (40%)                  3.9 (80%)

Amount Eaten (oz.)             3.5    (60%)                  1.0  (20%)

This experiment showed the birds in Kanawha City ate 60% of the suet and 21.5% of the birdseed. This proves my hypothesis true. The birds in Kanawha City like suet better than birdseed.

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Northern Cardinal
David, Grade 7
Northmont Middle School
Clayton, OH
Ms. Hines

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I have 5 pet Cockatiels and 1 Gopher Cockatoo that I decided to observe for 2 weeks. The Cockatiels are very different from my Cockatoo. They are less playful and all they seem to do is sleep. Sometimes I will catch them playing. Two of the cockatiels will sit at the bottom of the cage and toss a ball by holding the ball with their beak, tilting their heads back and flinging their head forward. They do this for 5-7 minutes. When they are done, they open their mouths, which I think indicates that they are hot. Their eating habits are also interesting. They eat out of a bowl very quickly, crush seeds with their beak, and slowly swallow. When they are done, they drink water by sticking their head into the water bowl, filling their beak with water, and slowly tilting their head back. Each bird does this twice.

My cockatoo behaves differently and is very amusing. Sometimes I find her hanging upside down on her swing where she flaps her wings quickly and bobs her head back and forth, causing her to swing. She eats much larger food items than the other birds. She likes peanuts and picks them up with her beak and then grabs them with her feet to eat it. It looks like she is eating a sandwich. She drinks the same way the other birds do, but drinks 3 times.

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Northern Harrier
By Janessa, Grade 8
Hilton Head Middle School
Hilton Head Island, SC
Mrs. Lewis

Nimble in the air,
Obviously a skilled hunter,
Rarely is she ensnared in a trap,
The luxury of watching this bird of prey is phenomenal,
Handsome creatures of flight,
Eternally beautiful,
Rich in fierceness,
Never again a bird so beautiful.

Hardly caught in a blink of an eye,
Also known as the marsh hawk,
Rambunctious, this is her children,
Reverence should be shown to this bird,
Ill is the fate of her prey,
Extremely honorable bird she is,
Returning to her nest after a hard days hunting, as the sun goes down in a luscious strawberry red!

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Common Snipe
Bryce, Grade 3
Lower Southampton Elementary
Feasterville, PA
Mrs. Bauer

A Comparison of Birds in Oregon and Florida
Sierra, Grade 4
Robert Frost School
Silverton, Oregon
Mrs. Rindy

Introduction:

I compared and contrasted the top 25 types of birds most frequently reported in Oregon and Florida. My hypothesis was that there would not be a lot of birds alike in Oregon and Florida because the states are so far away from each other.

Materials and Methods:

I used bird lists from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site (http://birds.cornell.edu/cfw) reported for Oregon and Florida. I looked through them and compared and contrasted them.

Analysis:

My hypothesis was correct because there were many different birds in Florida and in Oregon. There were only 6 types of birds found in both Oregon and Florida.

Conclusion:

From this experiment I learned that Oregon and Florida have many different types of birds.

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Eastern Screech Owl
By Christian, Grade 3
Sugarcreek Elementary
Bellbrook, OH
Ms. Sizemore & Mrs. Seela

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