Black and White Birds

Introduction

This is an activity that can take all day but should be limited to about 30  minutes for young children and teenagers.

Purpose

To help people to be able to distinguish between commonly seen black and white birds.

Materials

Pictures of commonly seen black and white birds tagged in a field guide of Australian birds or pasted onto cardboard cards.

Recording sheet below with the illustrations of the black and white birds shaded accurately by participants.

Materials for this activity can be downloaded

Preparation

Leaders of this activity should familiarise themselves with the black and white birds on the record sheet; can be seen in the Aranda Bushland. (Refer to the list of commonly seen/not commonly seen but easily recognised birds in Aranda Bushland).

The leader should draw out the prior learning and skills in bird identification of individuals in the group to provide peer mentoring. The leader should dispel any of the prior misconceptions which group members might have eg that magpie larks (pee wees) are baby magpies!

This activity can be completed in conjunction with the Which Bird Is That? activity that helps people to identify the calls of birds commonly seen in the Aranda Bushland.

Activity

Students become familiar with the distinguishing features of the black and white birds by locating their pictures in the field guide, and by shading the illustrations on the recording sheet eg appropriate eye colour.

On Site

Students identify black and white birds in the field. They record the time, numbers of each species and their location at each siting on the recording sheet, together with any interesting observations.

Enrichment

Surveys and observations can be made of the different species to compare and contrast their physical characteristics (male/female, adult/juvenile, relative size, beaks and feet etc), behaviour, feeding habits, niche in the food web etc. The adaptive benefits of these can be discussed.

For example the regional variation of magpie markings can be noted and discussed. The local magpies have a white patch behind their heads. There are also magpies in the Canberra region which have a black patch behind their heads, while in the high country only the latter are to be found.

Students can create cardboard models of the birds using the templates provided for a diorama of the Aranda bushland.

Link to sculpture model templates

Return to Activity Home