• Home
  • Books
    • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
    • Planet Ocean
    • Eavesdropping on Elephants
    • Neema’s Reason To Smile
    • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
    • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
    • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    • Ebola: Fears and Facts
    • Jingle the Brass
    • Nugget on the Flight Deck
    • Surviving Animal Attacks
    • Elite Operations series
    • Energy Lab series
    • QuickReads Fluency Library
    • Books for English language-learners
    • Writers write all kinds of things
  • Author Visit Programs
    • FAQs
    • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Educator Resources
    • STEM + Literacy Activities
    • LitLinks
    • Teacher Guides
    • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
  • Writer Resources
    • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
  • Who is Patricia Newman?
  • Contact
    • Stay In Touch
Patricia NewmanPatricia Newman
Sibert Honor Children's Book Author & Environmentalist
  • Home
  • Books
    • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
    • Planet Ocean
    • Eavesdropping on Elephants
    • Neema’s Reason To Smile
    • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
    • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
    • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    • Ebola: Fears and Facts
    • Jingle the Brass
    • Nugget on the Flight Deck
    • Surviving Animal Attacks
    • Elite Operations series
    • Energy Lab series
    • QuickReads Fluency Library
    • Books for English language-learners
    • Writers write all kinds of things
  • Author Visit Programs
    • FAQs
    • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Educator Resources
    • STEM + Literacy Activities
    • LitLinks
    • Teacher Guides
    • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
  • Writer Resources
    • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
  • Who is Patricia Newman?
  • Contact
    • Stay In Touch
woodpecker -- birds

LitLinks: Learning from birds

July 8, 2020 LitLinks, LitLinks-Grade 3-5, LitLinks-Grade 6-8, LitLinks-Grade K-2 No Comments
LitLinks Logo-1 (2)

GUEST BLOGGER SNEED B. COLLARD III


Like most people, I grew up admiring mowed lawns and nicely trimmed trees. “That,” I thought, “is what a nice place should look like.” In the last few years, however, my ideas about “nice” have changed. Who taught me my new ideas? Birds.

Messy is better

If you visit any park, botanical gardens, or other open space, you won’t find the coolest, most interesting birds in the neat, manicured areas. Instead, you’ll find them in the brushy overgrown places with plenty of dead trees and rotten wood. The reason is simple. These kinds of places provide birds with the best shelter and the most food.

Woodpeckers cover -- birds

While researching my book Woodpeckers: Drilling Holes & Bagging Bugs, I learned that you rarely find woodpeckers in a place with huge lawns and neatly trimmed trees. Why? Because woodpeckers drill their own holes to live in, and most drill only into trees that have already died. Dead trees and branches also provide woodpeckers and other birds with lots of insects to eat. Many kinds of beetles, for instance, lay their eggs in dead trees. When the eggs hatch, the larvae—or grubs—provide a feast for woodpeckers!

Homebuilders

One especially great thing about woodpeckers is that they help out a lot of other birds, too. Chickadees, nuthatches, bluebirds, and many other kinds of birds are cavity nesters. They only build nests in tree holes, but they can’t drill their own holes. They must wait for a woodpecker to drill one for them. The lesson is clear: without messy landscapes, we don’t get woodpeckers, and without woodpeckers, many kinds of other animals disappear too.

Don’t believe me? Try your own fun scientific investigation.

Experiment: Learning from birds ???

Equipment: Notebook and pencil; and if you have them, binoculars and a camera.

Step 1: Walk to a nearby park, playground, or similar place that has both “neat” and “messy” areas. Find the “neatest” place you can find, such as an open lawn with neatly trimmed trees. Then sit there for ten minutes and count two things: how many total birds you see and how many different kinds of birds you see. Write your numbers down in your notebook. (Note: don’t worry if you don’t know what kind of birds you are seeing. Just write down how many different kinds you see. Be sure to use your binoculars if you brought them, and if you can, take some pictures, too.)

Step 2: Walk to the messiest part of the same area—the one with the most bushes, old untrimmed trees, and so forth. Again, spend ten minutes counting the total number of birds you see and the different kinds of birds you see.

Step 3: Compare your findings from the neat and messy areas. What did you find out? In your scientific study, did you find that birds prefer messy places to neat ones?

Don’t stop with your experiment. Look around your own school yard or home yard if you have one. Do you see more birds in messy places than in neat ones? Talk over your findings with your teachers, friends, and/or parents. Is there a part of your yard or the school yard you could let grow wild? Could you even plant some native trees or other plants that birds might be able to use in the future?

Improving the planet

That’s exactly what we did when we moved into our house fourteen years ago. We planted native trees and other plants. For the first few years, we saw a few kinds of birds, but not that many. Now, every year we are seeing new and amazing kinds of birds—birds that we would normally see only out hiking on trails in wild areas. With some effort and patience, we have turned our yard into a home not just for us, but for birds, too.

  • Messy yard -- birds
    14 years ago, we began planting native plants around our house. Today, our “messy yard” provides food and shelter for an increasing number and kinds of birds!
  • warbler -- birds
    A yard full of native trees and shrubs will attract an increasing variety of birds. This year, my son and I were astonished to see a Nashville Warbler in our yard!

By noticing birds and the places they live, we can learn a lot about our world and make it a more interesting, healthier place. I warn you, though: once you start noticing these kinds of things, you will never stop. Who knows? You might even become a birder like me and my son. It’s a great way to spend time with friends and family—and learn how to help protect the planet we live on.


Sneed Collard III author photo

Sneed B. Collard III has written more than eighty-five books for all different ages. They range from science and natural history books to adventure thrillers—even an adult memoir, Warblers & Woodpeckers: A Father-Son Big Year of Birding. Besides writing for kids, Sneed is an award-winning speaker and has given presentations and workshops at more than 600 schools during his career. To learn more about Sneed, his books, and author presentations and writing workshops, check out his website www.sneedbcollardiii.com. Also be sure to watch Sneed’s videos on his YouTube Channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0ZcdtTRoiWoYSlFryAu7rg and follow him on Twitter at @SneedCollard. If you want to see how exciting birding can be, check out the birding of adventures of Sneed and his son on their blog fathersonbirding.com.


Click for more LITLINKS STEM + Literacy activities

Tags: STEM+LiteracySTEM+Literacy Natural Science
No Comments
Share
0

You also might be interested in

Engineering design

LitLinks: Engineering design challenge taps critical thinking and communication skills

Feb 5, 2020

GUEST BLOGGER JOAN RAMIREZ Engineering: What is it? Engineering crosses[...]

Pointillisim-activity-example

LitLinks: Explore the STEAM in mixing colors in art projects

Mar 31, 2021

GUEST BLOGGER JENNIFER FOSBERRY In Isabella Artist Extraordinaire, the main[...]

girl writing

LitLinks: How to make STEM & literacy POP! off the page

Dec 2, 2020

GUEST BLOGGER ANNA CROWLEY REDDING Hello teachers and educators! Consider[...]

Leave a Reply

Your email is safe with me.
Cancel Reply

Click the logo to have LitLinks delivered to your inbox

LitLinks Logo-2022

Author Visits

https://youtu.be/ziN0UrqaDYI

Post Categories:

Blog Archive

Top Posts

LitLinks: How to share our ocean connections with kids and teens

LitLinks: Let’s learn to decode photos in STEM nonfiction

LitLinks: How Elephants Can Make Your Sound Unit ROAR!

LitLinks: Easy ways to build students’ science communication skills

Proof that science connects kids to the larger world

Recent Comments

  • Annie Lynn on LitLinks: Best practices for making connections between kidlit and science My pleasure! We are stronger together!✌🏽💖🎶🔬📚🌻
  • Patricia Newman on LitLinks: Best practices for making connections between kidlit and science Thank you for putting the A in STEM, Annie!
  • Annie Lynn on LitLinks: Best practices for making connections between kidlit and science As usual, this was a fantastic, helpful, detailed post that…

I also write for STEM Tuesday

STEM Tuesday
Empowering young readers to act

Latest Blog Posts

  • LitLinks: How time travel will help students reduce single-use plastic
    LitLinks: How time travel will help students reduce single-use plastic
  • LitLinks: An easy lesson to help students write a desert rap
    LitLinks: An easy lesson to help students write a desert rap

What's happening on Twitter

  • It's #internationdayofthegirl 🥳 Celebrate #girlpower w books abt ♀️ #scientists #WomenInSTEM #scicomm #STEM…  http://t.co/ALmXSCYDrs 
  • 6 months ago
  • RT  @mstewartscience : Love seeing all those smiling faces!
  • 6 months ago

Follow @PatriciaNewman

Action Shots

Check out the STEM Tuesday Blog

© 2023 — Patricia Newman

  • Home
  • Books
    • A River’s Gifts: The Mighty Elwha River Reborn
    • Planet Ocean
    • Eavesdropping on Elephants
    • Neema’s Reason To Smile
    • Zoo Scientists to the Rescue
    • Sea Otter Heroes: The Predators That Saved an Ecosystem
    • Plastic, Ahoy! Investigating the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
    • Ebola: Fears and Facts
    • Jingle the Brass
    • Nugget on the Flight Deck
    • Surviving Animal Attacks
    • Elite Operations series
    • Energy Lab series
    • QuickReads Fluency Library
    • Books for English language-learners
    • Writers write all kinds of things
  • Author Visit Programs
    • FAQs
    • Calendar
  • Blog
  • Educator Resources
    • STEM + Literacy Activities
    • LitLinks
    • Teacher Guides
    • KidLit creators who make kids want to read
  • Writer Resources
    • Manuscript or Proposal Critiques
  • Who is Patricia Newman?
  • Contact
    • Stay In Touch
Prev Next