By Dan Lynch, Wildlife Education Specialist
www.pgc.pa.gov 2017
M I D D L E C R E E K W I L D L I F E M A N A G E M E N T A R E A
Self-Directed Curriculum Kits
• Connect With Wildlife Students compare and identify twelve different Pennsylvania mammals using their pelts and wildlife background information.
• Decoy Detective Students use the decoys to learn about waterfowl identification and divide birds into a diver or puddle duck classification.
• Feet Are Neat Students explain the role of bird feet in bird survival and compare and contrast bird feet ad-aptations.
• Let’s Wing It Students compare and identify the different types of flight feathers that make up a bird’s wing.
• Scatology Students create fake animal scat and learn to identify an animal by its droppings.
• Skull King Students infer from a skull what classification and niche the animal inhabits.
• The Nose Knows Students identify different food smells and will compare the ability to distinguish different smells to animals using their sense of smell to find mates, offspring and food.
• Wildlife Tracks Students use a variety of methods to observe, identify, collect and document tracks of differ-ent common wildlife species in Pennsylvania.
Background:
See PA Songbirds lesson plan Feet Are Neat (attached)
Objective:
Students will explain the role of bird feet in bird survival. Students will compare and contrast bird feet adaptations.
Materials Needed:
• Box of dried bird feet (with ID key) • Paper plates • Feet Are Neat worksheets
FEET ARE NEAT - Teacher’s Page from PA Songbirds curriculum
Activities:
See the “Procedure” section of the PA Songbirds lesson plan Feet Are Neat (attached). Additional procedure to those included in PA Songbirds: 4. After discussing the ways that birds can use their feet, break students into small groups (3 -5).
The teacher puts 3-4 different types of feet on a paper plate for each group. Using the Feet Are Neat worksheets, the group can randomly decide which of the feet they will identify as A, B, C or D. Give the groups 10-12 minutes to look at their feet and complete their chart, identifying what type of foot each matches (climber, grasper, percher, etc.). They may also try to guess what type of bird each foot came from. After students are done, the teacher can choose different feet from each plate and have the students stand up and talk about their bird’s feet. Using the key card, the teacher should help correct any incorrect answers.
FEET A
RE N
EAT
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
B
C
D
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (B
lack
) B
lack
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
G
reat-
horned
owl
C
Large
st
X
X
G
reat
egre
t
D
Webbed
X
X
D
uck
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (B
lack
/Ora
nge)
Black
/
Orange
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
O
spre
y
C
Large
st
X
X
X
Ring-
neck
ed
pheasant
D
Webbed
X
X
Corm
orant
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (B
lue)
Blue
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
S
creech
owl
C
Large
st
X
X
X
Ruffe
d
grouse
D
Webbed
X
X
D
uck
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (B
lue/W
hite
) B
lue/
White
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
S
creech
owl
C
Large
st
X
X
T
urkey
vulture
D
Webbed
X
Canad
a
goose
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (G
reen)
Gre
en
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
Little
Gre
en
Heron
C
Large
Talons
X
X
O
spre
y
D
Webbed
X
X
Corm
orant
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (G
reen/W
hite
) G
reen/
White
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
H
awk
C
Large
st
X
X
X
Turk
ey
D
Webbed
X
X
D
uck
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (O
range
) O
range
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
K
ingfisher
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
R
ed-taile
d
haw
k
C
Large
st
X
X
X
Turk
ey
D
Webbed
X
X
D
uck
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (O
range
/Blue
) O
range/
Blue
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
B
arn owl
C
Large
st
X
X
X
Ring-
neck
ed
pheasant
D
Webbed
X
Canad
a
goose
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (R
ed)
Red
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
X
Ring-
neck
ed
pheasant
C
Large
st
X
X
G
reat-
horned
owl
D
Webbed
X
X
G
ull
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (R
ed/W
hite
) R
ed/
White
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
Coope
rs
haw
k
C
Large
st
X
X
T
urkey
vulture
D
Webbed
X
Sw
an
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (T
an)
Tan
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
Little
green
heron
C
Large
st
X
X
O
spre
y
D
Webbed
X
X
Corm
orant
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (T
an/O
range
) T
an/
Orange
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
S
creech
owl
C
Large
st
X
X
X
Turk
ey
D
Webbed
X
X
D
uck
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (W
hite
) W
hite
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
Coope
rs
haw
k
C
Large
st
X
X
Crow
D
Webbed
X
X
D
uck
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (Y
ellow
) Y
ellow
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
S
harp
-
shinned
haw
k
C
Large
st
X
X
X
Turk
ey
D
Webbed
X
X
D
uck
FEET A
RE N
EAT – K
EY (Y
ellow
/Blue
) Y
ellow
/
Blue
Zip
Tie
CLIM
BER
GRASPE
R
PERCHER
WADER
RUNNER
SCRATCHER
SW
IM
MER
WHAT
AM
I?
A
Sm
allest
X
X
S
ongbird
B
Next b
iggest
X
X
X
Ruffe
d
grouse
C
Large
st
X
X
G
reat-
horned
owl
D
Webbed
X
X
D
uck