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