BirdSleuth for Homeschools

Someone recently told me that her kids were curious about how fast birds fly.  Good question; it got me thinking, too! For example, I've heard that falcons travel really fast in a dive, but does that count as flying?  Well, I did a little research on the topic, and here are some thoughts and resources from reputable sources.

While it doesn't give speeds for different birds, this site does talk in general about the energetics of flight and mentioned sustained flight versus short bursts (i.e. in a chase). It seems that just like humans walk and run, birds do, too!  It's interesting to think of the different energetic needs to birds, and how they might differ seasonally (for example, during the nesting season or when a bird is migrating or surviving a cold winter).

Here's a very informative page from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. This site also speaks in more general terms and gives migration speed ranges for general bird types (for example, songbirds travel 10-30mph and waterfowl are somewhat faster at 30-50mph).


So, from my little bit of research, I'd conclude that bird speeds do vary within a species as well as between species. The different conditions at which the measurements have been taken (i.e some might be measuring "top speed" versus "travelling speed" versus "migration speed") might make comparisons between different websites difficult. 

In the BirdSleuth curriculum, we recommend that educators track "I wonder" questions like "How fast do birds fly?"  This particular question requires research, can generate great discussion, and in the end leads to new questions and directions. This exploration is much of the excitement of science!

What questions do your kids have about birds? How could they go about answering them? What new directions might be explored?  What science content can you teach through these "I wonders"?

Happy exploring!
Jennifer

As I've learned more about birds through developing the BirdSleuth curriculum, I simply notice birds more, and they've become more a part of my everyday life.  For example, I like changing seasons (I think it would be hard for me to live in a place that didn't have a fall with red-orange-yellow leaves, a blustery winter, a spring green, and a baking-hot summer).  This fall, I've noticed the leaves changing as I usually do, but this year, the seasonal change has also been marked by me noticing the change in birds and their behavior.

Some birds are flocking... others are flying south.  The species I see out the window are different than they were two months ago. There's a different sound to fall--the singing of the summer is gone, and now I am noticing little "chips" and loud geese honks. Ever since I heard this radio boadcast, I can't stop noticing geese flying in a "V" and noticing the big flocks of blackbirds and starlings who are not flying in neat alphabet-shapes.

Birds provide a neat way to connect kids to science and other subjects.  Birds can be used to teach about everything from seasonal change to physics (flight, sound, color) to math (bird counts, population changes) to biology (habitat, conservation, diversity) to...hmmm... it seems endless!  Can you give any of the content you're teaching a "bird's eye view"?