Birds

STEM Tuesday–A Partridge in a Pear Tree and other Birds this Holiday Season– Writing Tips & Resources

A Fowl STEM Tuesday Holiday Post

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Johnny Cockerel, Gallus gallus domesticus, and I represent the legal interests of the Avian Enrichment Society (A.V.E.S.). 

Photo credit: William Warby from London, England via creativecommons.org

For centuries, birds have been exploited in the popular holiday song, The Twelve Days of Christmas. Humankind has reaped bountiful comfort and joy from my fellow bird species without any compensation. Yet, for some unknown reason to logic or musical sensibility, only half the song includes birds. 

Let us first study the facts. The accepted, modern lyrics to the traditional version of The Twelve Days of Christmas are as follows: 

( Feel free to read, or sing, to the submitted lyrics.)

  • One the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…A partridge in a pear tree.
  • One the second day of Christmas, blah blah blah blah blah blah…Two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

(Follow the time-space-holiday song-continuum/neurologically ingrained rhythmic pattern for the remaining verses.)

  • Three french hens,
  • Four calling birds,
  • Five gold rings,
  • Six geese a-laying
  • Seven swans a-swimming,
  • Eight maids a-milking,
  • Nine ladies dancing,
  • Ten lords a-leaping,
  • Eleven pipers piping,
  • Twelve drummers drumming.

Notice the deliberate shift in lyrical theme introduced after the fifth day of Christmas which completely overtakes the song on the seventh day of Christmas? Where did the birds go? The lyrics started down the right road and then some human intervention ruined a perfectly good thing. Sound familiar?

A.V.E.S. has engaged my avian legal services to propose a change to the lyrics of The Twelve Days of Christmas. A new set of lyrics that more accurately reflect the importance of the Aves class. Today, we submit a proposal to right past wrongs and to correct a great lyrical misstep. We present a more promising musical holiday future—one where the avian species can truly be appreciated for their role in the ecosystem, food chain, and general enjoyment level of all who live on our fine planet. 

We present our case to you, the jury of STEM. 

Exhibit A

Bird books.

Look at these fine titles from this month’s STEM Tuesday book list. Birds make great reading! 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgSupport Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org

Exhibit B

Birders.

Walton LaVonda, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [Public domain]

Look how happy birds make these fine humans. It makes my heart beat at upwards of 300 beats/min to see such joy generated by my fellow Aves.

Exhibit C 

Ornithology. 

Ornithology, my friends, is more than a fancy-schmancy word. It’s a whole field of science! The study of birds! How awesome is that? Is there a field dedicated to the study of Lords-A-Leaping? How about Maids-A-Milking? I hardly think so. #BirdsRule!

Exhibit D

You know that feeling when you walk outside in late winter and hear the birds singing? That sound warms your heart and signals spring has sprung with greater accuracy than all the computer-generated weather models combined. You know what I’m crowing about here, right?

 

As you can see, birds are a slice of awesome on our planet. Not only do we of the Aves class need humans to get their !@#$ together to ensure our well-being and the well-being of our habitat, perhaps you can find it in your hearts to give us the complete reign of a traditional holiday classic. No maids milking or drummers drumming or lords leaping or ladies dancing or even pipers piping. Heck, display the bling with those gold rings on your fingers instead of singing about them. 

Ladies and gentlemen, if the lyric don’t fit, you must change it.

So fly with us and amend what we can be amended. Accept, as submitted, the A.V.E.S. revised version of the classic holiday song:

  • One the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…A partridge in a pear tree.
  • Two turtle doves.
  • Three french hens,
  • Four calling birds,
  • Five goldfinches,
  • Six geese a-laying
  • Seven swans a-swimming,
  • Eight owls-a-hunting (or hooting, depending on your inclination for small woodland rodents.)
  • Nine parrots…parroting?
  • Ten ravens hopping,
  • Eleven woodpeckers pecking,
  • Twelve cardinals singing.

Thank you and from the entire STEM Tuesday team,

Happy Holidays to all!

And to all a good FLIGHT!

 

 

Mike Hays has worked hard from a young age to be a well-rounded individual. A well-rounded, equal opportunity sports enthusiasts, that is. If they keep a score, he’ll either watch it, play it, or coach it. A molecular microbiologist by day, middle-grade author, sports coach, and general good citizen by night, he blogs about sports/training related topics at www.coachhays.com and writer stuff at www.mikehaysbooks.comTwo of his science essays, The Science of Jurassic Park and Zombie Microbiology 101,  are included in the Putting the Science in Fiction collection from Writer’s Digest Books. He can be found roaming around the Twitter-sphere under the guise of @coachhays64.

 


The O.O.L.F Files

This month’s Out Of Left Field (O.O.L.F.) Files takes wing and goes birding!  

    • Man, I love this book. I remember reading it for the first time. I started to read and thought that it was a good book. Everything changed, though, when Doug finds BIRDS OF AMERICA displayed at the library. This part of the book hit me at a visceral level and resonated through my reader’s soul. A kid from whom little is expected, a kid who is drowning in things beyond his control, finds a lifeline in science and art and is transformed to work at being a better human. Perfect.
  • Bird Taxonomy from Thayer Birding Software
    • In addition to great information about bird taxonomy, this page uses one of my favorite birds, Turdus migratorius, to demonstrate the principles. 
  • Ornithology, The Science of Birds
  • All About Birds from The Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology 
  • Disturbing news for grassland birds!

 


 

 

 

STEM Tuesday–A Partridge in a Pear Tree and other Birds this Holiday Season– In the Classroom

I admit it. I have yet to see partridge in a pear tree. I have seen a turkey on a fence, a great blue heron on a play set, and a groundhog in an apple tree. I love watching birds and other wildlife in my backyard. I recently asked my #KidsNeedMentors 4th grade class if they’ve ever watched birds in their yards. Sadly, most of them had not. Perhaps reading some of this month’s great list of bird books will get kids excited to look for birds on their own.

For this week’s post, I was inspired by three books that covered different bird-related topics.

Snowy Owl Invasion!

In this book, author Sandra Markle covers one episode in 2013, when snowy owls showed up in lots of places that were outside their normal range. Sightings by citizen scientists alerted researchers to this phenomenon. They were then able to take a closer look at the situation and determine what drove the owls to wander so far afield.

 

 

Woodpeckers: Drilling Holes and Bagging Bugs

Author Sneed Collard’s photographs illustrate this exploration of different types of woodpeckers. The book explains why woodpeckers do what they do, along with adaptations that allow them to do things that would injure other animals. (Namely banging their heads repeatedly against hard objects.) I especially loved that Collard included photo outtakes, proof that it takes many tries to get that one great photo.

 

 

Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird

This book is part of the Scientists in the Field series. It follows Gavin Hunt as he researches New Caledonian crows both in the field and in a research station. This book not only provided amazing information about crows. It raised questions about what sets humans apart from other animals. It looked into the age-old question of nature versus nurture. It also touched on different scientific methods. The book contained a combination of photographs and illustrations. I love that the illustrations were created by a graduate student working with Gavin.

 

These books could springboard into many interesting and fun activities. Here are just a few…

Be a Citizen Scientist

Citizen scientists play a big role in the collection of scientific data. It was citizen scientists who alerted researchers to the snowy owl “invasion” in 2013. There are many citizen science opportunities related to birds. One that my family has repeatedly participated in is the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC – https://gbbc.birdcount.org). The next GBBC is slated for February 14-17, 2020. When you sign up, you commit to watching birds for at least 15 minutes on one or more of the days. The sightings can be in your backyard, at the local park, or wherever you happen to be.

The GBBC website has lots of resources, including instructions for participation, bird guides, and a photo contest. It also explains why scientists need and how they use data collected through citizen science efforts.

This effort started as a joint effort between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society, both of which have lots of great bird resources on their respective websites. The Cornell Lab powers All About Birds (https://www.allaboutbirds.org), an incredible online resource for anyone who is looking to find out more about birds.

GBBC is not the only citizen science opportunity related to birds. Cornell has a list of other projects here: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/citizenscience/about-the-projects. There are also lists of projects provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: https://www.fws.gov/birds/get-involved/citizen-science.php.

Keep a Bird Journal

While citizen science efforts mainly focus on counting birds, keeping a bird journal can be scientific, creative, or both. There is an interesting article that looks at the difference between field notes and journals in Bird Watcher’s digest – https://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/solve/howto/journal.php.

When keeping field notes, like in Crow Smarts, it is often important to know which individual animal is being observed. This means that it is important to take note of size, coloring, and identifying marks associated with a specific individual. Behaviors and vocalizations may be specific to one particular individual. This may not represent the species as a whole.

In bird journaling, it is up to the individual keeping the journal to determine what is important. This can be an opportunity to practice some artwork or come up with a story inspired by bird activities.

As I was reading Crow Smarts, I loved the names the author and researchers gave to the various birds. Names like Little Feather and Crow We Never Got Around to Naming made me smile. What names would you give to birds you observe and why?

Build a Bird House

Specifications for bird nesting boxes vary from species to species. Check out this page from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for information about building and placing bird houses in general, as well as some specific dimensions for different bird species: https://www.fws.gov/birds/bird-enthusiasts/backyard/homes-for-birds.php.

The Cornell Lab has a good resource for bird houses here: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/k12/educators-guide-to-nest-boxes. This points to a page on NestWatch – https://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses – that includes plans for a long list of specific birdhouse plans. I love that this gives specific instructions not only for how to build a box, but also how to mount it.

Make a Bird Feeding Station

Just like people, birds have to eat. Making a bird feeding station could be as simple as setting out the right food to attract a certain type of bird or as involved as designing and building a bird feeder. This could be turned into an engineering challenge by providing students with raw materials and specifications for a bird feeder. It could be a research opportunity, where students have to figure out how to attract specific bird species. They would need to figure out where to place the feeder and what to stock it with.

The Cornell Lab has a recipe for bird seed “cookies”: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/k12/make-your-own-feeder. These could be used to decorate a tree with cookies shaped to match whatever holiday a class or family happens to be celebrating.

If you poke around the internet, you can find lots of ideas for different kinds of bird feeders. Here are a few to get you started. (And keep in mind that you can usually substitute sunflower butter for peanut butter if you have a peanut-allergic person to keep safe.)

A pinecone bird feeder: http://goexplorenature.com/2010/02/fun-friday-make-pinecone-birdfeeder.html
Tin can bird feeder: https://www.momtastic.com/diy/crafts-for-kids/175891-tin-can-bird-feeder-craft-diy
Milk carton bird feeder: https://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling/containers/milk-carton-bird-feeder

I hope these activities got you thinking about ways you can take off with these bird-themed books.


Janet Slingerland loves learning about science, history, nature, and (well) everything, which she then turns into a book. She loves looking out the window next to her writing desk and seeing birds doing what birds do. Janet sometimes helps out with conservation projects – at left, she’s helping cut reeds to stock an insect hotel. To find out more about Janet and her books, check out her website: janetsbooks.com

STEM Tuesday–A Partridge in a Pear Tree and other Birds this Holiday Season– Book List

 

Happy December! We’ve decided to have fun with the holiday song featuring a partridge in a pear tree and highlight some of our favorite middle-grade STEM titles about birds. Take a “gander” at these books for the budding ornithologists in your classroom.

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgKakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop

The last remaining Kakapo parrots live on a remote island off the coast of New Zealand. Explore recovery efforts in this Scientists in the Field title by noted author Sy Montgomery.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle by Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp

Discover the uplifting story of how one bald eagle was treated with a 3D-printed prosthetic beak after a devastating shooting.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgMoonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95  and  The Race to Save The Lord God Bird both Phillip Hoose

These two titles from a National Book Award-winning author tell the stories of two fascinating birds. Moonbird is a banded bird, who has flown the equivalent mileage of flying to the moon and halfway back. In The Race to Save The Lord God Bird Hoose recounts the dramatic story of the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Snowy Owl Invasion!: Tracking on Unusual Migration by Sandra Markle

If you found Moonbird fascinating, this title will also keep you turning the page. Markle’s book describes the unusual sightings of snowy owls during 2013 and the reasons they were found outside of their native Arctic home.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird by Pamela Turner, photographs by Andy Comins, with art by Guido de Filipppo

If you think that the term “bird brain” is an insult, think again. Turner investigates the intelligence of crows in this Scientist in the Field title. Readers will never look at a crow in the same way again.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org I Love Birds: 52 Ways to Wonder, Wander, and Explore Birds with Kids by Jennifer Ward , illustrations by Alexander Vidal

Ward offers some great activities for young birders in this early middle grade.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Owling: Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of Night by Mark Wilson

While we’re sleeping the night is alive with creatures, including owls. Wilson brings the night alive in this book about these nighttime predators.

 

 

Like Phillip Hoose, Sneed B. Collard III is an author who returns to the subject of birds again and again. Check out these three titles:

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Fire Birds: Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests

Natural forest fires impact many human and animal species, including birds. Sneed reveals the complex relationships between fire and thriving plant and animal communities.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Warblers and Woodpeckkers: A Father-Son Big Year of Birding

Discover Collard’s birding expeditions with his 13-year old son. A wonderful book about a passion for birding and a parent-child bonding experience.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org Woodpeckers: Drilling Holes and Bagging Bugs

It’s always a treat to watch a woodpecker pound a tree with its beak to reach a tasty meal, but how do they do it without getting brain damage or harming their beak? Collard delves into the world of woodpeckers in this book.

 

STEM Tuesday book lists prepared by

Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years including, THE STORY OF SEEDS, which earned the Green Earth Book Award, Junior Library Guild Selection, and other honors. Nancy’s research has taken her all over the world from the Galapagos to Russia.  She strives to inform, inspire, and empower her readers. Nancy also serves as the Regional Advisor of the Eastern NY SCBWI region. Her 2018 multi-starred title is BACK FROM THE BRINK: Saving Animals from Extinction. Visit her at www.nancycastaldo.com. 

Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that empowers young readers to act on behalf of the environment and their communities. A Sibert Honoree for Sea Otter Heroes, Newman has also received an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book Award for Eavesdropping on Elephants, and a Green Earth Book Award for Plastic, Ahoy! Her books have also received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists. During author visits, she demonstrates how young readers can use writing to be the voice of change. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.