Friday Bird Families

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-anatidae-ii

Every Friday in the River Houses we invite you and your students to learn about a different group of North American birds from your recommended homeschool bird guide (riverhouses.org/books) — it’s a great way to add a few minutes of informal science, geography, natural history, and imagination to your homeschool schedule. (We started this new feature at the beginning of this month with an introduction to your bird guide.)

This week’s family is (again) the Ducks, Geese, and Swans — the Anatidae (bird guide page 14). Usually we’ll cover one or two families each week, but we’re spreading the ducks, geese, and swans over two weeks because there are so many of them: about 160 species around the world, and 66 in North America. Last week we said a few words about geese and swans; this week we’ll turn to the ducks.

With smaller children, you can take our Friday Bird Families posts as opportunities to just use your bird guide as a picture book and spend a few minutes looking at all the wonderful wildlife. For older students, one of our objectives is to help them become fluent with a technical reference book that’s packed with dense information. Here’s the introduction to this bird family — you’ll find it on page 14:

“DUCKS · GEESE · SWANS — Family Anatidae. Worldwide family. Web-footed, gregarious birds, ranging from small ducks to swans. Largely aquatic, but geese, swans, and some ‘puddle ducks’ also graze on land. Species: 160 World, 66 N.A. [North America].“

In larger families, such as the ducks, geese, and swans, your bird guide will also often have separate subheadings for notable subgroups within the family — for example, the “dabbling ducks” (page 26):

“DABBLING DUCKS. Surface-feeding members of the genus Anas: the familiar ‘puddle ducks’ of freshwater shallows and, chiefly in winter, salt marshes. Dabblers feed by tipping, tail up, to reach aquatic plants, seeds, and snails. They require no running start to take off but spring directly into flight. Most species show a distinguishing swatch of bright color, the speculum, on the secondaries. Many are known to hybridize.“

Pick a representative species to look at in detail each week and read the entry aloud, or have your students study it and then narrate it back to you, explaining all the information it contains. This week, why not investigate one of the most familiar of all ducks, a species found throughout the entire northern hemisphere: the Mallard (page 26).

All sorts of biological information is packed into the brief Mallard species description in your bird guide — can your students tease it out? How big is this bird? (23 inches long.) What’s its scientific name? (Anas platyrhynchos.) What does it sound like? (Quack! But then you already knew that. 😊) Will you be able to find this species where you live? At what times of year? (Study the range map and range description carefully to answer those questions, and see the book’s back flap for a map key.)

From the illustrations you can see that the Mallard is sexually dimorphic (“two-formed”): that is, the males and females are different in appearance, with the males having an iridescent green head, chestnut breast, and silvery-gray flanks. A little browsing will show you that most duck species are dimorphic, whereas most geese and swans are sexually monomorphic (“one-formed”): the males and females are similar in appearance, and just by looking you can’t tell them apart.

One of the most beautiful hidden features of many dabbling ducks, as noted in the description above, is the speculum (Latin, “mirror”) — the swatch of iridescence on the secondary feathers (the inner wing feathers that attach to the bird’s forearm). The speculum is plainly visible when the bird is in flight, but it’s usually hidden at rest, unless the bird happens to stretch its wings a bit.

And of course Mallards have provided the soundtrack — accurately or not — for just about every duck that has ever appeared in film and television. 🔊

Browse through the many other duck species in your bird guide and take note of (and delight in) the many wonderful duck names that enrich the English language: gadwall, merganser, pochard, eider, teal, canvasback, scaup, pintail, and more.

What ornithological discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🐦

❡ Words for birds: You may not think of your homeschool dictionary (riverhouses.org/books) as a nature reference, but a comprehensive dictionary will define many of the standard scientific terms you will encounter in biology and natural history, although it will not generally contain the proper names of species or other taxonomic groups that aren’t part of ordinary English. (In other words, you’ll find “flamingo” but not Phoenicopterus, the flamingo genus.) One of the most important things students should learn to look for in the dictionary is the information on word origins: knowing the roots of scientific terms makes it much easier to understand and remember their meaning. 📖

❡ Come, here’s the map: Natural history and geography are deeply interconnected. One of the first questions you should teach your students to ask about any kind of animal or plant is, “What is its range? Where (in the world) does it occur?” Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent world atlas that will help your students appreciate many aspects of biogeography — the science of the geographical distribution of living things. 🌎

❡ Rivers in the sky: How many birds are migrating this week? You can find out from the BirdCast website, also sponsored by Cornell University, which offers daily bird migration forecasts in the spring and fall for the entire United States. 🦅

❡ Nature notes: This is one of our regular Friday Bird Families posts. Why not print your own copy of our River Houses Calendar of American Birds and follow along with us, and add your name to our free weekly mailing list (riverhouses.org/newsletter) to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🦆

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-anatidae

Every Friday in the River Houses we invite you and your students to learn about a different group of North American birds from your recommended homeschool bird guide (riverhouses.org/books) — it’s a great way to add a few minutes of informal science, geography, natural history, and imagination to your homeschool schedule. (We started this new feature last week with an introduction to your bird guide.)

This week’s family is the Ducks, Geese, and Swans — the Anatidae (bird guide page 14). Usually we’ll cover a couple of families each week, but the ducks, geese, and swans are such a large group we’ll spread them out over two weeks.

With smaller children, you can take our Friday Bird Families posts as opportunities to just use your bird guide as a picture book and spend a few minutes looking at all the wonderful wildlife. For older students, one of our objectives is to help them become fluent with a technical reference book that’s packed with dense information. Here’s the introduction to this bird family — you’ll find it on page 14:

“DUCKS · GEESE · SWANS — Family Anatidae. Worldwide family. Web-footed, gregarious birds, ranging from small ducks to swans. Largely aquatic, but geese, swans, and some ‘puddle ducks’ also graze on land. Species: 160 World, 66 N.A. [North America].“

If you’re training young naturalists, teach them to ask and answer from the reference guide the very first questions any naturalist would ask about a new group: How many species? (160.) Where do they occur? (Worldwide.) Are there any near us? (Yes, 66 species in North America, and the individual maps will give us more detail.) What are their distinctive features? (Web-footed, varying in size, mostly aquatic, and as you can see from scanning the pictures, most have fairly plump bodies, short legs, and long necks.) And by the way, “gregarious” is a beautiful word, isn’t it — be sure to send someone to your homeschool dictionary to look that one up. 🔎

Pick a representative species to look at in detail each week and read the entry aloud, or have your students study it and then narrate it back to you, explaining all the information it contains. This week, for example, why not investigate one of the most familiar of all North American birds: the Canada Goose (pages 20–21).

All sorts of biological information is packed into the brief Canada Goose species description on page 20 — can your students tease it out? How big is this bird? (30–43 inches long — quite variable!) What’s its scientific name? (Branta canadensis.) Canada Goose is a species that has a lot of geographical variation across the continent, so part of the description explains that in detail, and the illustrations on the facing page show some of that variation as well. What does it sound like? (Honk-a-lonk.😊) Where does this species occur? Will you be able to find it where you live? At what times of year? (Study the range description and range map carefully to answer those questions, and see the book’s back flap for a map key.)

Like many other geese, Canada Geese are famous for their large “vees” — migratory flight formations — surely one of the most magnificent sights in the natural world. (That photo is one of my own.)

And of course everyone loves Canada Geese because they honk. 🔊

You can do a little ten-minute study just like this with any of the species in your bird guide that catch your interest. Take a look at the four species of swans on page 22, for example — can your students figure out how they differ from each other? (They are very tricky to identify — you’re teaching your students to pay attention to fine details here.) Our fall term in the River Houses, just getting underway, is Cygnus Term. Where might that name come from? 🦢

In all these Friday Bird Families posts, our aim will not be to have you teach specific facts. What we hope to do instead is to provide starting points that you and your students can branch away from in many different directions, and also to show how you can help your students develop the kind of careful reading, observation, and interpretation skills that they will use in all their future academic work.

What ornithological discoveries have you made in your homeschool this week? 😊

❡ Homeschool birds: We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year. Why not track your own homeschool bird observations on the free eBird website sponsored by Cornell University. It’s a great way to learn more about what’s in your local area and about how bird populations change from season to season. 🐦

❡ Words for birds: You may not think of your homeschool dictionary (riverhouses.org/books) as a nature reference, but a comprehensive dictionary will define many of the standard scientific terms you will encounter in biology and natural history, although it will not generally contain the proper names of species or other taxonomic groups that aren’t part of ordinary English. (In other words, you’ll find “flamingo” but not Phoenicopterus, the flamingo genus.) One of the most important things students should learn to look for in the dictionary is the information on word origins: understanding the roots of scientific terms makes it much easier to understand and remember their meaning. 📖

❡ Come, here’s the map: Natural history and geography are deeply interconnected. One of the first questions you should teach your students to ask about any kind of animal or plant is, “What is its range? Where (in the world) does it occur?” Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent world atlas that will help your students understand many aspects of biogeography — the science of the geographical distribution of living things. 🌎

❡ Rivers in the sky: How many birds are migrating this week? You can find out from the BirdCast website, also sponsored by Cornell University, which offers daily bird migration forecasts in the spring and fall for the entire United States. 🦅

❡ State birds: One member of our bird-family-of-the-week is a United States state bird: the Hawaiian Goose or Nene (Branta sandvicensis). Paradoxically, you won’t be able to find the Hawaiian Goose in your North American bird guide, however, because Hawaii, while part of the United States, isn’t part of North America! But don’t despair: the Hawaiian Goose species profile on the eBird website will let you learn more about it. 🇺🇸

❡ Nature notes: This is one of our regular Homeschool Natural History posts. Add your name to our free weekly mailing list (riverhouses.org/newsletter) and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🦆

For live links, click to: riverhouses.org/2019-bird-guide

We’re going to be starting a new natural history feature today that we hope will run through the year: Friday Bird Families.

We think bird study is one of the best subjects you can take up in a homeschool environment. It’s suitable for all ages, it can be made as elementary or as advanced as you wish, and birds can be found just about anywhere at any season of the year.

Like our Sunday States & Countries posts, Friday Bird Families will be an opportunity for homeschool teachers to do a light and easy ten-minute lesson each week that can introduce their students to some new facts, vocabulary, and ideas, while at the same time providing a springboard for more in-depth study by anyone who wishes to learn more.

The plan is to go though our recommended homeschool bird guide and highlight one or two groups of American birds each week — names for your students to know and wildlife for them to watch for — and to mix these brief highlights with a few concepts and skills from biology, natural history, and general science that your students can learn and practice.

We’ve got a new printable (pdf) calendar available now with the Friday Bird Families schedule! Download it, print it, and add it to your family bulletin board today — you’ll find it on our main calendar page:

• ➢ River Houses Calendar of American Birds 2019–2020 (riverhouses.org/calendars)

Next week we’ll “dive” in with the Ducks, Geese, and Swans, but for this first Friday Bird Families post of the year we’ll begin by introducing you and your students to the bird guide we recommend and will be using: the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America (7th Edition).

This recommended field guide isn’t a children’s book per se — it’s a standard reference book for the whole family. The front and back cover flaps are visual guides to all 87 families we’ll be looking at over the course of the year — from the Ducks, Geese, and Swans to the Blackbirds and Orioles, and everything in between — with a representative species or two shown for each. Browse through those pictures with your students and show them how to find the relevant pages for each family.

The guide’s helpful front matter includes important general explanations and diagrams — for example, of the parts of a bird. Don’t try to memorize that information — just know where it is so you and your students will be able to refer to it whenever a question arises. (“This description says the bird’s ‘lores’ are yellow. Where in the world are the ‘lores’?”)

The main body of the guide contains the species descriptions and illustrations, with text on the left and matching illustrations on the right. These pages are dense with information. Pay particular attention to the range maps shown for each species and to the map-key on the book’s back flap that shows how to interpret the maps.

Although we certainly hope your students will learn many interesting things about birds over the course of the year from our Friday Bird Families posts, an equally important objective of this miniature course of study is to get your students to become comfortable with complex, structured information and the tools we that use — like this bird guide — to organize and explore that information. Our bird guide for these little lessons can stand as an example of the kind of detailed technical reference your students will encounter all through high school, in higher education, and in professional life. When I taught college-level biology I often encountered students who struggled because they didn’t know how to use the basic reference tools right in their hands — glossaries, indexes, explanatory charts, summary endpapers, tables of definitions, and the like. Together we can make sure that your students are fluent in the use of all these tools. 👩🏻‍🎓

So here’s to a new project for our new River Houses year! What ornithological discoveries will you be making in your homeschool this term? 😊

❡ Words for birds: You may not think of your homeschool dictionary (riverhouses.org/books) as a nature reference, but a good dictionary will define many of the standard scientific terms you will encounter in biology and natural history, although it will not generally contain the proper names of species or other taxonomic groups that aren’t part of ordinary English. (In other words, you’ll find “flamingo” but not Phoenicopterus, the flamingo genus.) One of the most important things students should look at in the dictionary is the information on word origins: understanding the roots of scientific terms makes it much easier to understand their meaning. 🐦

❡ Come, here’s the map: Natural history and geography are deeply interconnected. One of the first questions you should teach your students to ask about any kind of animal or plant is, “What is its range? Where (in the world) does it occur?” Our recommended homeschool reference library (riverhouses.org/books) includes an excellent and comprehensive world atlas that will help your students to understand many aspects of biogeography — the science of the geographical distribution of living things. 🌎

❡ Rivers in the sky: How many birds are migrating this week? You can find out from the BirdCast website, sponsored by Cornell University, which offers daily bird migration forecasts in the spring and fall for the entire United States. 🦅

❡ Nature notes: This is one of our regular Homeschool Natural History posts. Add your name to our free weekly mailing list (riverhouses.org/newsletter) and get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 😊