Teacher Notes - Falcons

Created by:
Lorah A. Perry
Diocese of Orange, Orange, CA

URL: http://www.can-do.com/uci/lessons99/falcon.html
URL:  http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/SEP/CTS99/falcon.html 

Suggested Grade Level: 6-7  This information is based on the Birds of Prey Traveling Scientist program from the Orange County Department of Education.

 

Grade 6: Earth Science: 5c, 5d, 5e
              Investigation & Experimentation: 7d
Grade 7: Life Science: 3e
 

Background:

A bird is an endothermic, two-legged, egg-laying animal with a beak, backbone,wings, camouflage coloring, and a body covered with feathers.  Birds have many adaptations including flying, laying eggs, having a beak, and hollow bones.   The adaptation that makes a bird a bird is feathers.  Birds of prey are animals that have adapted to hunting other animals.  Some people refer to birds of prey as raptors.  Raptors are carnivores who feed on both endothermic and ectothermic vertebrates, as well as insects.  There are 2 orders of birds of prey: Falconiformes and Strigiformes.  Falconiformes include several different types of birds, including buteos, eagles, and accipiters.  Owls are Strigiformes.  Both orders have the same hunting equipment.  Some of these adaptations are: acute vision, hooked beak, strong legs, and sharp talons.  The main difference between the 2 orders are that Falconiformes are diurnal while Strigiformes  tend to be nocturnal.  These adaptations allow for more than one type of bird of prey to live in the same ecosystem.  Birds of prey are considered to be an indicator species.  We can gather information on the health of an ecosystem from looking at the birds of prey that live in a particular ecosystem.

 

Skills: Interpreting data, making inferences, making predictions, making comparisons, making observations, communicating  Writing a mini-report using the trading card format from a site on the Internet One of several activities listed on the Student Page Presentations -PowerPoint or Hyperstudio Computer literacy Effective use of Internet resources Assessment: Trading Card report; Student page activity;  Enrichment: Presentations -HyperStudio or Student created web page.