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O.W.L.S. User Guide
Outdoor Wildlife Learning Site
Goddard High School
Developed by Denise Scribner
Goddard High School Ecology Teacher
2009
What is an OWLS?
OWLS is an acronym for Outdoor Wildlife Learning Sites. It is a Program sponsored by the Chickadee Check-off of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. An OWLS is an outdoor environmental/wildlife laboratory, at or near a school, consisting of one or more native habitat features. It is designed to attract native wildlife and to facilitate multi-discipline learning opportunities for students.
OWLS sites provide fantastic opportunities for learning more about nature through such activities as planting trees, establishing butterfly and hummingbird gardens, and creating wetlands for tadpoles.
Why Do We Need OWLS?
Each new generation eventually assumes responsibility for our environment. OWLS is designed to help stimulate more learning. To help prepare children, it is necessary to emphasize educational programs that deal with ecology and wildlife. It is well established that "hands on" activities greatly enhance a student's ability to understand concepts and facts. One of the best ways to accommodate this is to provide natural environments at or near school property. That is why the OWLS area was established adjacent to Goddard High School.
OWLS projects provide opportunities to integrate across the curriculum using a thematic approach. Here are a few examples of how the OWLS project at Goddard High School could help to support instructional objectives and tie to subject areas.
Life Science: Identifying plants and animals, studying living communities, ecological systems, and monitoring change.
Earth Science: Studying soil characteristics, hydrologic cycles, and properties of water.
Physical Science: Applying concepts related to weather, climate, and seasonal patterns.
Mathematics: Tallying species, mapping of site, graphing growth of vegetation, interpreting data.
Language Arts: Developing a written plan, making oral reports, writing newspaper and newsletter articles, communication with diverse groups.
Social Studies: Identifying historical uses of site, engaging in the political process, working cooperatively with others.
Art: Developing site maps and illustrations, drawing natural objects.
Industrial Arts: Applying appropriate technology in land use projects.
OWLS User Guide
Review the guide to get familiar with what it contains.
Section One—Pre-Visit, On-site and Post Visit Activities
Section Two—Organisms found at the GHS OWLS site.
To arrange for a visit to the site contact the GHS ecology teacher at 316-794-4100. Limited equipment is available to barrow on-site from the high school to help improve your outdoor experience.
Equipment available upon request from GHS:
• Water testing kit—containing water thermometer, water turbidity/density meter, water testing supplies for pH, oxygen content and base/acid levels.
• Shovels
• Scan nets, D-nets (for aquatic studies)—please arrange for an orientation session on the proper use of this equipment before your class uses this equipment.
• Insect nets
• Bug Boxes and magnifying glasses
Water view tubes (tin cans with tops and bottoms taken out)
Note: The activities within this guide are targeted to the GHS OWLS area, however if you are not able to come to the high school your class can simply go outside and complete many of the activities in your own school yard. This booklet supports the “No Child Left Inside” initiative and helps to get children back in touch with the natural world.
PRE-VISIT PREPARATIONS
1. Set Ground Rules and Expectations for visiting the GHS OWLS site.
If students have already visited the GHS OWLS site, they will be familiar with the equipment, and will just need a review and your ground rules and expectations.
• All children are to be monitored by adults at all times, especially along the shoreline of the pond.
• Each group should stay at their sampling/activity station for the duration of class.
• Group members should take turns at all tasks.
• Complete any chemical and physical tests and measurements first.
• Be gentle when handling or observing aquatic organisms.
• Students working in the lake should bring rubber knee high boots. They should only wade (below knee depth) into the water. No swimming is allowed. Bring a ring buoy or other device to the site for throwing rescues.
• Eye protection should be used during the dissolved oxygen test.
2. Practice using equipment prior to arrival at the site.
It is important to practice how to properly use the nets, testing equipment, etc prior to your arrival to maximize the time you have when visiting the site. Contact the ecology teachers at the high school for an orientation appointment for the adults in your group.
3. Set goals for the visit.
For example: Upon completion of the Lake or Stream Study class students will be able to:
• Understand and measure the temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen of an aquatic system.
• Examine and report upon the diversity of aquatic creatures captured.
• Recommend actions to preserve healthy lake environments.
4. If possible, keep a journal or other record of the observations students made, including the date. Record data in the same categories in different seasons, years, and bodies of water. Students can graph results over time and use them to make inferences.
SECTION ONE
Pre-Visit, On-Site Visit and Post-Visit Activities
Instructions:
1. The following three activities are a great way to quickly introduce your students to the GHS OWLS area. It is recommended that you conduct one of these with your class.
2. The following pages in this section provide additional pre/on-site/post activities within the following topics:
• Animal Senses
• Food Webs
• Birds
• Small Mammals
• Trees and Keys
• Pond Study
• Weather Forecasting
• Wind Power
• Plants of the Prairie
Review and select those you wish to do with your students in the classroom prior to your visit to the site, at the GHS OWLS area and/or in the classroom after your visit to the site.
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY #1 Invisible Scavenger Hunt
In this scavenger all the chosen objects should be natural. None is actually collected. Awareness and observation skills will be practiced as girls look for and list things they found in the environment. This list should include items that make the scavenger hunt thought provoking as well as a fun project. Discourage picking or collecting so as to preserve the natural surroundings of the campsite. Hunt for objects on the list (see below) or adapt the list of your own.
Grades: K-12
Activity time: 20 minutes at OWLS, 10 minutes debriefing observations of “found” items
Objectives: students will
a. Practice observation skills
b. Problem solve ways to locate the items
Materials: pen or pencil, clipboards with scavenger list—make from own list or one provided--
adjust the number of items on the list for age appropriateness
State Standards: Science: 1.1; 2.1; 3.1; 3.5; 3.6; 4.1; 4.2; 6.2; 6.3; 7.1; 7.2
Socials Studies: G.2; G.3
Environmental: 1.1; 1.4; 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 3.3; 3.4; 4.1; 5.1;5.4
Instructions:
1. The players pair off (for safety and to exchange ideas) and should be prepared to return with their observations, sketches, and notes about the items on their list.
2. Establish boundaries. The players should not be sent to potentially hazardous places such as an abandoned building or creek without adult supervision.
3. Set your own time limit for the scavenger hunt and develop a signal to call the players back on time.
4. Now….get ready….get set….
Suggested Invisible Scavenger Hunt List:
1. The softest thing you can find.
2. A sun trap.*
3. The oldest thing you can find.
4. Something that lives in the water.
5. Something yellow.
6. Something with six legs.
7. A tree shorter than everyone in the group.
8. Something a bird would eat.
9. A sign or erosion.
10. The smallest thing you can see.
11. Something that has an odor.
12. An animal home.
13. Something that is of no use in nature.
14. Something that always changes.
15. Something that chirps. (what type?)
16. An animal track. (what kind?)
17. The youngest thing you can find.
18. An animal without a backbone.
19. A plant that “points the way.”
20. Poison Ivy (please do not touch)
21. A nut.
22. A seed pod.
Remember: each team must be able to document where they found their object. If time permits, you might want various teams to take the rest of the group on a hike to show where their objects we found.
*a sun trap is anything that captures the sun’s heat (water, rocks, plants, animals)
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY #2[pic]Caterpillar Walk
Grades: K-12
Activity time: 15 minutes at OWLS, 15 minutes debriefing
Objectives: students will
a. Practice observation skills
b. Practice team building skills
c. Utilize senses other than sight (touch, hearing, smell) to identify changes in a natural setting.
Materials: bandana or blindfold for each student
State Standards: Science: 1.1; 2.1; 3.1; 3.5; 3.6; 4.1; 4.2; 6.2; 6.3; 7.1; 7.2
Socials Studies: G.2; G.3
Environmental: 1.1; 1.4; 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 3.3; 3.4; 4.1; 5.1;5.4
Instructions:
1. Take the class to the trail head. After blindfolding each student, arrange them in a line, caterpillar-fashion, with each student placing their hands on the shoulder of the student in front of them. Tell the students that as you lead them along they are to listen to, smell, and feel their surroundings as completely as they can. Make frequent stops along the way at points of interest, such as unusual trees and rocks, or to smell a fragrant flower or bush. The more variety there is along the route, the better.
2. When you have gone as far as you think is appropriate, remove the blindfolds. The students must now try to find their way back along the route to the starting point.
Caution: blind caterpillars more than six segments (people) long quickly become entangled and hard to manage. Make sure you have one non-blindfolded aide with each group of blindfolded participants to ensure the safety of the group.
INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY #3
Observations from a Single Spot (Earth Partnerships for Schools 1-1)
Grades: K-12
Activity time: 20 minutes at OWLS, 15 minutes debriefing observations
Objectives: students will
a. Practice observation skills
b. Create expressive writing in response to direct observations
c. Perceive seasonal and/or phonological changes in a natural setting.
Materials: journal, pen or pencil, clipboards
State Standards: Science: 1.1; 2.1; 3.1; 3.5; 3.6; 4.1; 4.2; 6.2; 6.3; 7.1; 7.2
Socials Studies: G.2; G.3
Reading: 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4; 2.1; 2.2
Writing: 1.1; 1.2
Environmental: 1.1; 1.4; 2.1; 2.2; 2.3; 3.3; 3.4; 4.1; 5.1;5.4
Instructions: Have the students go out to the OWLS area and select a spot. Each student will need to identify their spot so they can return to it at a later date.
Instruct the students to settle into their spot for at least 10 minutes without writing anything down. After 10 minutes, each of the students should begin to write down what they have observed and experienced at their spot. Explain to the students that they can list observations, write an essay, compose some poetic lines or just jot down thoughts as they come to them.
For younger students you may need to give further direction. For example:
What do you see? Look close up, far away and in between. Examine the soil grain, leaf margin, and decomposing fibers; the waving landscape and distant horizon; and things in between the two.
What do you hear? Listen to sounds close up and far away, loud and soft. Put your ear to the ground and listen to minute rustlings and hold your head high and listen to the wind.
What do you feel? Feel the small, big, soft and hard things around you.
What do you smell? Tune into different smells. Try to smell the soil, the ant, and the water drop as well as the breeze, the plant community and the earth.
What feelings do you have as you sit at your spot?
What processes are happening on your spot?
Who or what has been at your spot?
How is your spot a part of the larger area surrounding it?
What words describe your spot?
Return to the classroom and have students share their observations and insights with others in the class. How are the observations similar and different? Ask the students if they visited their spot many times, do they think they would see the same things if observations were made at another time? What would be the same or different?
Extensions:
• Create a personal journal for recording observations over time.
• Draw a picture of the spot. This is good for younger aged students.
• Create a poem about the spot.
• Visit the spot monthly and create a record of the changes.
• Make a calendar that describes the changes observed.
|Animal |[pic][pic][pic][pic] |
|Senses | |
|Classroom | |
|Connections | |
Activity Description: In this animal ecology experience, students will learn how senses work through experiments, games and role playing. They will compare their senses to those of other animals, and learn why senses are important to survival.
Total time: 30 minutes to 2 hours outdoors
Audience: 6-20 students, 1st grade through adult
Activity level: easy to moderate
Travel: 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: uneven terrain on grass trails; parking adjacent to site
Pre-Visit Activities
• Create posters to illustrate the anatomy and function of each of the human senses.
• Write a story about a day in the life of a particular animal.
• Write a report on the scientific research on sensory awareness in human or other animals.
On-site Visit Activities
1. Scent Trail This is to simulate how animals “mark” their territory as they walk through the environment. There are two ways to do this activity. You need to remember that scents dissipate quickly so work quickly when setting the scent trail up.
Option 1: purchase some really inexpensive and smelly perfume. Have the students turn their backs on the site you wish to “mark” with your scent. While they are waiting, one adult goes and sprays the trail at various places to have the students find. After the “marking” is completed, instruct the students to spread out to find the trail by scent and then follow it. It is more fun to have two or three different scents to follow so not everyone will “follow the leader.”
Option 2: Have students make scent markers before your arrival to the site. It could be something with a strong smell inside a plastic baggie or better yet, a re-usable container. Or you can spray a strong scent onto a card that can be tied to a tree/plant or a stick placed in the ground. If you choose to spray a card, make sure it is in an airtight container to preserve the scent until you arrive at the site.
Once on the site have each group create their animal scent trail for others to follow.
2. Sounds (you may want to bring some plastic or pads to use at the site if you wish to sit or lie down)
Have the children lie down on their backs with both fists held up in the air. Every time someone hears a new bird song or insect noise he/she lifts one finger. Who has the best hearing?
For fun, see if you can count to ten without hearing a bird song or insect. Vary the game by listening for general animal sounds or for any sounds at all, like wind in the grass, falling leaves, animals splashing in the water.
3. Colors and Shapes
To help students focus on what is around them in the natural world, ask them how many different colors (or shades of color) they can see in front of them without moving from where they are standing. How many geometric shapes do they see in nature? The teacher may wish to call out a shape and ask students to locate something in nature with that shape or to have students make a list of what they see and then match it with a geometric shape.
4. Touch (you will need some blind folds for this activity)
Remember: Take only memories or photos, leave only footprints. Have students locate areas at the site that have different textures. Once these have been found, have students get into pairs or triads with one wearing a blindfold. Carefully lead the student to the site that have a different texture and have her/him feel the texture and describe it to the others.
5. Camouflage
Choose a section along the trail at the OWLS area to place 15-20 man-man objects. Select objects that are both brightly colored and those that are more muted. Keep the number of objects you have placed a secret from the students. Also make sure to place the objects at various levels along the trail—remember nature happens all around you.
Now have the students walk along the trail one at a time, with intervals between each student. The objective for each student is to try to spot (but not pick up) as many of the objects as they can. After they reach the end of the trail, they either write down or tell another teacher what they found on the trail. If one or more of the objects have been missed, tell the students there are still more out there and start over.
End this outdoor experience with a discussion of the ways coloration helps animals and plants in the environment.
Toothpick/Kible & Bits Camouflage
You will need:
One box of regular toothpicks*
One box of colored toothpicks*
Paper and pencil
* an alternative is to use a bag of mixed Kibble and Bits dog food. Be sure to get the kind that has colored pieces in it. This is a good environmental alternative in case all of the pieces aren’t located animals in the area can enjoy a special treat after your departure.
Prep: mix the two boxes of toothpicks together. Select a portion of the OWLS area (or school yard) for this activity. Randomly toss handfuls of toothpicks into the grass.
As the students arrive at the site explain there are hidden toothpicks in the grass. Some of the toothpicks will be easy to spot, others may be harder because they are wearing camouflage. Explain what camouflage means for those who may not know.
Give each participant a piece of paper and pencil. Ask them to make columns and write headings on the paper like the sample below:
SAMPLE:
FOUND RIGHT FOUND AFTER FOUND AFTER LAST ONES
AWAY 3 MINUTES 5 MINUTES FOUND
The object of the game is to for the student to find as many toothpicks (or kibble pieces) are they can in 10 minutes or less in the yard. Have the participants pick up and stick their toothpick through the paper in the appropriate column as they are located. Or if using the Kibble & Bits, provide each student with a container to hold their finds.
One person needs to look at a watch or clock. Start at the word “GO”, announcing the 3 minute, 5 minute and 10 minute marks.
After 10 minutes have everyone look at their paper and tooth picks. Which ones were found first (what is the color), which were found next, and so on…. Discuss how camouflage coloring made it easier or harder to locate the toothpicks (Kibble & Bits) in the grass. How is color used in nature to “hide” objects or animals?
CAUTION: If toothpicks are used, be sure to pick up ALL of the toothpicks so that an animal won’t get injured.
The Sixth Sense
Can you name the colors of the rainbow in order? What words would you use to describe a milkweed pod or a prickly pear cactus? When was the last time you watched the sun rise? Have you listened to a chorus of spring frogs or the call of an owl at dusk?
We have become accustomed to the fast pace of our mechanized environment. With all the demands on our time, we forget to pause and look at a flower in a field or a bird perched on a branch. Learning to become an outdoor observer means developing sensitivity to your surroundings is a skill that requires practice.
Try some of the following exercises to enhance the senses:
• Use a hand lens to look at features such as the veins of a leaf or an insect clinging to the stem of a plant.
• Watch the movement of the clouds as they drift by.
• Smell the variety of scents and aromas in the air.
• Sniff a flower or describe the odor of a trowel full of soil and mud. Have you ever smelled an approaching rainstorm or new odors after a heavy rain?
• Feel the many varied textures in the environment. Use a blindfold and try to identify various natural objects by feel alone.
Post-Visit Activities
• Design and direct classmates in a game which shows how a certain animal uses a particular sense to survive.
• Design and conduct an experiment to test the sensitivity of one of your own senses.
• Design an experiment to test one sense of an animal.
Web Links
|Food Webs |[pic] |
|Classroom | |
|Connections | |
Activity Description: In this animal ecology experience, students will learn how each type of organism is linked to the other---producers and consumers; herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores.
Total time: Activity time in the field 30-45 minutes; classroom discussion: 30-45 minutes
Audience: 6-20 students, Grades: 3-12
Activity level: easy to moderate
Travel: 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: uneven terrain on grass trails; parking is adjacent to site
Objectives: students will:
• Investigate a real food web in the field.
• Discover how organisms meet their individual needs for nutrients and energy
• Show how organisms both depend on and contribute to the balance or imbalance of populations and/or ecosystems.
Subjects Covered: science, social studies, writing and environmental
State Standards: Science: 1.1; 2.4; 3.1; 3.3; 3.4; 3.5; 3.6; 7.1; 7.2
Social Studies: G.3; G.4; G. 5
Writing: 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4
Environmental: 1.2; 2.1; 2.3
Pre-Visit Activities
Food Webs
You will need:
• 1 set of 12 food web cards (such as: sun, water, grass, flowering plant, frog, spider, bird, snake, rabbit, etc)
• 1 ball of yarn (you provide)
• 1 squirt bottle with water
How to play:
Sit in a circle with the food web cards around each person’s neck. Have each student hold their right index finger out like a hook.
Start by wrapping the yarn around the finger of the student who is the sun. For our purposes, life starts there. Ask the students to choose who should be next in the web and walk over to that person and hook the yarn around her finger. Do not tie the yarn. The web must be flexible and accommodate change, an important part of the exercise.
For example: the sun could
a) connect to the plant and give it energy to make food
b) evaporate the water, moving it along the water cycle
c) warm the frog that needs its energy and warmth to survive.
Continue connecting the web around the circle until everyone has been woven into the web at least once. Now spray DDT (i.e. water from the squirt bottle) on the insect. The DDT, of course, is going to kill the insect. The insect then straightens out her finger, releasing the yarn, and is no longer part of the food chain. This leaves a hole in the food web. All of the other students of the food web have to adapt and adjust.
Discuss the results. Suggest that since all of the bugs are dead, the frogs, suffering from malnutrition, kick the bucket as well. The frogs let go of the yarn. Continue the story as you see fit and discuss the implications.
On Site Activities
1. Look for evidence of animal activity—footprints, nests, empty seed pods.
2. Print the following organisms commonly found in the OWLS site onto cards—mouse, frog, butterfly, ant, dragonfly, crayfish, snake, bird, vole, rabbit, turtle, fish. Give one card to a pair of students. Ask students to locate and list all the items they find at the site that their organism would eat as a primary consumer.
3. Locate evidence of an organism at the site. Discuss how it is part of a particular food chain. Then look for evidence of the organism immediately above it on the food chain (consumer) and below it (producer) at the site.
4. Is There Really a Food Web Out There? (Earth Partnership for Schools 1-7)
Go out in the natural area (GHS OWLS area or school yard) and find evidence of an interaction between two organisms that involved eating or being eaten. These steps can involve the plants, insects, birds, mammals or decomposers. Draw or describe the interaction on a card.
Back in the classroom, lay out all cards on a large piece of paper or white board. Each person or group should describe their interaction and the evidence that they found. Are any of these two steps connected to one another? Draw lines between cards as appropriate to create the start of your food web. Alternatively, hook cards together with pipe cleaners or string. Discuss which parts are missing and put those in.
Why were the missing parts not observed? What evidence might you find for the missing interactions if you went back outside? Make a list of three questions that students have about the interactions observed.
Post-Visit Activity
1. Use some old issues of nature type magazines (ex. National Geographic, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life).
2. Find and cut out 8 or 9 pictures of plants, animals, and or decomposers that could be living together in one ecosystem. Paste the pictures on a sheet of white paper.
3. Draw arrows connecting the plants and animals to show feeding relationships. Be sure your arrows are pointing in the direction that the energy flows.
4. Label each organism as a producer, herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore.
Extensions
• Compare food web interactions students observe at different seasons. How might the food web vary throughout the year? How might it be different 10 years from now?
• Consider how humans affect the food web. List and discuss.
Assessments
• Describe what might happen to the ecosystem if one of the interactions is removed.
• Describe the strengths and limitations of a food web diagram using examples from your classroom model.
• Using the classroom food web model, substitute organisms that live in a different ecosystem such as a lake or desert.
Web Links
|Birds |[pic] |
|Classroom | |
|Connections | |
Activity Description: In this animal ecology activity, the amazing diversity of birds will be studied with emphasis on field observation. Students can use binoculars, field guides, and visit feeding stations. Close-up looks at the birds are possible at the bird boxes located at the site.
Total time: 1-2 hours outdoors
Audience: 6-20 students, 1st grade through adult
Activity level: easy
Travel: 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: uneven terrain on grass trails; parking is adjacent to site
Outcomes: Upon completion of the Birds activities students will be able to:
• Describe adaptations that make birds unique.
• Demonstrate proficiency with a bird field guide.
• Identify by sight or sound 6 or more birds found at GHS OWLS site..
• List ways people can have a positive and negative impact on birds.
Why care about birds?
We know that birds play an important role in the ecosystem. They pollinate plants, spread seeds, eat insects, and serve as an important link in the food web. Without birds, we might have many less plants and many more insects on the planet.
Birds give us a great window into the health of our planet. Many birds use Kansas as a stop-over during spring and summer migration traveling both north and south. Most birds fly south to spend the winter in warmer habitats in the tropical rain forests of Central and South America, or fly to the southern US. This means they need healthy forests, grasslands, lakes, and rivers in all parts of the Americas.
Pre-Visit Activities
1. Bird Word Find
2. Bird Word Match
3. Play "What Bird Is It?"
4. Be a "Bird Phrase" Sleuth
5. Flash Cards/Matching Game
6. Beef Up Your Powers of Observation
Identifying birds takes practice and keen observation skills. Try this activity to help students beef up their powers of observation.
a. Ask one student to leave the room for a moment. On their way out, try to chatter a bit with that student so that others will glance at them on their way out. After the student is gone, ask the class questions about what he/she was wearing or things they may have said on the way out.
b. Write a list on the board of what students remember. When the missing student returns, compare what the class observed and remembered to reality. How did they do?
c. Try again with a new student, and with the class having a bit of warning. When the student returns, the "what the class observed" list on the board should be much longer and much more accurate. Why? What does it take to be a keen observer? (Concentration, focus on details . . . )
d. If you have Bird field guides (Peterson, National Geographic, Sibley, and Golden Guides are common) in your school library, ask students to look up the American Robin (or Robin) in the index to locate the correct page. Compare the American Robin to other birds on the page. Are the sizes the same? Colors? If the colors are different, exactly where and how are they different? Some field guides use arrows to point to distictive characteristics of a particular bird. What advice would you give to someone going outside to observe and identify birds? (Focus, concentrate, look for patterns of color, try to gauge size, bring a field guide and binoculars . . .)
7. Bird Beak Adaptations:
• Suggested Food Resources: uncooked shell macaroni, goldfish crackers, M&M® candies, gummy worms, chocolate sprinkles, peanuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, mini-marshmallows, cereals (you get the idea!) For an interesting ending, try individual cups of pudding for each student!
• Beaks (utensils): one set per group
clothespin, toothpick, straw, spoon, small plastic scoop, tweezers/small scissors
• Other Materials: paper plate for feeding dish (1 per group); small cup for stomach (1 per student), whistle/bell to signal change of feeding
Students should work in groups of 4-6, either at a table or around a clean mat on the floor. Distribute one type of "beak" (utensil) to each student, instructing them to hold it in one hand and place the other hand behind their back. Place a "stomach" (cup) in front of each student. Place one type of food in each group's feeding area (plate) and instruct students that, at your signal, they must compete for as much of that food resource as they can gather with their "beaks". Remind them that their survival depends on their ability to gather food. Give the signal, then allow each group 5-10 seconds to "feed". All food must go into their "stomach" (cups)! After 10 seconds, give the signal to stop.
Have the students tell which beak was most successful in gathering that type of food. Repeat the procedure for each type of food available.
Extensions to Bird Beak Activity:
a. Have students predict which type of beak will be successful in collecting each food type.
b. Ask students to compare each of the food items to things that birds really eat, like snails, grubs, worms, seeds, and other things.
c. Repeat the food-gathering activity with some types of foods floating in a plastic container or water.
d. Have the students sort the food they collected into small piles and construct a data table to record how much of each food they collected per beak type.
e. Using the class data, construct a bar graph, with food types along the horizontal axis and beak types along the vertical axis. Discuss the results with the class.
f. Discuss with the class the differences between a bird specialist (one that eats only a certain type of food) and a bird generalist (one that eats are variety of foods). Relate these ideas to habitat destruction, competition and ecological niches.
8. Assign each student a different type of bird found in Kansas to research, particularly its beak type and the type of food it eats. Report to the class.
9. Invite a speaker from the local Audubon Society to make a presentation to the class.
Build a Bird Feeder:
Set a pie tin on a stool or flat topped tree trunk or hang it in a hanging plant hanger; dump it out after a rain, or punch drainage holes in it, and elevate it a little by placing small rocks or twigs beneath it. (All birds, specially Juncos, Cardinals, Jays, Sparrows)
Punch holes on either side of a plastic pop bottle, stick a twig all the way through with its ends sticking out for perches and poking more holes nearby for the birds to pull the seeds out. Then hang the bottle by tying a string around its neck. (Finches really like these!)
Coat a pine cone with peanut butter, roll it in birdseed, and hang it from a tree branch;
Use a rectangle of old window = screening. Wear heavy cotton gloves and use needle-nosed pliers to crimp the loose wire edges back (so they won't poke the birds nor snag their feathers), fold it in half, run two string hangers through the corners on each side, and hanging it. Slide in a suet/birdseed cake from the grocery store, or make a "cake" of oatmeal, birdseed, and peanut butter. (Cardinals, Jays, Robins, = Sparrows)
Stick a piece of bread, a doughnut, or half of an orange, on a twiggy branch of the tree (the Orioles will LOVE the orange!)
Tie a string around the neck of a baby food jar and fill with orange juice. Hang it from a tree. (It will hang tilted, but Orioles will perch on the rim and take dainty sips).
Wash an empty 1-gallon plastic milk jug thoroughly, removing any milk residue from it.
Step2
Put the cap on.
Step3
Stand the milk jug right side up on your work surface.
Step4
Cut large holes - about 3 to 4 inches in diameter - in two adjacent sides of the jug opposite the handle. Cut the holes in the middle of the side and high enough that the seed won't spill out of the jug when you put it in.
Step5
Use a large nail to punch a smaller hole below each of the large holes, and insert a dowel, which the birds will use for perching, through diagonally. The perch should be long enough to stick out about 2 inches on both sides to provide perching spots for your birds.
Step6
With the large nail, punch two holes in the neck of the milk jug, about 1 inch below the cap.
Step7
Run a 2-foot-long piece of wire through these two holes, twisting the wire tightly above the cap with several turns.
Step8
Fill the feeder with birdseed and use the wire ends to hang it from a strong branch or other support. Use black oil sunflower seeds, which will attract the largest variety of birds.
How to identify birds: [pic]
[pic] Birds in the same general group often have the same body shape and proportions, although they may vary in size. Silhouette alone gives many clues to a bird's identity, allowing birders to assign a bird to the correct group or even the exact species.
In the above illustration are 23 different birds. How many can you recognize just by their silhouettes? Look carefully - don't miss the ones hiding in the leafy tree!
Pay attention to the following:
• body shape
• proportions of the head, legs, wings
• tail shape
• length of the bill
Need some more help? See the for silhouette descriptions below to help you.
[pic][pic][pic] [pic]
Field Markings
[pic]
Flight Patterns
[pic]
[pic]
[pic]
Striking a Pose Posture clues can help place a bird in its correct group. Watch an American Robin, a common member of the thrush family, strut across a yard. Notice how it takes several steps, then adopts an alert, upright stance with its breast held forward. Other thrushes have similar postures, as do larks and shorebirds.
[pic]Vertical Posture Certain bird groups have distinctive vertical posture when perched on a branch. Flycatchers, hawks, and owls typically sit in an upright pose with tails pointing straight down.
[pic]Horizontal Posture Other birds perch horizontally on vegetation with tails pointing out at an angle, for instance vireos, shrikes, crows, and warblers.
[pic]Distinguishing Similar Birds---Distant perched crows and hawks may look alike, but paying attention to their different postures may help to tell them apart. The Red-tailed Hawk perches upright, whereas the similarly-sized American Crow perches horizontally.
On Site Visit Activities
1. Bring your bird feeder to the site or bird seed to place in feeders at the site.
2. Have the students stand in a circle. Ask everyone to close their eyes. When they hear a bird sing have the student raise their hand. See if you can identify the bird by its song.
3. Ask students to identify the habitats they find in the OWLS site (water, trees, burrows, man-made bird boxes). What kinds of birds live in the water? What kinds live in trees? What kinds forage on the ground? Are their feet shaped differently? Their wings? Their beaks or bills? Talk about how the habitat in which some bird lives affects how they look. Why does a duck that lives in the water look different from a woodpecker that lives in trees?
4. Project Learning Tree Environmental Education Activity Guide “Birds and Worms". This is best played outside, where students become birds searching for food of different colors as they study the concept of protective coloration.
Post-Visit Activities
1. Project WILD "Adaptation Artistry" -- students design and create imaginary birds and write reports including descriptions of the bird's adaptations.
2. Write syntu poetry about bird beaks.
3. Make bird beak masks with construction paper.
4. Read books or stories about birds to the class. Stellaluna provides interesting comparisons between lifestyles of birds and bats.
5. Research other specific adaptations of birds, such as those required for locomotion, reproduction, or protection.
6. Construct an ecological community in a shoebox, including birds specially adapted to that particular habitat. Set up an exhibit in the school library, or use them to make presentations for other classes.
7. Write a short story: "The Bird I'd Most Like to Be".
8. Compare and contrast fish with birds that live in water.
9. Develop a student magazine on the class discoveries about bird adaptations.
10. Write a riddle or poem about a kind of bird frequently seen in Kansas.
11. Draw an outline of the bird and write the riddle or poem inside.
Web Links
• Journey North - Robins- Lots of fun stuff about Robins. Songs, current migration maps, ask the expert, FAQs . . .
• Nest Box Cam - This just sounds like fun! Live views into the nests of several birds once they start nesting in spring.
• Ebird - Serious data available here. On this site you can find maps and information about what birds other folks around the country are seeing, or you can add your own bird information.
• Project Learning Tree
• Project WILD
•
• Bird watching for kids
|Small Mammals |[pic] |
|Classroom | |
|Connections | |
Class Description: In this animal ecology activity, students will learn characteristics of some of the small mammals found in the OWLS site. By traveling through various habitats searching for small mammal signs, they will learn about the role these small creatures play in the environment.
Total time: 30 minutes to 2 hours outdoors
Audience: 6-20 students, 1st grade through adult
Activity level: easy to moderate
Travel: 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: uneven terrain on grass trails; parking adjacent to site
Outcomes: Upon completion of the Small Mammals activities students will be able to:
• List the four characteristics that distinguish mammals from other animals.
• Define niche and describe which niche is occupied by each of the small mammals native to meadows/prairies of south central Kansas.
• Find and interpret signs left by small mammals.
• Describe a predator/prey relationship including small mammals.
Pre-Visit Activities
1. What makes a mammal a mammal? (Ranger Ricks Nature Scope, Volume 2, Number 3)
Describe the main characteristics of mammals, how mammals are different from other animals, and how mammals are classified. Class discussion of mammals inside and out: Backbones and brain cases, active and warmblooded, production of milk and nursing young, skin and glands, hair, an inside look (metabolic rates, blood transportation, breathing), bigger and better brains (central nervous systems), different types, arrangement, and number of teeth, making sense of the senses (smell, sight, hearing).
2. Activity: For the Record
In this activity the kids in your group complete research to learn some neat mammal statistics and get a feeling for how diverse mammals are. Use the information to compete in a contest and compare their own sizes and abilities with those of other animals.
After a discussion of how mammals come in all sizes and shapes and with all kinds of natural abilities that help them survive, create a classroom chart of the “Record Holders”. (i.e. Cheetah: the fastest land mammal over a short distance.) After your discussion, ask the kids how well they think they’d compare with any of the animals you have discussed. Then tell them that they are going to compete in contest to find out exactly how they do compare with these other animals.
Some ideas for the “events” in your contest: 25-yard Dash: Compare the fastest student with a cheetah. (A cheetah could run the race in less than one second!), 40-foot Hop: Measure off a 40-foot distance and see who can jump from one end to the other in the least number of hops. Compare this number with that of a kangaroo. (A red kangaroo could jump the distance in one hop!)
3. The Vertebrate Grab Game:
Define vertebrate. Describe the characteristics of the five major vertebrate groups-mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish-then play a running game. Explain that you will read a statement that describes one or more vertebrate group. The kids must listen carefully and try to figure out which vertebrate group or groups you are describing. Explain that when you call out a number, the child on each team with that number must run to the center of the field and find the cutout of that vertebrate group. Then each person must run back to his or her team before being tagged. For example, if you said, “These vertebrates have hollow bones.....number five,” the child with the number five on each team would run to the middle, try to grab the bird cutout, and then run back “home.” When one child grabs the bird cutout, the other one may chase and try to tag him or her in order to score a point.
4. Play the Track Quiz online
On Site Activities
1. There are a number of reasons to study the diversity and abundance of shrews, voles, mice and other small grassland mammals. These little balls of fur provide food for hawks and foxes and play an important role in seed dispersal and influence insect populations.
[pic]
Set out track traps. Monitor small mammal activity by placing track tubes at several locations at the OWLS site. Be sure to anchor your track trap so that it doesn’t get carried off by wildlife. A track tube is a plastic tube with a piece of paper taped inside. A felt ink pad is placed at each in of the paper tube. Oatmeal is placed in the center of the tube used as bait. When an animal walks through the tube they leave their tracks. The density of the track marks can provide a rough measure of small mammal activity.
2. Look for other signs of animals—bite or chew marks, things that animals build, things animals leave behind (empty seed pods, skeletons, snake skins).
3. Have students make an animal trail by tying pieces of colored yearn to blades of grass, bushes, trees. Have different colors for different animal types. Each group of students will set out their trail in the OWLS site for other students to follow. For example: a turtle might have a trail leading from the pond’s edge, out into the grass, then back to the pond’s edge.
Post-Visit Activities
1. Have students select a Kansas mammal to study and write a report. Using a variety of sources; books, encyclopedias, Internet, video and magazines, students will prepare a 3-5 page report on their chosen mammal. Finished reports should include; physical characteristics, food, shelter, habitat, environmental hazards/longevity, and relationships to other animals. Other additional information should be presented in the form of charts, maps, graphs or pictures.
2. Design and construct a humane live trap. Based upon your knowledge of the animal, create a map and plot out the terrain of the habitat and designate an ideal trap site. Create a key and legend for your map.
3. Create a board or card game centered around a small mammal. Include the following: food source; possible predators; niche/habitat, food web, etc.
Web Links
|Trees and Keys |[pic] |
|Classroom | |
|Connections | |
Activity Description: Trees and Keys is an ecology activity. Students will learn how to construct and use a simple dichotomous identification key. Given a map and a simplified tree and shrub key, students will attempt to identify them correctly. Tie-ins can be made to a variety of topics including biodiversity, tree life cycles, dichotomous keys, tree parts and functions and more.
Total time: 30 minutes to 2 hours outdoors
Audience: 6-20 students, 4th grade through adult
Activity level: moderate to hard
Travel; 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: unevent terrain on grass trails; parking adjacent to site
Outcomes: Upon completion of the Trees and Keys class students will be able to:
• Understand and use a simple dichotomous key to identify trees and shrubs around the GHS OWLS site.
• Evaluate their role in the stewardship of natural resources.
Pre-Visit Activities
1. Collect leaves from around school or from your home. Its good to have a wide variety of different types of leaves. Rub over the leaf to leave its image on the piece of paper using a piece of scratch paper and the broad edge of a crayon. This is done by laying the paper over the leaf (veins up) and then gently rubbing the crayon back and forth across the raised surface of the paper. After getting a variety of leaves compare and contrast the differences. Identify lobes, serrations, palm-shaped, rounded, simple, compound, alternate and opposite. Can you identify other parts of the leaves? This activity will be a good way to get to know the parts of a tree prior to working with keys. These are important words to understand and they will help you to become a key master.
2. Make your own dichotomous key. Use at least ten different plants and make an identification key that you can use to differentiate one plant or tree from another. You could also use the trees that are in your yard or at school. Have other students use your key and see if they can successfully identify all the different species correctly. Challenge yourself to use vocabulary that is specific to plants and that will help you expand upon knowledge that you learned.
3 Most kids have played "20 Questions", but what they don't realize is that they are really practicing a technique scientists use when they identify plants and other living creatures with a dichotomous key.
Introduction: Pick something or someone in the classroom the students can see. After finding the correct answer, go back and process the strategy students used to narrow their answer down from everything in the room to the one correct answer. Scientists use this same strategy when they come upon a plant or animal they have never seen before. They might first ask "Is it a plant or an animal?" If it is a plant, the next question might be "Is it a tree (over 20 feet when full grown) or not?" Each time a question is asked and answered, the scientist eliminates more possibilities, gradually coming closer and closer to the correct name for what they have found. In this activity, students will see how they can apply the "20 Questions" concept to a real scientific question.
Learning Leaf and Tree Parts: Before students can solve the "what is this" question, they need to know a bit of the language scientists use when they identify plants. The key does a very good job of showing students some pictures that help define "opposite" and "alternate" branching, etc. If you wish to prep them a little more, you could do a matching game to learn those terms.
Preparation for the Computer Lab Activity - Do one of the following:
If there is an abundance of willow branches you can cut without affecting the population or health of individual trees, you might consider bringing branches (with leaves and buds, or just buds) into the classroom. Keep them in a vase to help them last. Or If you'd rather not collect branches, you can ask students to make detailed drawings of branches, buds, and/or leaves from the willow or another common tree species. Before you ask students to draw, choose twigs from a tree or two that you already can identify and check to see if that species is possible to key out at the address below.
In the Computer Lab: Ask students to go online and open their browsers to the EEK Tree Key Start page at
To use the key, students click on the link with the drawing and description which best represents their twig or sketch. When they have made their final choice and identified their tree, they can click on a link to a more detailed description of that species. Ask students to read the description and pick one fact to share at the end of class.
Conclusion: Scientists use identification keys not just to show off how many plants they can name, but as a "key to knowledge." Once you know the name of something, you can find out what others already know about it. Ask students to share the facts they learned. From here, they could do an internet search for Salix discolor (searching for "pussy willow" can lead to some unfriendly results . . . ) and learn about how to grow pussy willows, get them to flower early, medicinal uses, and more.
On Site Activities
1. Gather fallen leaves at the site to identify in the classroom.
2. Bring a sheet of paper (recycled paper is best) and a crayon. Place the paper over the tree trunk and rub the paper with your crayon to obtain a rubbing picture. Use the rubbing back in class to help you identify the tree.
3. Play “ID this TREE” to see which team of students can identify the most types of trees or bushes.
4. Use recycled plastic soda bottles to water the trees. Fill the bottles with water before coming to the site. Once at the site, select a small tree to water.
Post-Visit Activities
1. Over your life you have seen countless numbers of trees. Choose a tree that intrigues you and do some research. A simple search on the Internet may bring out a few simple facts.
2. Write a story about what a tree does all year from the perspective of that particular tree. You eat and change your behavior throughout the seasons and so do trees. In your short story describe how trees "eat" and what they do all year. How long does your tree live? What kind of leaves does it have? Do they change color, why? What are some things you would be concerned about as a tree. What are things that all those people could do to help you?
WebLinks
Tree Key for Kids
The National Arbor Day Foundation has a wonderful website. In addition to learning games for kids to do at home or school, there are lesson plans-- ; field guide to common trees--
Trees for Kids
Interactive Games from Arbor Day
Key to Common Trees, Shrubs and Vines in Kansas
Directions for use of a dichotomous key: There are two choices for each identifying characteristic (i.e. 1 or 1”). Either one choice or the other is correct. Follow the directions for the correct choice and it will lead to the correct selection. Due to variation in some leaves, be sure to examine several leaves from the selected plant. Because of extreme variation, mulberry can be keyed out in two different places. Try to avoid identifying leaves from young plants.
1. Growth habit in the form of vine……………..……………….go to 2
2. Leaves divided with three or more leaflets……… ..….go to 3
2’. Simple leaf coarsely toothed………………………….Wild Grape
3. Leaflets 3 coarsely toothed or slightly lobed…..Poison Ivy
3’. Leaflets 5 coarsely toothed……………………Virginia Creeper
1’ Growth habit not in form of vine, but rather shrub or tree…………go to 4
4. Multiple trunks and generally shorter than 5’ high, shrub.…go to 5
5. Leaves opposite, cluster of red berries………………Buckbrush
5’ Leaves alternate……………………………………..go to 6
6. Leaves simple………………………………..Goosebery
6’ Leaves compound……………………………go to 7
7. Three leaflets, lobed or coarsely toothed…Aromatic Sumac
7’ 5-9 leaflets, sharply toothed………….Wild Rose
4’ Generally with single trunk & taller than 5’ high, tree……….go to 8
8. Leaves modified into needles or scales………………go to 9
9. Leaves tiny, scale-like………………………………..Red Cedar
9’ Leaves needle-like…………………………………….go to 10
10. Needles 1-3” long arranged singly, squared...Spruce
10’ Needles 2-5” long in clusters of 2-3……..….Pine
8. Leaves not modified…………………………………………go to 11
11. Leaves arranged opposite…………………………..go to 12
12. Leaves compound with 5-9 leaflets…………Ash
12’ Leaves simple………………………………go to 13
13. Leaves deeply 5-lobed………………Maple
13’ Leaves with smooth edge……………go to 14
14. Leaves egg-shaped…………..Dogwood
14’ Leaves large, heart shaped….Catalpa/Red Bud
11’ Leaves arranged alternate…………………………...go to 15
15. Leaves compound…………………………...go to 16
16. Thorns or spines…………………….go to 17
16’ No thorns or spines, aromatic
leaves, leaflets 11-21………………..Black Walnut
17. Thorns large, many small leaflets…Honey Locust
17’ Small spines, 9-19 leaflets…..Black Locust
15’ Leaves simple……………………………….go to 18
18. Leaves narrow, lanced-shaped………go to 19
19. Smooth edge, silvery-white below…Russian Olive 19’ Small teeth along edge, yellow-green below..Willow
18’ Leaves wide…………………………..go to 20 20. Leaves lobed…………………go to 21 21. White hairs on bottom of leaf…go to 22 22. Few hairs along veins….Pin Oak 22’ Many hairs…………….Sycamore
21’ No hairs on bottom of leaf……Mulberry
20’ Leaf margin continuous………go to 23 23. Leaves egg-shaped, smooth edge..Osage Orange 23’ Toothed edge………….go to 24
24. Single Tooth…..go to 25 25. Symmetrical base..go to 26
26. Triangular…Cottonwood
26’ Egg-shape…Mulberry
25’ Unequal base………Hackberry
24’ Small teeth on larger teeth…Elm
Vines
Grape Poison Ivy Virginia Creeper
[pic] [pic] [pic]
Buckbrush Gooseberry Aromatic Sumac Wild Rose
[pic] [pic] [pic] [pic]
Trees with modified leaves
Cedar Spruce Pine
[pic] [pic] [pic]
Trees with opposite leaves
Ash Silver Maple Dogwood Catapa Red Bud
[pic] [pic] [pic] [pic] [pic]
Trees with alternate compound leaves
Black Walnut Honey Locust Black Locust
[pic] [pic] [pic]
Trees with Alternate simple leaves
Russian Olive Willow Pin Oak
[pic] [pic] [pic]
Sycamore Mulberry Osage Orange
[pic] [pic] [pic]
Cottonwood Hackberry Elm
[pic] [pic] [pic]
Parts of leaf
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|Pond |[pic] |
|Study | |
|Classroom | |
|Connections | |
Activity Description: Students examine the physical, chemical and biological properties of the GHS OWLS pond. Working in small groups, the students can test temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen. Collect and examine aquatic animal life, and will evaluate the health of the pond based on their findings. Tie-ins can be made to a variety of topics including biodiversity, insect life cycles, adaptations, water quality, chemistry, the physics of water, and more.
Total time: 1-2 hours outdoors
Audience: 6-20 students, 5th grade through adult
Activity level: moderate to hard
Travel: 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: uneven terrain on grass trails; parking adjacent to site
Outcomes: Upon completion of the Pond Study activity students will be able to:
• Understand and measure the temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen of an aquatic system.
• Examine and report upon the diversity of aquatic creatures captured.
• Recommend actions to preserve healthy lake environments.
Pre-Visit Activity
1. Visit web link site: to obtain a pond identification guide.
2. Make clay figures of aquatic macroinvertebrates (see identification guide).
On Site Activity -Aquatic Ecology Study
These step-by step teacher instructions, equipment lists, and worksheets should help make it easier to get your class outside and wading into aquatic habitats. Most of the equipment is easy to make, find, or borrow.
The main goal of this activity is to determine the general health of a local lake or stream. Is it healthy or not? If you do this activity each year, do records show any change? People can often directly sense a problem with water quality. It may smell funny or look purple and gross. We can look for life and notice if something is missing or an unusual species is present. Many times our senses are not accurate enough to test water quality. Chemical tests enable students to measure dissolved oxygen and acids in the water. Finally students can collect a wide range of aquatic animals to identify and observe.
Step 1. Gather Equipment
For a class of 20 you will need:
• 4 clip boards
• 4 student data sheets (see website links)
• 8 long-handled aquatic nets (purchase, see below, or make in class)
• 12 pairs of wading boots (students can probably provide enough from home)
• 1 plankton net (optional - purchase, see below, or make in class)
• 4 large, white exam buckets (ice cream buckets or dish pans do fine)
• 8 small aquarium nets
• 4 pond life field guides and/or aquatic ID sheets (see website links)
• Purchase:1 - 4 dissolved oxygen test kit; 2 pH test kits (see resources below)
• 4 safety goggles
• 4 thermometers
• 4 soup ladles (optional)
• 4 turkey basters (optional)
Equipment Sources:
• Carolina Biological Supply, 2700 York Rd. Burlington, NC 27215 (919) 584-0381 (thermometers, nets)
• Wards Natural Science, 5100 W. Henrietta Rd. PO Box 92912, Rochester, NY 14692-9012 (800) 962-2660 (nets)
• CSI Ltd. Box 360-360 Industrial Blvd., Sauk Rapids, MN 56379 (612) 252-4193 (nets)
• Hach Company PO Box 389 Loveland, CO 80539 (800) 227-4224 (test kits)
Step 2. Set Ground Rules and Expectations
If students have already visited the GHS OWLS site, they will be familiar with the equipment, and will just need a review and your ground rules and expectations.
• Each group should stay at their sampling station for the duration of class.
• Group members should take turns at all tasks.
• Complete any chemical and physical tests and measurements first.
• Be gentle when handling or observing aquatic organisms.
• Students working in the lake should bring rubber knee high boots. They should only wade (below knee depth) into the water. No swimming is allowed. Bring a ring buoy or other device to the site for throwing rescues.
• Eye protection should be used during the dissolved oxygen test.
Step 3. Review Background Information and Equipment Use
A. Physical Properties
1. Temperature
Taking the temperature of the pond is easy. Take temperature readings of the air, the water’s surface, deep water, and perhaps sunny and shady areas of the pond. Be sure to dry the thermometer before doing the air temperature so evaporation doesn’t affect the reading. Hold the thermometer at the top, not the sensing tip. Let it remain in position for at least one minute to stabilize. Read the numbers quickly and record the results on the data sheet.
Temperature is an important factor for all aquatic life. Since water in lakes and streams never gets below 0 C (32° F) it is a safe haven for creatures that can’t handle cold winter weather.
Temperature also determines the rate of chemical and metabolic reactions. Warm water allows more and faster reactions to occur. Therefore, warm lakes usually contain more fish which grow bigger and faster than in cold lakes.
Temperature of stream water is important because it dictates how much dissolved oxygen (DO) the water can hold. Cold water has the ability to hold more oxygen than warm water.
2. Bottom Type
Describe the bottom of the pond (sandy, mucky, rocky, gravelly). There may also be logs, plants, slime, etc. found on the bottom of the pond. These are important observations, because certain creatures are adapted to and can be expected to be found in particular bottom types.
B. Chemical Properties
1. Dissolved Oxygen
Some aquatic creatures breath air with lungs just like land dwelling animals. Others use gills to obtain dissolved oxygen present in the water. Even the skin of many aquatic animals allow dissolved oxygen to pass right on through to the bloodstream. Frogs for example manage to hibernate all winter underwater without lungs or gills.
Cold water holds more oxygen in solution than warm water, just as cold soda pop keeps its fizz longer than warm soda pop. Rushing streams and wave tossed lakes have more oxygen dissolved into them due to the mixing action of the air.
Animals have differing requirements for dissolved oxygen. Generally 4 to 5 ppm of dissolved oxygen content is the borderline concentration for most gill breathing creatures over an extended period. For adequate game fish populations the dissolved oxygen content should be in the 8 to 15 ppm range. Dissolved oxygen concentration varies with water depth, temperature, clarity and flow rate. Thus a single water sample is rarely representative of the overall condition of a body of water.
We can easily do a chemical test to reveal the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water. Show the students the dissolved oxygen (DO) test kit contents and demonstrate some of the techniques involved in taking a DO test. Don’t do a complete demonstration test because the sample needs settling time. Show how to stopper the bottle so there are no air bubbles.
Demonstrate how to cut the tops off the foil and plastic chemical packets. Stress stewardship and ask students not to throw the packets on the ground, but to keep all trash with the kit. Stress that they will carry even used chemicals back to the classroom in a container for disposal through the septic system. Demonstrate the final titration step by adding drops to the bottle to obtain the final reading. We express the amount of dissolved oxygen in parts per million (ppm.)
2. pH
Another chemical test the students will do is to search for the concentration of acids in the lake. Some acids come from plants (tannic and humeric acids) and are naturally present in the water. Volcanic smoke is also a source of natural acid (sulfuric acid). Some acids are not natural, caused by human activities, and enter streams via rainfall, run-off , or direct discharge from factories or mines. Aquatic life is very sensitive to chemicals in general and most creatures have a very narrow tolerance range for acid.
Acids are substances which react with and tend to dissolve substances.. Acids come in various strengths. The stronger the acid the more rapidly it dissolves. For example, battery acid (sulfuric acid) will make holes in the pants of car mechanics, while a weak acid, like vinegar, does not affect clothes at all. Our bodies can detect the strength of acids by feel and taste. The stronger the acid, the more sour the taste, like citric acid in lemons. Using ourselves as an acid tester, however, is sometimes dangerous, and not very accurate. We therefore use various types of acid test kits. They usually employ an acid sensitive dye that changes color depending on the strength of the acid. The scale used to compare the strengths of acids is call the pH scale. pH stands for the negative logarithm (p) of the hydrogen ion concentration [H+].
The scale ranges from 0 to 14, with 7 in the middle at neutral. A neutral substance has no acid at all, such as pure, fresh, distilled water. As the numbers go from 7 down to 0, the acid gets stronger by a factor of 10 for each number in the scale. This means that an acid with a pH of 6 is ten times stronger than pure water (show the dot charts.) An acid with a pH of 5 is on HUNDRED times stronger, 4 is one THOUSAND times stronger, etc. Finally, an acid with a pH of 0 is ten MILLION times stronger than pure water. The other side of the scale measures bases, often called alkalines, which are the opposite of acids. Like acids, they react with other substances, and cause burns if they are strong enough. You can detect a strong base by the feel of it; it may feel slippery, because it is dissolving your skin. The reactions are caused by an excess of OH-rather than H+. If acids and bases are mixed, they neutralize each other, or cancel each other out. Like the acidic side of the scale, the strength of bases is increased ten times for each number greater than 7.
A relatively neutral pH is important for the survival of aquatic plants and animals. When an environment becomes too acid or alkaline then destruction of tissues and disruption of chemical processes becomes a problem.
Some examples of familiar acid/base reactions:
1. Using baking soda and vinegar to make a cake rise. The acid and base react to neutralize each other, eliminate the taste of the vinegar and creating carbon dioxide gas bubbles which cause the cake to rise.
2. The Rolaids commercial which says that it “neutralizes excess stomach acid.” If our stomachs become too acidic, they can cause pain. Rolaids are basic and raise the pH of our stomachs from a painful pH 1.0 back to a more normal pH of 1.5 or 2.0.
C. Biological Properties
1. Capture and Identification
Students will look for and collect aquatic creatures, mostly insects. They may deposit them for closer examination into a tray half-filled with water. Many insects spend the early part of their lives underwater and grow wings and take to the air only as adults. Insects in all stages of their development are the OWLS pond.
Simple metamorphosis: (Grasshopper, dragonfly, etc.)
Egg......> ....... Nymph......> .......Adult
Complete metamorphosis: (butterfly, caddisfly, etc.)
Egg .......>.......Larva.......>.......Pupa......> ......Adult
Do not scoop up rocks in the net, since they will put holes in the net.
Micro animals and plants are the bottom of the food chain and the basis for all life in a lake or stream. Gently swish the plankton net in the clear, undisturbed water for several minutes. With the help of a partner, drain the contents of the net into a clear jar. Hold the jar up to the sky and carefully examine the contents for movement. Students should be impressed with the quantity of micro-life they observe. Bring the sample jar back to the classroom and examine several drops using a microscope.
Students should identify the other (macro) animals they have found. The ID sheet and Pond Life field guide are very helpful. Keep the critters in your tray within 5C. (10-51F) of the stream water temperature. At the end of the outdoor session, return all creatures to the pond.
2. Biotic Index
A healthy pond ecosystem (any ecosystem) has a great diversity of species that interrelate with each other. The presence or absence of living creatures is one of the best tests in determining the health of an environment. Many animals are very sensitive to chemical pollution, soil erosion, temperature fluctuations, non-native species, etc. By using a simple formula which considers the pollution tolerance of different species, we can determine water quality. Each species has a group number describing its ability to withstand pollution. Group numbers are found on the "Aquatic Animal ID" sheet. On the data sheet, list the creatures and their group number. Using the following formula, calculate the Biotic Index of Lake Study.
Biotic Index = 2( ___ group I species) + ( ___ group II species).
If the Biotic Index is:
0-2........ The pond is heavily polluted.
4-6........ The pond is moderately polluted.
8-10...... The pond is clean.
Step 3. Go Out and Explore!
Post Visit Activity
Step 4. Organize Data, Draw Inferences, Make Hypotheses . . .
After examining the GHS OWLS pond, see if students can draw some comparisons to other locations. What was similar? What was different? Can students suggest a hypothesis for the differences or similarities? How might they go about testing that hypothesis?
If possible, keep a journal or other record of the observations students made, including the date. Record data in the same categories in different seasons, years, and bodies of water. Students can graph results over time and use them to make inferences.
References:
1. The Life of Rivers and Streams, Robert Usinger, 1967
2. Pond Life, Golden Guide 1967
3. Project Aquatic Wild, 1987
4. Fresh-water Invertebrates of the U.S. 2nd Edition, Robert Pennak 1978, ISBN 0-471-04249-8
5. Fieldbook of Freshwater Life, Elsie Klots, Putnam's and Sons, New York 1966.
6. A Guide to the Study of Freshwater Biology, James G. and Paul R. Needham, ISBN 0-8162-6310-8
7. Ontario Ministry of the Environment, 435 James St. So, Thunder Bay, Ont. P7C SG6
8. Project Stewardship Minnesota, Office of EE, St. Paul, MN 1990. (Biotic Index)
Make a pond life bulletin board. Ask the students to list what would be necessary if they were going to reconstruct a pond. List their answers. Set aside a section of bulletin board or a few sheets of poster board as the pond. Assign different groups of students to make the living (animals and plants) portion and the non-living portion (rocks, water, soil) of the pond. When the pond is put together, leave it up for further study. After you return from the pond, ask the students if they need to add anything to their habitat. (Many students will initially forget micro-life forms such as bugs (daphnia, worms, springtails, various insect larvae, etc.) because they are concentrating on the macro-vertebrates.
Read a story of Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel.
Discuss the differences between frogs and toads (frogs usually live in water, toads have bumpy skin, etc.).
Have the children write a letter to Toad from Frog explaining what they did that day, keeping in mind what real frogs and toads can do.
Life in a pond---Give each child a clean styrofoam meat tray, collage materials, natural materials such as leaves and twigs, paper, and crayons. Ask the children to recreate what they found at the pond. They can draw the creatures or use materials to represent the animals. When they are finished, ask them to describe what they saw and what the created. (Most things will be described as "bugs," but they will need to describe their "bugs."
Life Cycle of a Pond---Give each child scrap paper for practice and a large piece of paper for the final project, as well as drawing materials. Ask the children to design a poster that will explain the life cycle of a dragonfly or a frog to other children. Make sure that the poster includes a written description as well as pictures (or photographs).
Web Links
online activities
pond insect identification
|Weather |[pic] [pic][pic][pic] |
|Forecasting | |
|Classroom | |
|Connections | |
Activity Description: After learning some of the historic changes in earth's climate, students will collect data on today's weather, then do demonstrations to understand cloud formation and low pressure systems. Finally, students will use their new knowledge to create a forecast for the next day at Goddard, KS. Tie-ins can be made to a variety of topics including studying the weather itself, phonology, map reading, and more.
Total time: 1-2 hours outdoors
Audience: 6-20 students, 1st grade through adult
Activity level: easy to moderate
Travel: 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: uneven terrain on grass trails; pavement adjacent to site
Outcomes: Upon completion of the Weather Forecasting activity students will be able to:
• Predict the chance of rain and the trend in temperature for the next 12 hours, using wind direction.
• Interpret the chance of storms in the next 24 hours based upon a surface weather map from a TV or newspaper.
• Evaluate a newspaper article on climate change.
• Recall that winds, clouds, precipitation occur when warm and cold air collide with one another.
Pre-Visit Activities
1. Weather Scavenger Hunt
See how many weather related objects students can find in their school yard or at home. Students may collect, draw or describe the objects. At the conclusion of the hunt, each team will show and explain what they found for each clue.
2. Weather Proverbs
Students talk with older people (grandparents, community or nursing home interviews, etc.) to collect other proverbs and their explanations. Students will collect these and present them in some format, whether reading, acting them out, or creating a book (with drawing?) of the myths.
3. Making Rain in your Classroom
Using a hot plate, saucepan, cookie sheet and ice, students learn how raindrops form in a cloud, as warm, humid air rises and cools.
4. Grade the Forecaster
Students will check and record forecasts daily from the newspaper, TV or internet for one week, and compare the forecasts to actual weather. They also check the forecasts for Wolf Ridge to prepare for their stay.
On Site Activities
1. Look up to see what clouds types are in the sky. Do the clouds predict fair weather (cumulus clouds), change in the weather (cirrus clouds), altocumulus clouds on a warm and humid morning is commonly followed by thunderstorms later in the day.
2. Record if there was any moisture on the grass—is it dew or rain?
Post-Visit Activities
1. Weather Assessment Chart
Given a chart with categories of “Sun, Air, Water, and Earth” written across the top, students fill in spaces with words or phrases that connect the category topic to weather, and explain how the word or phrase relates to weather, and justify their answers to others.
2. Weather Recording and Forecasting
Using a simple weather station in the classroom, students can make daily weather records at school. Each day they will make a forecast for the following day, then compare their forecasts to the actual weather for that day.
3. CO2 and your automobile
Determine the carbon debt for your family's car travel during the past year (Goggle on Internet).
4. Plant and tend the trees in or near the school yard.
Web Links
predicting weather by clouds
online activity
weather links for kids
The Weather Channel
|Wind Power |[pic][pic][pic] |
|Classroom | |
|Connections | |
Activity Description: Students will learn how to construct a wind vane and wind meter and use their knowledge to assess the direction and power of the wind. Students will see how wind can be used for a variety of things such as plant reproduction, power and weather. Tie-ins can be made to a variety of topics including studying sustainable wind power, weather and plant reproduction.
Total time: 30 minutes to 2 hours outdoors
Audience: 6-20 students, 1st grade through adult
Activity level: easy to moderate
Travel: 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: uneven terrain on grass trails; pavement adjacent to site
Outcomes: Upon completion of the Wind Power activity students will be able to:
• learn how to construct a wind vane and wind meter by using materials supplied by an instructor.
• predict which way the wind is blowing by looking at the direction the arrow of their wind vane is pointing and how fast the wind is blowing using a wind meter.
• Explain how plants use the wind to help them reproduce.
• See how the wind can be used as a sustainable alternative power source.
Pre-Visit Activities
1. Research how wind power has been used over time and how it is becoming a sustainable power source.
2. Watch a video about wind power.
3. Learn the Beauford Wind Scale.
4. Play—Wind, Water and Earth. Just like the game Rock, Paper, Scissors students need to come up with hand motions that represent: Water: Flood and tsunami; Wind: Hurricane and tornado; Earth: Earthquake and volcano
Here are the rules:
• Water beats Wind!
• Wind beats Earth!
• Earth beats Water!
Make a kite out of a plastic bag
1. Fold the plastic bag in half. Be sure it is flat, and even.
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Cut out the kite shape. Cut off the bottom of the bag. Cut as closely to the base of the bag as possible, but be sure to cut off the bottom. Cut the bag in the middle. Cut from the base to the center of the plastic bag. Then cut a slanting cut that goes up to the folded part of the bag.
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Open the bag out flat. You should have 2 irregular pentagons. Cut a stick to the length (top to bottom) of the kite.
Tape the stick vertically to the center of the kite. Tape the top end (at the tip of the kite) first. Before you tape the bottom part, stretch the plastic a little and then tape the stick onto the bottom.
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Tape another stick to the left, on a slanting position. Bend the stick carefully to make a bow. Tape the other end to the right. Keep the taping very tight.
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Cut the extra plastic in strips and tie together. Make it 4 feet in length (see the photo). You could use different colors as shown here (red and white).
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Tape the tail to the bottom. It depends on you what color should be taped at the bottom of the kite.
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Use a pointed item to make a hole at the intersection where the two sticks meet, as well as at the bottom.
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Cut a piece of string 1 foot (30 cm) in length. Push one end of the string to the intersecting sticks at the other side of the plastic. Tie firmly. Do the same with the other end. Now you have the "bridle".
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Make a knot with a hole in the bridle on the same level as the intersection of the sticks. Check the alignment by pulling the string to one side to see if the knot is next to (not above or below) the intersection.
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When you are outside, hold the bridle string between your thumb and finger, so that the kite tries to fly from your hand. Start in the middle of the bridle and gradually move your fingers up toward the intersection. At one point, the angle of attack will be right and the kite will fly best, so this is where you want to tie a loop into the bridle line. This loop needs to move up or down depending on the wind speed, so you have to adjust the location for each flying session.
Tie the rest of the string to the loop and fly it! To fly, simply throw the kite and pull the string as if you are fishing. Extend the string while doing this. You may need to give it some help to get into the air by running a little. If so, check that the ground ahead is free of obstacles as you are likely to be looking up as you do this and not concentrating on the ground!
Make a Wind Meter
You will need four two-liter soda bottles, a bicycle speedometer, and some scraps of wood. First cut the top cones off the bottles, leaving a plastic tab hanging down. Arrange the tops in a circle and screw each tab into the lid next to it. Fasten a wooden crosspiece and tie its ends to the necks of the bottles. Drill a hole in the center of the crosspiece and nail it to the top of a stick so it is free to rotate. Attach the magnet to the cross piece and the bicycle computer to the stick. Hold the contraption in the wind and watch it spin! To calibrate, change the rim size on the speedometer. Calibrate by holding the meter out of a moving car and adjusting until its speedometer matched the car's.
Make a Wind Vane
Knowing the direction of the wind is an important part of predicting weather because wind brings us our weather. A wind vane, also called a weather vane, is a tool for measuring wind direction and was probably one of the first weather instruments ever used. To determine wind direction, a wind vane spins and points in the direction from which the wind is coming and generally has two parts, or ends: one that is usually shaped like an arrow and turns into the wind and one end that is wider so that it catches the breeze. The arrow will point to the direction the wind is blowing from so if it is pointing to the east, it means the wind is coming from the east.
Additionally, wind direction is where the wind is blowing from. Therefore a west wind is blowing from the west. To use a wind vane, you must know where north, south , east, and west are.
Materials Tag board or manila file folder Plastic drinking straw
Straight pin Modeling clay
Scissors Paper plate
Glue Pencil with a new eraser
Procedure
1. Cut out an arrow point 5cm long.
2. Cut out an arrow tail 7cm long.
3. Make 1cm cuts at the ends of each straw.
4. Slide the arrow point and the arrow tail into the cuts in the straw.
5. Push a straight pin through the middle of the straw and into the eraser end of the pencil.
6. Stick the sharp end of the pencil into a lump of modeling clay; this will be your base.
7. Mark north, south, east, and west on the paper plate
8. Put the clay on a paper plate.
9. Test out your Wind Vane: Blow on the vane and make sure that the arrow can spin free
Make a pinwheel. Moving air is wind. Wind is caused by warm air rising over cool air. You cannot see the wind but you know when it is around. Wind makes things move. Can you name 5 things that the wind can make move? A pinwheel will spin as the wind pushes it around. Make your own pinwheel by following these simple directions.
You will need:
A sharpened pencil scissors white construction paper
A plastic drinking straw a paper fastener crayons, colored pencils or markers
How to make a pinwheel:
1. Use the pinwheel pattern at the end of this section. You can reproduce this pattern on white construction paper with a copy machine. Be sure to cut the construction paper to 81/2 in. by 11 in. If you are working at home, print the pinwheel pattern. Cut the solid lines. Lay it on top of the construction paper lightly paste the corners down.
2. Cut-out the pinwheel on the solid lines only.
3. Decorate both sides of the construction paper pinwheel.
4. Cut the dotted lines from the four corners to the center circle. Try not to cut into the center circle.
5. Use the sharpened pencil to poke a hole through the four tiny dark circles. The pencil point also works well to poke a hole into the straw. Carefully push the pencil point through the straw about 1/2 inch from the top.
6. Make the tiny holes on the four points meet at the center circle.
7. Push the ends of the paper fastener through the holes on the pinwheel. then push the fastener through the center circle.
8. Place the straw on the back side of your pinwheel and push the ends of the fastener through the hole in the straw. Open-up the fastener by flattening the ends in opposite directions. Now you are ready to try-out your beautiful pinwheel. All you will need is a little bit of wind to make your pinwheel spin round and round. Have fun!
On-Site Activities
• Check out the Windmill Powered Pond Aeration System and interpretive sign at the OWLS site.
• Fly your plastic sack kite
• Use your pinwheel to monitor wind currents at various locations at the site.
• Use your wind vane and wind meter
Observation
Take your students on a series of mini-field trips. Walking around the GHS OWLS site. If possible, walk around at different times of the day, and have the students observe and record their observations. Ask the students to use the Beaufort Wind Scale handout to help them estimate the wind's strength. Another good way to have the students record their findings is by using a list of sense observations as follows:
Date of observation:
Time of day:
Location of observation:
I can see: ________________________________________
I can feel: ________________________________________
I can smell: ________________________________________
I can hear: ________________________________________
I can taste: ________________________________________
I can taste: ________________________________________
After a few mini-field trips, students should begin to recognize a pattern. Does the wind blow harder or softer in the morning? Does the wind blow from the same direction each day? Are there times when the wind doesn't seem to be blowing at all?
Wind Velocities
Use several large helium balloons or a large kite to complete this activity. In order to “see” the wind at various elevations you will tie streamers to the balloon/kite string. Cut at least 15 streamers and attach them at 3 meter intervals along the string. Roll the string around a medium sized bucket or box to keep things from getting tangled as the balloons/kite rises in the sky. Launch the balloons/kite and get it as high as possible. Have the students watched the streamers and make observations and draw pictures of what is happening to the streamers. Compare the streamers closer to the ground with those higher up the string. Are some flapping more than others? Are some straighter than others? Are they all going the same direction? Discuss what is happening to the steamers.
Wind Patterns
Look for evidence of wind blow items (e.g. trash, seed pods, fallen leaves). Speculate where it came from based on its location and prevailing wind patterns at the site. Pick up any trash you might find.
Post Visit Activities
• After they have had enough time to gather data, bring the class together to discuss what they've discovered. Chart any "wind trends" the class as a whole agrees upon.
Make a wind chime.
• Learn how the wind helps plants to pollinate---dandelions, whirly gig seed pods, etc.
Web Sites
wind pollination
Pin Wheel Pattern photocopy master
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|Plants of the Prairie |[pic][pic][pic] |
Activity Description: Students will learn how to identify various plant species common to the prairie. Tie-ins can be made to a variety of topics including observational, organizational, and taxonomic skills.
Total time: 30 minutes to two hours
Audience: 6-20 students, 1st grade through adult
Activity level: easy to moderate
Travel: 1/8 mile around the OWLS site
Accessibility: uneven terrain on grass trails; pavement adjacent to site
Objectives: Upon completion of the Plants of the Prairie activity students will be able to:
• Use their observational skills
• Learn how plants differ structurally from one another
• Understand issues related to species biodiversity and distribution
• Collect and interpret data to answer a question; explore and determine best data collection procedures.
• Increase understanding of plant diversity
• Identify and recognize patterns and characteristics that group plants into families
• Understand the science of taxonomy in classifying and naming organisms
• Identify common plants found in the Kansas Prairie
• Understand issues related to species biodiversity and distribution
• Collect and interpret data to answer a question
• Graph data and extract, interpret, and use information presented in the graph
Subjects Covered: science, social studies, reading, writing, math, and environmental
State Standards: Science: 1.1; 2.1; 3.1; 3.2; 3.3; 3.4; 3.5; 3.7; 5.2; 7.1; 7.2
Social Studies: G.1; G.3
Reading: 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4; 1.5
Writing: 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 2.1; 2.2
Environmental: 2.1; 2.2; 4.2
Math: 1.1; 1.2; 1.3; 1.4; 2.1;2.2;2.3; 2.4; 3.1; 3.2; 3.3; 3.4; 4.1; 4.2; 5.1
Pre-Visit Activities
Botany Bouquet (from Earth Partnership for Schools 1-3)
Grades: 1-12
Activity Time: 30-45 minutes
Materials: sample plant cuttings or photographs from the same (or different) ecosystems that are representative of the native plants of the prairie.
Instructions:
1. Prepare a bouquet of plant species (real or photographs see ), representing one or more ecosystems. The number of sample plants will depend on the size of the class and should be approximately a third to a quarter of the number in the group. For example, a group of 30 students will break into 6 groups of five, which will require five samples from 6 different plant species.
2. Have the bouquet well mixed and pass out one plant (or photo) to each person.
3. As those who know names of the plants being passed out to not share that information until the end of the activity.
4. Allow group members to find others who have the same plant and then form a small group. If students don’t know one another, instruct them to introduce themselves.
5. Ask the groups to come up with a creative description of the plant based on their close observations that would help others identify that plant.
6. Ask the groups to come up with a creative name for their plant.
7. Have one student from each group report out their plant’s creative name and deccription.
8. Once everyone has shared, ask the class if they know what the common (and scientific) name of the plant. If the name is known, share common and Latin names, and a further description (ecological and human uses) of each plant.
Ask the student why they thing there are scientific names for plants, then review the history of why plants have scientific and common names. Have student visit the library and/or internet () to further research the plants used in the activity.
Extensions
• Collect other plant samples (or photos) and complete again.
• Write a story that describes the plant and its characteristics and explains the related adaptations.
• Keep a phenology journal and record plant changes during different times of year.
• Create a phenology calendar that describes the plant observations throughout the year.
• Create a computer data base to record seasonal observations of plants.
• Create a mobile with drawings illustrating various plants and their unique physical characteristics. Include the scientific and common names on the mobile.
Learning About Plant Parts
Grades: 2-12
Activity Time: 40-50 minutes
1. Display and describe plant part samples using an overhead projector and worksheets—leaf parts, leaf arrangement (alternate, opposite, whorled, basal), leaf type, leaf margins (smooth, toothed, lobed), flower parts, flower types (regular, irregular, indistinguishable)
2. Then venture outside for hands-on experience. Complete the “Taxonomy Treasure Hunt,” see on-site activities.
Build a Prairie Computer Lab
Grades: 3-12
Activity Time: 45 minutes
Activity Instructions:
Go to and complete the interactive computer lab to build a short and tall grass prairie and to complete a controlled burn.
Plant Families (from Earth Partnership for Schools 1-10)
Grades: 6-12
Activity Time: 25 minutes per plant family
Materials: plant specimens in flower or seed (or photos from ), hand lens, observation seeds, and pencils.
The plant families in this activity are:
1. Daisy family – Asteraceae
2. Rose family – Roseace
3. Bean family-Fabbaceae, Caesalpiniaceae, Mimosaceae (previously Leguminosae)
4. Grass family-Poaceae
5. Mint family-Labiatae
6. Milkweed family-Asclepiadaceae
7. Buttercup family-Ranunculaceae
8. Sedge family-Cyperaceae
Preparation and helpful hints for the activity:
• Obtain plant specimens on the day before or the day of the activity for the plant families listed above. Plants appropriate for dissection are weedy or common, found along roadsides or in gardens. Flowers may also be available from florists.
• Keep specimens cool and moist. Lay short-stalked flowers between moist sheets of paper towels, put long-stemmed plants in a vase.
• If plants are no longer blooming, students can investigate seeds, seed heads, and seed dispersal mechanisms.
• Obtain plant family descriptions and review with students prior to the activity. For example: mint plants have square stalks, sedge plants have triangular stalks (sedges have edges), and rose plants include fruits like apples (cut apply in half cross-wise and look at the floral cup star like structure).
• Set up stations with representative species of each plant family. Give each station a number.
Activity Instructions:
1. Divide the class into groups to evenly distribute students around the stations.
2. Instruct the students to examine related specimens to determine distinguishing characteristics for each plant family.
3. Instruct students to draw or write descriptions.
4. Rotate student groups through all the stations, allowing 5-10 minutes at each station.
5. Confirm the identity of each plant family and discuss some key traits.
6. Discuss plant classification.
On-Site Activities
Prairie Scavenger Hunt (from Earth Partnership for Schools 1-8)
Grades: K-10
Activity Time: 30 minutes minimum
Materials: small paper bags (one for each 3-4 students) each including a piece of waxed paper, piece of faux fur, thing green ribbon, doily or paper “snowflake” and piece of sandpaper
Instructions:
1. Divide the class into groups of 3-4 students.
2. Provide a bag of materials (see above) to each group.
3. Instruct the groups to locate as many different plants as they can find that have leaf adaptations represented by the objects in the bag. The waxed paper simulates a waxy leaf surface, the piece of faux fur simulates hairs on leaf surfaces or plant stalks, the paper doily simulates finely divided leaves or insect damage, green ribbon simulates the narrow vertical leaf or texture of a plant, and the sandpaper simulates the texture of a plant.
4. Trace a leaf, sketch the plant, or tie a piece of yarn around it to show others. Be careful not to harm the plant.
5. Regroup and compare findings.
Taxonomy Treasure Hunt
Grades: 6-12
Activity Time: 30-50 minutes
Activity Instructions:
1. Create a worksheet with drawing space for each of the following:
• Find a plant in bloom. Draw the flower. Common name and Scientific name.
• Find a divided leaf. Draw the leaf. Common name and Scientific name.
• Find a sedge or grass with flowers or seeds. Draw the flowering parts (inflorescence). Common name and Scientific name.
• Find a member of the composite family. What color is the flower? (if blooming) What is the leaf arrangement? How tall is the plant? Common name and Scientific name.
• Wild Card! Draw a plant of your choice. Common name and Scientific name.
• Find a plant with two leaves that meet at the stem. These are opposite leaves. Draw the plant.
• Find a plant that has leaves with teeth along the edge. These leaves are toothed. Draw the plant.
• Find a plant with flowers. Draw and describe a flower.
2. Go outside and the taxonomy treasure hunt activity.
3. Back in the classroom, use a wildflower and grasses field guide or to identify the plants common and scientific names.
Prairie Ecosystem Observations (from Earth Partnership for Schools 1-15)
Grades: K-12
Activity Time: 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on time spent observing, distinguishing an identifying insects
Activity Instructions:
1. Create a student worksheet using any of the following as age appropriate:
• What’s the Weather? Temperature, Wind Speed, Precipitation, Light
• Draw the smallest thing you see
• Draw the biggest thing you see
• Draw your favorite thing
• What’s Happening? Listen, Look, Feel, Smell. Write three words that describe what you hear, see, feel and smell.
• Prairie Measurements. Prairie Grass, Prairie Forb (flower), Prairie Invader (weed) provide name of plant, height (in cm) and root length (height x 2)
• Leaf Size Measurements. Select two plants, draw the leaf of each in the space provided. Then measure leaf length (from leaf base to tip), leaf width (at widest point) and surface area (width x length).
• Can You Find Things That Are…soft, hard, smooth, fuzzy, waxy
• Life Cycles—find a seed, find a seedling, find a plant in flower, find a plant in seed. Draw an example of each stage in a plant’s life cycle.
• What animals, birds, or insects do you see or hear? What is it doing? Where is it?
• Listening to Sounds. Find a spot, sit quietly and listen to the sounds around you. Use your crayons to color how you think the sounds might look like if you could see them on paper.
• Single Spot. Find a spot and sit quietly. You may draw pictures, use words or both. What do you see? Hear? Smell? Feel?
• Find seeds that will stick to your clothing (hitchhikers). Find a berry (animal express). Find seeds that are carried by the wind (parachutes). Find a very small seed (micro-seeds).
• Can you find insect signs? Chewed leaf, rolled leaf, leaf mines (trails on leaves), gall (looks like a ball), spit (from spittle bug), webs.
Exploring the GHS OWLS area through Color, Texture and Pattern (from Earth Partnership for Schools 3-5)
Grades: K-12
Activity Time: 45 minutes outside, variable in the classroom
Materials: box of crayons, or paint chip samples (available from local hardware/paint store), clipboard (or piece of recycled cardboard), paper and pencils
Activity Instructions:
Go outside and look for as many colors, textures, and patterns you can find using the following instructions.
Discover Color—identify nature colors. Use a box of crayons to match the colors of leaves, flowers, tree bark, rocks, mosses, lichen, soil, and so on. Older students can describe the hue, intensity and value of colors you see. Marks on a piece of paper the different colors you find.
Observe Pattern—look for patterns. Search for large and small patterns, regular and random patterns; and patterns of light and dark, shapes, colors and lines. Draw the patterns on the same piece of paper.
Detect Texture---identify textures. Look for rough and smooth, hard and soft, shiny and dull textures. Make rubbings or represent texture by drawing various kinds of lines, dots, and dashes.
When you return to the classroom classify the colors, textures and patterns into groups. Which colors represent the most, the least? Are there more warm colors or cool colors? How many different textures and patterns did students observe? Is there a relationship between pattern and texture? Graph the results of these comparisons. Discuss and analyze why specific colors or patterns are dominate or not.
What’s Green and Grows All Over? Studying Ecosystem Biodiversity (from Earth Partnership for Schools 1-4)
Grades: 6-12
Activity Time: 45 minutes to one hour
Materials: Each student group will need one hula hoop to mark off quadrats, and two accessible “ecosystems”—one natural or one restored and one cultivated, such as a lawn.
Activity Instructions:
1. Divide the class into research teams.
2. Each team will take an index card with a large loop of tape on it and a hula hoop.
3. Instruct the student to randomly choose a spot in the GHS OWLS area for the quadrat by throwing the hoop over your shoulder.
4. Count the number of different species of plants in your quadrat (hula hoop). If the plants are very small, place a small leaf of each species on the tape (generally appropriate for spring studies). If the plants are large, sketch the leaf and note any other identifying traits. Identification of the plant is not necessary. Repeat the process in a lawn or cultivated area.
5. Back in the classroom—as a class, plot the number of species found in each group’s quadrat on a Species Area Curve (cumulative number of species on y axis; number of quadrats on x axis).
6. Back in the classroom—create a chart (see below). Plot on a graph then determine the average number of species per plot and the total number of species by the class.
Prairie Card Lawn Card Prairie# of new Prairie Cumulative Lawn # of new Lawn Cumulative
Species identified Total # species Species identified Total # species
Card #1 Card #1
Card #2 Card #2
And so on….
Ecosystems Comparisons
Grades: 6-12
Activity Time: 1.5 hours, divided into two sessions
Materials:
Elementary/Middle School: 1 thermometer, 1+ soil thermometers, data sheets, clipboards and pencils, 10’ line transects, 2 tent stakes.
High School: 1 thermometer, 1+ soil thermometers, 1+ soil probes, data sheets, clipboards and pencils, hula hoops (or quadrat sticks)
Activity Instructions:
Elementary/Middle School level:
1. Divide students into teams of 2-3. One student records the information, two students collect the information.
2. Hang or place a thermometer in the prairie, then insert thermometers to 1” to 3” depths.
3. Lay out a transect line to define an area to study. Stretch the transect line out to the full 10 feet. Instruct students to look at plants and signs of animals one foot on either side of this line.
4. Use a data sheet to collect data for 30 minutes.
• Soil moisture: place hand directly on the soil to feel how damp or dry it feels.
• Surface litter: examine the dead material (leaves, stems, etc) on the surface of the soil. List what you see.
• Soil Temperature: record temperatures
• Air Temperature: record temperature
• Wind speed scale. Estimate the wind speed on a scale of 0 (no wind) to 10 (strong wind).
• Sky Scale: look straight up. Estimate on a scale of 0 (sky is not visible due to interference from a tree canopy) to 10 (you can see the entire sky) Do not count the clouds as a visual barrier of the sky.
• Plants: how many different plants do you see? Count the number of plants having three different leaf widths—grass-like (very thin), thin (less than 4 fingers wide), broad (wider than 4 fingers). Count the different kinds of plants with fuzzy or waxy leaves, blooming, or in seed. Plants may be counted more than once for each of these categories.
• Evidence of animals: look along your transect and list the number of insects, spiders. Search for evidence of animals, such as animal tracks, chewed leaves, and animal droppings.
5. Repeat step 3-4 in a cultivated, un-natural area (lawn).
6. Return to the classroom to discuss your findings.
High School Level
1. Divide students into teams of 2-3. One student records the information, two students collect the information.
2. Hang or place a thermometer in the prairie, then insert thermometers to 1” to 3” depths.
3. Toss a hula hoop in a natural area. Instruct students to look at plants and signs of animals contained in the hula hoop.
4. Use a data sheet to collect data for 30 minutes.
• Soil moisture: place hand directly on the soil to feel how damp or dry it feels.
• Soil color and contents. Take a soil sample with a soil probe, record your observations.
• Surface litter: examine the dead material (leaves, stems, etc) on the surface of the soil. List what you see.
• Soil Temperature: record temperatures
• Air Temperature: record temperature
• Air Movement: observe leaf movement to estimate air movement at canopy, shoulder and ankle heights. Estimate air movement on a scale of 0 (no wind) to 10 (strong wind).
• Percent of sunlight: estimate how much sunlight reaches your shoulders and the ground.
• Percent cover: examine your quadrat and estimate the percent of cover of grasses, forbs or wildflowers, mosses and lichens, fungi, and bare ground or surface litter.
• Characteristics of plants describe representative plant forms, leaf size and shape, flowers or fruits.
• Average height: estimate the heights of the herbaceous, shrub and tree layers.
• Evidence of animals: look inside your hula hoop and list the number of insects, spiders. Search for evidence of animals, such as animal tracks, chewed leaves, and animal droppings.
• Aesthetics: describe patterns, textures, colors and contrasts within the hula hoop (quadrat).
5. Repeat steps 3-4 by tossing a hula hoop into a un-natural, cultivated area (lawn).
6. Return to the classroom to discuss your findings.
Post Visit Activities
• Create artwork using the colors, patterns and textures students found.
• Use crayons to illustrate how sounds hear outside might look like displayed as colors, lines and patterns.
• Create a Venn diagram that displays similar and dissimilar characteristics of the different species observed in each plant family.
• Create a “perfectly adapted” prairie plant. Build a model of the plant and present it to the class.
• For each adaptive trait observed, hypothesize a different condition that could have caused the same trait.
• Learn about medicinal uses of common prairie plants.
• Students can create their own field guide for the plants they have discovered outside. Include the common and scientific names, color drawing, physical observations, habitat, and unique facts.
Extensions
• Pass out one specimen at a time. Then use an overhead of plant diagrams to discuss characteristics of the plant family.
• Students can create a classroom set of drawings depicting common plants within various plant families.
• Find example of adaptations to other factors such as competition for light, space, or pollinators.
• Describe animal adaptations that could have arisen in response to the dry prairie conditions.
• Dissect flowers to learn about the flower parts and their function.
Assessments:
• Identify one representative for each plant family.
• List one characteristic of each family that makes that particular plant family unique.
• Identify one feature per family that potentially may improve the species’ ability to survive and reproduce successfully and discuss why.
• Describe three examples of how plant structures are modified due to low water availability and high temperatures.
• How do prairie plants survive drought, high temperatures, and intense sunlight?
• Given the specific adaptations prairie plants have developed in response to low water availability, what kinds of adaptations would you predict plants might develop in response to excess water availability?
Web Links
SECTION TWO
Organisms found at the GHS OWLS site
The following pages were developed by GHS students from the ecology classes to help you identify and learn about the various organisms that can be found at the OWL site.
This section will be updated annually with additional organisms as they are identified.
• Amphibians
• Birds
• Flowers
• Grasses
• Mammals
• Reptiles
• Spiders and Insects
Amphibians and Fish
[pic] Crayfish
Common Name: crayfish
Scientific Name: Cambaridae Camburus
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Cambaridae
Order Decapoda
Species Procambarus
Habitat: They can be found in lakes, rivers, streams, marshes and ponds. Wherever there is a permanent body of water that is deep enough not to freeze solid. The one habitat requirement that the northern crayfish seems to have is the need for shelter in the form of rocks, logs or thick vegetation in which to hide from predators during the day time.
Description: Crayfish look like miniature lobsters, with claws and antennae. They range in size from 3 to 6 inches in length. There are more than 300 known species of crawfish.
There are five commercially important species of crayfish, the red, river, signal, rusty, and northern crawfish. Crayfish are also called crawfish, crawdads, and mud bugs. Their meat and appearance is similar to that of lobster although crawfish live in freshwater.
The head and thorax are covered by a shell like carapace it is brownish to rusty red in color. There are four pairs of jointed walking legs attached to the thorax.
Ecological Adaptations: They breathe through gills under the thorax. Their eyes are on movable stalks to allow sight in different directions. Antennae sense prey and predators. They emit chemical cues to identify one another and signal mating. They can even change color to match their habitat.
Page developed by Bryce Wismeier, Junior, 2009
Minnow [pic]
Common Name: Minnow
Scientific Name: Phoxinus, Phoxinus
Kingdom:
Family:
Order
Species
Description: A small fish with a round body and a blunt snouted head. The dorsal fins are short based and rounded.
Habitat: Small streams in high altitude or were the temp is low and the oxygen level is high.
Season: Can be seen through the summer months.
Interesting Trivia: Minnows have teeth in their throats
Page developed by Jenna Kinnet, Junior, 2009
[pic]
Common Name: Bluegill
Scientific Name: Lepomis marochirus
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Centrarachidae
Order: Perciformes
Species: L. macrochirus
Description: They don’t get much more than about 16 in. in length, or about 40 cm. They have the same body shape as that of a tropical sunfish. There is a bluish lining on their ear witch is also the extended part of the coverings of their gills. The top of their upper fins usually have a blue lining also.
Season Seen: The best season to see them is during the spring and early summer, but you can fish for them and see them any time of the year.
Habitat: You would have a better chance of catching or seeing one in a small lake
or pond.
Ecological Adaptations: Bluegill fish are often used on fish farms to make them more able to adapt to living in ponds and more populated areas.
Uses and Management: The bluegill does not have that many uses for it other than recreational and professional fishing. You could catch one, and clean and eat it if you wanted to, but that’s only is the superior of the area says it’s okay.
Interesting Trivia: The upper and lower fins on the fish can be so sharp that they can cut your hand while trying to handle them. The proper way to handle them would be to place them on the ground and gently put your foot on top of them and remove a hook, or wrap your hand in a towel and then grab them. If one of them does happen to cut you, clean and bandage it immediately and properly so you don’t get an infection.
Page developed by Ashlie Manzi, Junior; Jenna Kinet, Junior; Nick Olds, Junior, 2009
[pic]
Common Name: Crappie
Scientific Name: Promoxis
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Centrachidae
Order: Perciformes
Species: P. annularis- White Crappie P. nigromaculatus- Black Crappie
Description: The black crappie is usually smaller and darker then the white crappie and they have larger fins than the white crappie. The white crappie is usually bigger and lighter than the black crappie. Their fins can also be a bit smaller.
Season: You can fish for crappie any time of the year. The best time is during the summer and the fall.
Habitat: Black crappies tend to lice more in clearer natural lakes and reservoirs. White crappies tend to live in clear water with aquatic vegetation.
Ecological Adaptations: They originally started to live in cooler waters, but have been able to deal with warmer waters.
Uses and Management: Recreational and professional fishing are the most common uses.
Interesting Trivia: They are some of the best freshwater tasting fish.
Page developed by Ashlie Manzi, Junior; Jenna Kinet, Junior; Nick Olds, Junior, 2009
[pic]
Common Name: Sunfish
Scientific Name:
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Perciformes
Family: Centrarchidae
Species: Percoidei
Description: They are about the same size and bluegills, but they are a more yellowish color. The fins are not as tall, or sharp, but you still need to be careful. The front of the face is much like that of a large or small mouth bass.
Season Seen: The best time to see them would be late summer and early fall, but you are able to see them any time of the year.
Habitat: They tend to prefer streams and rivers if they are freshwater sunfish. If they are tropical sunfish, then they will usually swim in the more exotic shores like Hawaii and Australia.
Ecological Adaptations: The areas that they tend to live in have become way more polluted than they ever have been in the past. The fish have learned to be wary of all the new debris and the smaller and bigger fish in their living areas.
Uses and Management: Recreational and Professional fishing is the main use.
Interesting Trivia: The sunfish is the biggest three boned fish in tropic waters.
Page developed by Ashlie Manzi, Junior; Jenna Kinet, Junior; Nick Olds, Junior, 2009
Birds
[pic]
House Wren Scientific Name: Troglodytes aedon
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Passeriformes
Species: T. aedon
Description: The animal is a small bird that has short stout legs. It has a long tail that has the same color looking feathers as does he have on his back. The bird is also part of the wren family. The bird has a light brown color belly. The bird has a long snout that allows it to dig and eat worms in the ground. But also the beak allows the bird to break into eggs of other animals and sometimes its own, the bird then sucks out the goods that are inside the egg. The bird is grows up to 11 centimeter long and can weigh up to 12 grams. The bird sings a rich bubbly song that they sing during mating season to attract women but it is rarely heard after the season. Since some of the birds migrate there is a distinct difference between their songs. The birds in the North have a mellower and low pitch to their voice while birds in the south can have a more boisterous voice and is more upbeat in their melody.
Habitat: As I said earlier the house wren is part of the wren family. The house wren lives in bushes, trees, hedgerows, and wetlands. The house wren can live in many different habitats as long as they can provide shelter and food for them. The birds that do not migrate grow a thicker feather layer that keeps them warm and the hide in residential yards, thick bushes, and some roof canopies, to keep the warm from the winter elements.
Season: The house wrens are a summer time bird that you can hear early in the spring. But because some of the birds do not migrate for whatever reasons they can be seen mostly all year. The birds in the spring time are very active when they first migrate north because they are looking for mates so you will see a lot of the birds during the spring. You can also see the bird all the way up to September or October.
Interesting Trivia: The north house wrens migrate to the Southern United States during the winter months.
Page made by: Daniel Lamberger Senior, Nolan Huelsman Junior, Rachael Orman Junior,2009
[pic]
Field Sparrow Scientific Name: Spizella pusilla
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Passeriformes
Species: S. pusilla
Description: The field sparrow is classified as a small sparrow. Adult sparrows have brown upperparts. It also has a light brown breast and a white belly. The sparrow also has wing bars and a forked tail. They have a grey face and a rusty crown. On its face it has white eye rings and a pink bill. The male sings on top of a pole or fence post declaring that this is his territory and his song is a sad series of whistles and then one trill.
Habitats: Their breeding habitat is shrubby fields across eastern North America. Their nest is a cup of branches and thickets place under grass or a small thicket. The sparrow migrates to southern United States during the winter months. But also there are permanent residents of these birds in southern North America. The put their nests on top of perches or poles that are located near a field giving easy access for food. The bird also can be found in a abandoned field with patches of shrubs in it. One of the biggest problems for the field sparrow is the losses of their fields, making them lose their homes causing them to have to find new homes giving them exposure to its predators.
Season: In the Southern United States the bird is their year round, but the mate in early May. The birds that migrate go back to the northeastern parts of North America around May and mate soon after that. The birds then stay there throughout he summer months and then migrate back to south United States in early October or possibly at the end of September because of the frost.
Interesting Trivia: The sparrows are on a decline because farmers take their land back and start making crops in that field giving the sparrow exposure to its predator basically killing the birds off slowly.
Page made by: Daniel Lamberger Senior, Nolan Huelsman Junior, Rachael Orman Junior,2009
Black Crow
Scientific Name: Corvus brachyrhynchos
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: PASSERIFORMES
Description: Widespread, common, and obvious, the Black Crow is known by most people. What is less well known is how complex its life is. Young crows remain with their parents until they can find a home for themselves. They also may be on their own for years. The black crow has dark brown eyes, black legs; all their feathers are glossed black with a little violet. From front to back their 40-53cm long, their wingspan is 85-100cm wide, and their weight is about 316-620 grams.
Habitat: The range of the Black Crow extends from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean in Canada, French islands and into northern Mexico. Virtually all types of country from wilderness, parks, woodland, and farmland to open towns and major cities are inhabited by this bird. The black crow is omnivorous; it will feed on all types of invertebrates, scraps of human food, seeds, eggs and nestling, and fish of shore.
Season: We may see this bird during the spring, summer, and fall.
Interesting Trivia: The black crow seems to be the biggest victim of the West Nile Virus.
Black crows congregate in large numbers in winter to sleep in communal roosts
Page made by: Daniel Lamberger Senior, Nolan Huelsman Junior, Rachael Orman Junior,2009
Least Flycatcher
Scientific Name: Empidonax minimus
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Tyrannidae
Order: Passerformes
Description: The Least Flycatcher is a small insect eating bird. It is the smallest flycatcher in North America. The adults have grayish-olive upper parts, darker on the wings and tail, with whitish under parts; they have a white eye ring, white wing bars, a small, short bill and a short tail. The breast is grey and the sides of the belly are yellow.
Habitat: Their breeding habitat is open deciduous or mixed woods across Canada and the United States. They migrate to Central America and Mexico. It eats mainly small insects and some berries.
Season: We might see the Least Flycatcher in the fall or winter.
Interesting Trivia: One Least Flycatcher nest was found to have used dragonfly wings as nest lining.
Page made by: Daniel Lamberger Senior, Nolan Huelsman Junior, Rachael Orman Junior,2009
[pic]
Canadian Geese
Kingdom – Anamalia
Family - Anatidae
Order - Anseriformes
Species – B. Canadensis
Description - The black head and neck with white "chinstrap" distinguish the Canada goose from all, except the Barnacle Goose, but the latter has a black breast, and grey, rather than brownish, body plumage. There are seven subspecies of this bird, of varying sizes and plumage details, but all are recognizable as Canada Geese. Some of the smaller races can be hard to distinguish from the newly-separated Cackling Goose.
Habitat - This species is native to North America. It breeds in Canada and the northern United States in a variety of habitats. Its nest is usually located in an elevated area near water such as streams, lakes, ponds and sometimes on a beaver lodge. Its eggs are laid in a shallow depression lined with plant material and down.
When to see them - Canada geese or Branta Canadensis are known for their seasonal migrations. Most Canada geese have staging or resting areas where they join up with others. Their fall migration can be seen from September through the beginning of November. The early migrants have a tendency to spend less time at rest stops and go through the migration a lot faster. The later birds usually spend more time at rest stops. These geese are also renowned for their V flight formation. The front position is rotated since flying in front consumes the most energy. Canada Geese leave the winter grounds more quickly than the summer grounds.
Interesting trivia - Canada Geese are herbivores although they sometimes eat small insects and fish. Their diet includes green vegetation and grains. The Canada goose eats a variety of grasses when on land. It feeds by grasping a blade of grass with the bill, then tearing it with a jerk of the head. The Canada goose also eats grains such as wheat, beans, rice, and corn when they are available. In the water, it feeds from silt at the bottom of the body of water. It also feeds on aquatic plants, such as seaweeds
American Robin
Scientific Name: Turdus migratorius
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Turdidae
Order: Passerformes
Description: The American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. They are most active during the day and flock together at nights. It is the first bird species to lay eggs. The Robin has a brown back and a reddish-orange breast, varying from rich red maroon to peachy orange.
Habitat: This bird breeds throughout most of North America, from Alaska and Canada southward to Northern Florida and Mexico. They eat beetle grubs, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and worms.
Season: We might see the Robin around spring, summer and a little fall.
Interesting Trivia: The American Robin is among the first to sing at dawn.
Hundreds of thousands of American Robins can gather in a single winter roost.
Page made by: Daniel Lamberger Senior, Nolan Huelsman Junior, Rachael Orman Junior,2009
[pic]
Red Winged Blackbird
Scientific Name:
Kingdom- Animalia
Family- Icteridae
Order- Passeriforms
Species- A. Phoeniceus
Description-
• The Red Winged Blackbird is a medium songbird.
• The bird is moderately tall and has a slender bill.
• Its tail is a medium length on average.
• The male is black with red shoulders.
• The female is brown and stripped all over. Its size is typically from 17- 23 cm.
• Its wingspan is 31-40 cm.
• The Red Wing Blackbird’s song sounds like a gurgling noise.
Habitat-
• The Red Winged Blackbird is typically found in wetlands and agricultural areas.
• It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland to Florida.
• The Red Winged Blackbird eats primary plant materials.
• They also eat small insects like dragonflies, damsiflies, and butterflies.
Interesting Facts-
• The male bird has about 15 female birds making nests in its territory.
• The male bird is really aggressive and defensive of his territory around breeding time.
• The Red Wing Blackbird is one of 11 species of the Genus Alegauis.
Common name: Great Blue Heron
Scientific Name: Egretta Caerulea
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Ciconiiformes
Species: A. Herodias
Description: The Blue Heron is a large bird in North America. They are 60 cm tall and 97 to 137 long. It weighs about 2.1 to 2.5 kg. They rounded long wings. This bird also has a long beak that comes to a point, and a long tail. It is a bird with long legs that stands tall; this helps them to keep their feathers dry to keep from getting wet. The beak is a yellow color, and the legs are green. They have grey upper bodies and their necks are streaked with white and black.
Season: This bird can be found in Nearctic and Neotropical regions mainly duing spring and summer time. They migrate to central and South America. The blue heron does not breed here.
Habitat: The blue heron always live near sources of water; including lakes ponds seas, and many more. They sometimes nest in trees and bushes that are near water. They breed in elevations up to 1,500 m. This bird mainly stays away from the east coast, and stay inland.
Food Habits: The Blue Herons fish in day and at night. There long legs come in hand to wade in shallow water, and this way they can use there sharp bills to catch there food. There diet is mainly fish but sometimes they eat other things like frogs, shrimp dragonflies, and many others. They control a lot of fish population in many different habitats.
Interesting Trivia: Blue heron’s call is a harsh croak that can be very loud. They are most vocal during breeding season, and territorial disputes. The blue heron is the largest heron in North America. The blue heron only has one mate during mating season. They are mainly active at dust and in the mornings. These birds often prefer to hunt alone.
Page developed by Rachel Orman, Junior, 2009
Common Name: Killdeer
Scientific Name: Charadrrius Vociferous
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Charadriiformes
Species: Charadrrius Vociferous
Seasons: In the summer it breeds from Alaska to the Caribbean and Mexico, Also central areas. In the winter it goes anywhere from British Colombia to western and central state and sometimes ranges to South America.
Habitat: Fields, Pastures, Open areas, some sand bars, Mud flats, Athletic fields, Airports, open areas, high places, and many more. They have a pretty widespread area of habitat. Also commonly found in meadows and pastures, ponds, lakes, less on sea coasts. It nests in gravel, soil and small sticks.
Description: Size 8 to 11 inches. They have a wing span of 18 to 19 inches. They do not weight very much at all about 2.65 to 4.52 ounces. It is a medium sized bird, and has long legs. It has a short neck. It is black and Brown, but has a white underbody, and two black bands around is chest. The wings and tail are long. All around the throat and neck it’s white. Has an orange rump; with a white wing strip on tail. Also has a white stripe behind each eye.
Ecological Adaptation: Nests in depression on the ground, and many different areas. Locations near human, camouflaged areas, gravel. This bird is pretty active during moon light nights. The adults engage in broken wing distraction displays.
Interesting Trivia: To protect there young they will act hurt so the predator will go after them instead of their young. This bird is most of the time are by water, but many killdeer nest far from the water. They do not hide there nests they often keep them out in the open, and they use strategies to protect there area. A group of kill deer are commonly known as a “season” of killdeers. This bird can eat a variety of insects including, beetles, ticks, mosquitoes, and many other harmful and annoying insects to man. It is a member of the “plover” family of birds.
Page developed by Rachel Orman, Junior, 2009
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Common Name-Common Term
Kingdom- Animalia
Family- Sternidae
Order- Charadriiformes
Species- S. Hirundo
Description-
• The Common Tern is typically 31-38 cm long.
• Their wingspan can be 75- 80 cm long.
• Their weight is on an average from 93- 200 grams.
• Common terns are medium sized birds with white wings and dark tips.
Habitat-
• Common Terns make nests on islands, marshes, and small beaches by lakes or oceans.
• They eat small fish and some invertabrates.
• To get the small fish, they plunge into the sea from flight.
• Common Terns are typically seen during the summer time into late fall.
Interesting Trivia-
• The Common Tern drinks mainly on the wings, while gliding over the water they dip their beaks into the water.
• They won’t accept fresh water.
Page developed by Kristin Ohnmeis, Junior, 2009
[pic]
Common Name: Mallard
Kingdom – Anamalia
Family - Anatidae
Order - Anseriformes
Species - Anas platyrhynchos
Description - The mallard is undoubtedly the most recognized waterfowl in the world. The familiar duck morphology is complemented with an iridescent blue speculum on the wings in both sexes. On the male, the notable characteristics are the green iridescent plumage on the head and neck, and curled black feathers on the tail. The female's plumage is drab brown.
Habitat - Most often, they prefer wetlands, where highly productive waters produce large amounts of floating, emergent and submerged vegetation Wetlands also produce a great deal of aquatic invertebrates on which mallards feed.
Where to find them - After the breeding season, mallards form flocks and migrate from northern latitudes to warmer southern areas. There they wait and feed until the breeding season starts again. Some mallards, however, may choose to stay through the winter in areas where food and shelter are abundant; these mallards make up resident populations.
Interesting Trivia - Mallards can be found almost anywhere in the world. They dominate the Northern Hemisphere, and can be found easily in Oceana, Asia, Africa, South America and many islands
Common name: Western Meadowlark
Scientific Name: Strnell Neglecta
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Passeriformes
Species: S. Neglecta
Season: The Western Meadowlark are resistant for much of their range, But when the snow falls, it covers most of their food sources.
Habitat: The Western Meadowlark lives in open areas, prairies, also in plains meadows and grass lands. At this time they will move into well covered sheltered valleys. Some of their population can be long distance migrants.
Description: The western Meadowlark has a length of 8.5 inches. It has a sharply pointed bill, and brown and buff head stripes. It has a V on its breast and its all yellow underneath. Black and white flanks with streaks. This bird has a brown tail with white outer feathers. It becomes duller in the winter. Open country birds. Also they can often be found in wet grass areas.
Ecological Adaptation: It can feed off of cultivated grains as well as native grains. This means a wider variety of food, because they are not as picky as other birds.
Interesting Trivia: There nest is usually somewhat covered by grass at times, or it may be completely open. Often however it is finished and has a roof and tunnel entrance.
Even though the western and eastern Meadowlark look the same, a mix of the two is very rare. This only can occur at times on the edge of areas where mates are available. Many hybrid meadowlarks are fertile but don’t produce many eggs that hatched; this was found out through breeding experiments. Although many of these birds nest in the same areas; the western meadowlark will be the first to defend its territory against all the other in the area. The male western meadowlarks usually have two or more mates at one time. The females do incubation and feedings. The Western Meadowlark “chases” the female, but the female usually stars this off. If the male has two mates the mates will do this at the same time.
Page developed by Rachel Orman, Junior, 2009
Flowers
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Common Name-Twist Flower
Kingdom-Planate
Family-Brassicaceae
Species-Streptanthus
Desciption: The Twist Flower is a lovely flower. It comes in many different colors. Many pettles and it has a strong stem.
Habitat: It comes from many grassy warm plains in Kansas and mid western Kansas.
Season: It’s seen in April may and June
Interesting Trivia: What does STREPTOS mean in Greek? Twist
Page developed by Travis Duckett, Senior, 2009
[pic]
Maximilian sunflower
Family: Asteracease – Sunflower Family
Description: grows to 2-9 feet high; erect solitary or loosely clustered, light green to occasionally reddish, rough-hairy, especially above. Leaves are mostly alternate, simple, short-stalked, lancelet, 3 to 12 inches long, ½ to 2 inches wide, rough, grayish green, often folded lengthwise to form down-curving trough; margins entire to shallow-toothed. Flowers are ray florets 10-24 to 1.5 inches long, yellow; disk florets.
Habitat: open, dry or damp prairies, rocky pastures and hillsides, waste ground, roadsides, and low moist areas, most abundant in sandy soils throughout Kansas.
Season: flowers August-September
Interesting Trivia: plant head follows the path of the sun; seeds can be eaten
Page developed by Travis Duckett, Senior, 2009
Common name: Black eyed Susan
Scientific name: Rudbeckia hirta
Kingdom: Plantae
Family: Aster
Order:
Species:
Description: The plant has a yellow flower with a brown center
Habitat: . It can live in a dry place with a lot of sun.
Season It is most commonly seen in the summer months because of the sun and warm weather.
Interesting trivia: The Black Eyed Susan is actually an herb. This is the state
flower of Maryland.
Common name : aromatic aster
Scientific Name:
Kingdom: Plantae
Family: Aster
Order
Species:
Description: This is a purplish blue flower with a yellow center and sticky like stem
Habitat : It can survive in a dry habitat with little water; commonly seen in prairies.
Season: It flowers in the fall.
Interesting trivia about it: It is said that Lewis and Clark brought back drawings
Page developed by Elizabeth Sippel, Junior, 2009
FUNGI and BACTERIA
Common Name: Lichen
Scientific Name: reccania kansas porss
Kingdom: fungi Phylum: Ascomyota Class: Ascomycetes
Order: Lichinaleds Family: Luchinaleae Genus: Pecania A. Massal
Species: reccania kansas porss
Season: This fungus can actually occur in any season how ever it does much better with heat and the cold weather will kill the majority off.
Habitat: The habitat of such is a very lichenous one in which there are normally water near by. This lichen is found on rocks trees or old stone statues as the picture shows.
Description: The description of this is very obvious. It is a crust like texture and has a greenish orangey brown feel to it. It is also a branching growth and will just keep growing over the structure it has picked to grow on and will spread and run over any thing in its way.
Ecological Adaptations: its adaptations are great. It may love water but as the picture shows it will grow on other things and in other areas. Over time the stone has cracked and unnoticeable expanded from the years. Water has accumulated and the lichen shall strive on this as a food source or so to speak.
Uses and Management: In Kansas and other states this has actually become some what of a burden to the people. Many do not like it on or near their home land and we actually try to get rid of it.
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Interesting Trivia: The lichen actually symbiotically shares and grows with Algae.
Page developed by Kara McIntosh, Senior, 2009
Common name: Algae
Scientific name: Filamentous Algae
Kingdom:
Family:
Order:
Species:
Description: Microscopic, single-celled, free-floating algae are called phytoplankton. This form is used by zooplankton for food.Algae are small plants which do not have real leaves or flowers. There are different types of algae that take on different forms. This aquatic plant makes the water have a green or greenish brown color but you can’t see the actual individual plants. It is stringy and slimy green-brown plant. Filamentous algae are usually not wanted in most ponds.
Habitat: Usually floats on top of the water or just below the surface.
Season: It is always present just not always seen especially in the winter months.
Interesting trivia about it: Algae is in our food such as ice cream and syrup also
in paint and shampoo.
Page developed by Elizabeth Sippel, Junior, 2009
GRASSES
Common name: Purple Top Grass
Scientific name: Tridens Flavus.
Kingdom-Plantae
Family- Poaceae
Order- Tridens Flavus
Species- Xanthium occidentale
Description- It can range anywhere from 2 ½ ft – 7 ft. It has drooping branches that have purple spikelets. So it turns a field or open area seem purple. The plant becomes brown in the fall. The fruit type for the plant is grain and the leaf color is green.
Habitat- The native habitat is open woodlands and roadsides. It takes part shade for it to grow. It will grow in dry soil. Also during the early stages of its growth it is consumed by livestock.
Season- It can be seen in late summer. Most noticeable from August through October
Interesting Trivia- It can reseed by itself. The seeds get blown around by the wind and plant themselves. It adapts to the soil around it
Page developed by Chloe Flippin, Junior, 2009
Common Name: Indian Grass
Scientific Name: Sorghastrum nutans
Kingdom: Plantae
Family: Poaceae
Order: Cyperales
Species: Nutans
Description: Is hairy nodes on stem, leaf sheath with long hairs near the collar, and a deeply notched ligule which give a horn-like appearance. It is one of the most important of the tall grasses for its nutritious and palatable qualities for livestock.
Habitat: Open prairies, bottomlands, and open woods, more abundant in deep, moist soils, but can also occur on dry slopes
Season: Fall, and turns reddish-yellow in the winter.
Trivia: One of the most important of the tall grasses for its nutritious and palatable qualities for livestock. Very good habitat grass and its attractive heads make an excellent choice for landscape use.
Page developed by Mike Sage (Sr), Chloe Flipping (Jr), Melissa (Jr), 2009
Common Name: Bottlebrush Grass
Scientific Name: Xanthorrhoea macronema
Kingdom: Plantae
Family: Poaceae
Order: Cyperales
Species: Elymus hystrix L.
Description: This graceful woodland grass produces delightful seedheads that resemble a bottlebrush. Growing in clumps on well drained soil, it adapts to wide range of soil conditions including heavy clay. Reaching three to five feet tall, it is ideal for the part shade conditions found under deciduous trees but does well in full sun as well.
Habitat: Moist or rocky woods
Season: Fall
Interesting Trivia: The Iroquois boiled the leaves with reed grass roots as a medicine to soak corn seeds in prior to planting
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Common Name: Big bluestem
Scientific Name: Andropogon gerardii Vitman
Kingdom: Plantae
Family: Poaceae
Order: Cyperales
Species: Gerardii
Description: Is blue at the base of the stem and is about 3 feet tall and is covered by a blue tinted waxy layer. Has 3 parted flower clusters.
Habitat: Lowland prairies, plains, and open woods, in deep, fertile, dry soils.
Season: Anytime during warm-weather seasons
Interesting Trivia: Sometimes called the turkey foot because of the shape the flower clusters make
Common name: Switchgrass
Scientific name: Panicum Virgatum
Kingdom: Plantae
Family: Poaceae
Order: Cyperales Subclass
Species: Panicum Virgatum
Description: It is 3-6 in. tall and usually grows in big bunches. The culms are light to medium green. The leaf blades are medium green and they are mostly hairless. It is broader at the bottom then at the top. The spikelets are light reddish purple but they become a light tan.
Habitat: It grow in moist and open lowland prairies, sand prairies, and open woods and likes to grow on a big range of soil
Season: During mid-summer
Interesting Trivia- The roots are very strong and vigorous and can grow up to 10-11 feet long. It is consumed and liked by livestock and also birds and mammals eat the seeds and foliage and use the plant for cover.
Page developed by Chloe Flippin, Junior, 2009
Common name: Green Foxtail
Scientific name: Setaria viridis
Kingdom: Plantae
Family: Poaceae
Order: Cyberales
Species: Setaria virdis
Description: Reproduces only by seed. The seed head represents a fox tail. It is a weed found in nurseries and fields and sometimes gardens. The leaf blades can reach up to 12 inches long and are mostly hairless. The stems branch out at the base and each spikelet has 1-3 bristles.
Season: It is an annual grass that can be seen everywhere throughout Kansas and other states.
Habitat: Green foxtail is very common and widespread throughout all agricultural regions of Kansas. It grows well in all soil textures and occurs in cultivated lands, waste places, roadsides, gardens and occasionally lawns.
Mammals
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Common Name: Cottontail Rabbit
Scientific Name Sylvilagus floridanus
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Lagomorpha
Species: Lepus sylvaticus
Description: Cottontail rabbits are small animals with speckled brown fur, which fades to white underneath. They have big eyes, long ears, and large hind legs and feet. Seldom weighing more than three pounds or exceeding 15 inches in length.
Habitat: Grassy and brushy habitats are where a rabbit generally likes to live. Ideal cottontail sites include shelterbelts, thickets, and woodlots, especially when located close to crop fields. Abandoned farmsteads with heavy weed growth, dilapidated buildings, and even old farm machinery can be cottontail hideouts. Rabbits like to live near fields, that way they will have an unlimited supply of food.
Season: A person will usually see a rabbit all year around. People can see them in the summer running through the prairies. A person who hunts rabbits will see them in the winter; most hunters will hunt rabbits after the first snow.
Interesting Trivia: Cottontails have very keen sight and hearing. Rabbits normally move slowly in short hops or jumps, but when frightened they can achieve speeds up to 18 miles per hour over a short distance. They will thump the ground with their hind feet regularly, probably as a means of communication. The cottontail can be considered a buffer prey species, meaning if rabbit numbers are high, predators will concentrate on them, thus reducing the pressure on other prey species.
Page developed by Elliot Soyez, Senior, 2009
Common Name: Little Brown Bat
Scientific: Myotis lucifugus
Kingdom: Animalia,
Family: Vespertilionidae
Order: Chiroptera
Species: Myotis lucifugus
Description: The upperparts vary from medium brown to buffy brown, and the fur is relatively glossy in appearance. The belly fur is light gray-brown to buffy-brown, typically contrasting sharply with the color of the upperparts. Little brown bats have a short, blunt-tipped tragus in the ear, no keel on the calcar, and especially long toe hairs that extend beyond the tips of the toes.
Habitat: Most of the time bats live in caves, old trees, buildings and now recently bat boxes.
Season: Summer / begins at July
Interesting Trivia: A single little brown bat can catch 600 mosquitoes in just one hour.
Page developed by Kyle Powers, Senior, 2009
[pic]
Common Name: Coyote
Scientific Name: Canis latrans
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Carnivora
Species: C. Latrans
Description: The color of the coyote's pelt varies from grayish brown to yellowish gray on the upper parts, while the throat and belly tend to have a buff or white color. The forelegs, sides of the head, muzzle and feet are reddish brown. Coyotes typically grow to (30–34 inches) in length and on average, weigh from (15–46 pounds). Northern coyotes are typically larger than southern subspecies, with the largest coyotes on record weighing 74¾ pounds and measuring over five feet in total length.
Habitat: The coyote's habitat can be anywhere. They are scavengers and hunters. They may live in forests, on the plains, or in deserts. As humans move into areas where they live, they are forced to find new places to live and hunt. Around Kansas a person will find coyotes in timbers, fields, prairies, and pretty much anywhere they can hunt and have some type of shelter.
Season: A person will see a coyote anytime of the year. Also since they are scavengers hunters can hunt them all year around, but ranchers will mainly hunt them in the winter to keep them from eating their calves.
Interesting Trivia: Coyotes are quite playful; pups will often play fight and wrestle. A scared coyote will hold its head low and tuck his tail between his/her legs. When a coyote hears loud sounds it will prick its ears up. If it is another coyote, it will often reply, this is their way of communicating. They are most active during the early morning and at twilight.
Page developed by Elliot Soyez, Senior, 2009
[pic]
Common Name: Raccoon
Scientific: Mammalia, Carnivora
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Procyonidae
Order: Carnivora
Species: P. lotor
Description: The raccoon is a furry animal that has a bushy ringed tail. It has a band of black hair around its eyes. The black hair looks like a mask.
Habitat: Although they have thrived in sparsely wooded areas in the last decades, raccoons depend on vertical structures to climb up when feeling threatened. Therefore, they avoid open terrain and areas with high concentrations of beech trees, as their bark is too smooth to climb.
Season: Winter/January
Raccoon’s traits: Raccoons are nocturnal, but can occasionally be seen during daylight hours. They are solitary animals and the only social group raccoons form consist of a mother and her young.
Page developed by Kyle Powers, Senior, 2009
[pic]
Common Name: Skunk
Scientific Name: mephitis mephitis
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Mephitidae
Order: Carnivora
Species: Musteloidea
Description: Skunks are best know by the foul odor that they exert whenever they feel threatened, and by the eye catching white stripe down the back of their black body. They have long claws which they use for digging.
Habitat: Skunks live in open, scrub, wooded, agricultural, and developed areas. They are omnivores. They will eat berries, fruit, insects, bird eggs, crayfish, and basically anything else that they can catch.
Season: Spring
Interesting Trivia: Skunks have their scent glands from the day that they are born, and they can use them whenever they become 8 days old. Skunks will warn you before they spray you. Their litters usually only have 4 or 5 kits(baby skunks).
Page developed by Caleb Stephens, Junior, 2009
[pic]
Common Name: Ground Squirrel
Scientific Name: Spermophilus beldingi
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Sciuridae
Order: Rodentia
Species: S. carolinensis
Description: The Grey Squirrel is a very common squirrel across much of North America. There are many different sub species of this type of squirrel. It can be either a brownish, redish, or grey in color.
Habitat: Ground Squirrels live in many places, they can live in anywhere from city parks to the great outdoors, they mainly feed on nuts, usually acorns, but they also will eat other things like corn if that is available.
Season: They can be seen basically anytime of the year, but the time when you are most likely to see them running around would be in the spring and summer whenever they are running around collecting food.
Trivia: Squirrel's belong to the order "Rodentia", with 1650 species, it is the largest group of living mammals. There are over 365 species of squirrels in seven families.
Page developed by Caleb Stephens, Junior, 2009
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Common Name: Vole
Scientific Name: Microtus pennsylvanicus
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Cricetidae
Order: Rodentia
Species: Myomorpha
Description: Voles are a usually a dark color, typically a black, brown, or dark grey.
Habitat: They usually live in grassy areas or areas where there is a lot of cover. They make their burrows in the ground using twigs, leaves, and other parts of plants. They are omnivores, but they usually eat plants.
Season: Voles can be seen year round
Trivia: Voles are on the list of endangered species
Page developed by Caleb Stephens, Junior, 2009
Reptiles
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Common Name: Bull snake
Scientific Name: Pituophis catenifer sayi
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Squamata
Species: P. catenifer
Description: Bull snakes often exceed 6 feet in length, and specimens of up to 100 inches have been recorded, this makes them among the largest US snakes. Males are generally larger than females. They are usually yellow in color, with brown, black or sometimes reddish colored blotching.
Habitat: Bull Snakes live in various areas like pine woods up to mountain landscapes or half deserts, farm country and river valleys. The snake inhabits often the tunnels of gopher rats and other rodents; also it lives under stones or wood.
Season: Bull snakes are diurnal, hunting in the early morning, late afternoon, and early evening, when the temperature is warm without the strong direct heat of the midday sun. They will lie in the morning sun for a considerable period of time each day. During hot weather bull snakes may be active at night, but usually the night is spent in a burrow or other shelter. These snakes hate the cold and will not come out during the winter because some will be hibernating.
Interesting Trivia: Bull snakes use their tongues to smell. These snakes are called constrictors, which mean they kill their prey by squeezing them until they can't breathe. The female bull snake lays 12 to 18 eggs in one mating season. After 9 to 11 weeks the eggs will hatch and go out to find food on their own. The babies are born about 12 to 18 inches long upon their hatching.
Page developed by Elliot Soyez, Senior, 2009
Spiders and Insects
Brown Recluse Spider
Kingdom: animalia
Family: Sicariidae
Phylum: Arthropoda
Order: Araneae
Species: Loxosceles Recluse
Description: The brown recluse is a dark tan and even brown color. It has a dark violin marking in the abdomen. There leg span in about the size of a quarter. The males a a little bit smaller then the females. Male and female recluses are venomous.
Habitat: The recluse is found mainly in the central Midwestern states southward to the Gulf of Mexico.
Season: The recluse is found al year round. they like to live in dark, undisturbed areas, indoors and outdoors.
Interesting Trivia: recluses are not aggressive spiders. They usually bite when crushed, handled or disturbed. Their venom will kill the skin tissue in the bite area. It may feel like a pinprick or go unnoticed.
Page developed by Hannah Cline, Junior, 2009
[pic]
Variegated Fritillary
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Family Nymphalidae (Brushfooted Butterflies)
Species claudia (Variegated Fritillary)
Description: Orange-brown upper surface edged with black spots wings. On the underside its light brown with a pale postmedian band on the hindwing, and no silver spangles. It flies low to the ground and its hard to approach. The black-edged light spot near the center helps to distinguish it.
Habitat: It lives in open sunny areas such as prairies, fields, pastures, road edges, landfills, and the larvae feed on passionvines, violets, Mayapple, Stonecrop, Purslane, and other things. The adults eat nectar from several plants, including butterflyweed, common milkweed, dogbane, peppermint, red clover, swamp milkweed, and tickseed sunflower.
Season: Annually, it colonizes northwards from the southern US and as far north as of Massachussets and Canada, and west to California, but not as far as the Pacific Northwest.
The season for them is four broods in the south, and three in the north. In Kansas a good month to see them is in April.
Interesting Trivia:
* Wing span: 1 3/4 - 3 1/8 inches
* It often flits nervously from flower to flower.
* Females lay the tiny, cream-colored eggs singly on the leaves of the host.
Page developed by Kayla Truett, Junior, 2009
Common Name: Grasshopper
Scientific Name: Caelifera
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Acrididae
Order: Orthoptera
Species: Brevicornis
Description: Grasshoppers have antennae that are almost always shorter than the body (sometimes filamentous), and short ovipositors. They make easily heard noises usually by rubbing the hind femurs against the forewings or abdomen, or by snapping the wings in flight. The hind femora (muscle) are typically long and strong, fitted for leaping. Generally they are winged, but hind wings are membranous while front wings are leathery and not fit for flight. Females are normally larger than males, with short ovipositors (for egg laying). Males have a single unpaired plate at the end of the abdomen. Females have two pairs of valves (triangles) at the end of the abdomen used to dig in sand when egg lying.
Habitat: Grasshoppers are found in almost all types of habitat including the tropics, temperate grassland, rainforest, desert, and mountains. If adverse conditions prevail, some species migrate in huge numbers to maximize survival. Grasshoppers feed on grass, leafy plants, and bushes. Some species eat only particular food plants, but most species broaden their food base following depletion of their preferred food.
Season: Grasshoppers are commonly known to thrive in warm weather so they are seen to be heavy in population around the spring and summer seasons.
Interesting Trivia:
▪ Trains have been delayed because they could not run at regular speed on tracks made slippery by crushed grasshoppers after a swarm.
▪ The brain of a grasshopper has approximately 16000 neurons (brain nerve cells) - a human brain has around 100 billion neurons.
▪ Grasshoppers have five eyes.
▪ When the female lays her eggs, she covers them with a paste-like liquid that will protect them during the winter.
▪ A Grasshopper is an amazing insect that can leap 20 times the length of its own body. If you or I could do that, we would be able to jump almost 40 yards!
Page developed by Taylor Henderson (Sr), Meg Rubottom (Jr), Hannah Cline (Jr), 2009
Common Name: Cricket
Scientific Name: Gryllus assimilis
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Gryllidae
Order: Orthoptera
Species: Gryllinae
Description: Crickets, family Gryllidae (also known as "true crickets"), are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets. They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets. They tend to be nocturnal and are often confused with grasshoppers because they have a similar body structure including jumping hind legs.
Habitat: Crickets are omnivores and scavengers feeding on organic materials, as well as decaying plant material, fungi, and seedling plants. Crickets live under rocks and logs in meadows, pastures and along roadsides. Many are nocturnal.
Season: Crickets are most likely found in the spring and summer season or wherever it is warm. In the winter time they migrate to under rocks or warm fixtures such as housing. Nymphs (baby crickets) hatch in the spring time.
Interesting Trivia:
▪ The males make their familiar chirping sound by rubbing special structures on the wings across each other. In principle, it is like running your thumb down the teeth of a comb. If you observe a singing male, you will notice his wings fluttering over his back. On one wing is a sharp ridge called the scraper. On the other wing is a series of wrinkles called the file. As these are drawn across each other, the chirp is created. The tone of the chirp is related to the structure of the wings and how far apart the wrinkles of the file are. The frequency of the chirping varies according to temperature. It is possible to get a rough idea of the outside temperature in degrees Fahrenheit by counting the number of chirps in 15 seconds and adding 37. The females listen to the chirping of the males and pick the best "singer".
▪ Crickets are known as good luck charms across the world and are even kept as pets in Asia.
Page developed by Taylor Henderson (Sr), Meg Rubottom (Jr), Hannah Cline (Jr), 2009
Praying Mantis
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Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Mantidae
Phylum: arthropoda
Species: mantis religiosa
Order: Mantodea
Description: The Mantises main camouflage is its stick like figure. It helps them blend in with trees and sticks. Though they are able to blend in with dead leaves and tree some in Africa and Australia have been known to turn black when a forest has been burned for camouflage.
Habitat: The mantis is very predatorily and their diet is usually insects. They have been known to prey in small lizards, frogs, birds, snakes and even rodents. They are ambush predators. Mantises wait for an insect to stray near and they attack. Mantises are usually near the plants they are colored to. They are normally found where other insects are found.
Season: You will be able to see them in late August and early September. In the night you will see them near the porch lights because the males are attracted to light.
Interesting Trivia: The female usually eats the male during or after mating.
Page developed by Hannah Cline, Junior, 2009
Common Name: Earthworm
Scientific Name: Lumbricus terrestris
Kingdom: Animalia
Family: Lumbricidae
Order: Haplotaxida
Species: Lumbricina
Description: Earthworms are red-brown in color and commonly 8-10 inches long and 1/4-inch in diameter. The earthworm's body is segmented to such a degree that it’s viewable to the naked eye. It is the segments of muscle tissue that allow the common earthworm to move forward and backward with equal ease. The earthworm has a clitellum which is a thick band at the lower end that protects the reproductive organs. This is usually most noticeable on the earthworm.
Habitat: Earthworms are present in almost every type of soil habitat but the healthier the soil the greater the numbers. A healthy soil permits lots of air and moisture, both of which are needed by the earthworm for a continued existence. Earthworms have no lungs like you or me but instead breathe through their skin. Their whole skin absorbs oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. They also need moisture to assist them in respiration but too much moisture is not good for them. The earthworm eats its way through the soil as it moves along. This is how the earthworm gets its food.
Season: The earthworm thrives in cool moist seasons such as spring and fall underground in the soil. Dry seasons with heat such as summer and cold seasons such as winter are bad for earthworms because they will dry out and do not thrive in extreme cold which is why they stay underground.
Trivia:
▪ An earthworm can only grow so long. The length of an adult will depend on what kind of worm it is, how many segments it has, how old it is and how well fed it is. An earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) can measure from 90 - 300 millimeters long.
▪ A worm has no arms, legs, ears or eyes.
▪ In one acre of land, there can be more than a million earthworms.
▪ The largest earthworm ever found was in South Africa and measured 22 feet from its nose to the tip of its tail.
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