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There are thousands of Song Thrushes living in gardens, parks and woodland all over our country, but you might have missed seeing them, because they like to hide under bushes and hedges looking for their favourite food amongst the dead leaves.
How to identify Song Thrushes
Song Thrushes have a good way of keeping hidden. Their brown and speckled feathers help them to hide in the dead leaves under the hedges where they like to be. They have brown on their upperparts and small brown speckles on their chest. They are slightly smaller than a Blackbird.
Young Song Thrushes
In spring, Father and Mother Song Thrush are busy looking after their family. They build their nests in thick hedges and bushes. By the end of July, they could have had three broods. However it only takes 14 days for young nestlings to leave the nest, so there will only be at most five chicks to feed at once. Both parents join in feeding the young chicks. The Song Thrush’s eggs are blue with black dots.
Singing Song Thrushes
You might not have seen a Song Thrush, however you might have heard one singing. They are known to be good singers! They can sing many little tunes, which they like to repeat many times. In fact, they so like singing that they are often the first to start in the morning and the last to finish when the sun goes down!
Food for Song Thrushes
Song Thrushes are a little different to most other garden birds in that they prefer to eat meat. Their favourite foods are worms and snails, but they will also eat insects, especially beetles, and caterpillars. In Autumn they will enjoy berries too. They are known for smashing the snail shell open on a favourite hard object, like a stone.
If they visit your bird-table, they would prefer to eat from the ground. Things to do
Wear a Song Thrush on your T-shirt!
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The Chaffinch is a bird that you might see in your garden.
A male Chaffinch
The Chaffinch is a lovely bird that can be found in gardens.
The male (the father) is a colourful mixture of orangey reds, pinky oranges, mossy browns , greys, whites and blacks.
A female Chaffinch
The female (the mother) is not so pretty, looking more like a House Sparrow.
Where do Chaffinches live?
Chaffinches will live in woodland, or gardens as long as there are some trees and bushes in which they can build a nest.
What do Chaffinches eat?
They feed from the ground but in winter they flock together on farmland and feed on the stubble left from last seasons crops.
Chaffinches mainly eat seeds. In summer they will also eat insects, especially caterpillars. A Chaffinch's nest
The female builds the nest and she makes a very neat job of it! A fork of a tree or a thick bush is chosen and then roots and feathers are collected to make the nest.
The inside of the nest is lined with a thick layer of soft moss and grass. She lays four or five eggs during April, May and June.
The mother sits on her eggs while the male looks after her, feeding and defending her.
It takes just twelve days for the eggs to hatch and then both parents are kept busy feeding the chicks. After another thirteen days the young leave the nest but the parents watch them carefully for another three weeks. The Chaffinches song
The male Chaffinch has a lively song, but it keeps repeating itself.
Someone has described the song as sounding like a penny being spun on a tin plate. Unlike some other birds, the Chaffinch does not hide when he is singing, so you may see him. Activities!Read our Chaffinch easy reading book!Colour our chaffinch!Look out for a Chaffinch in your garden!
The Science National Curriculum, states that children in KS1 should learn to observe birds in the local environment.
The Blackbird is a common garden bird that is easy to see and may be familiar to some children. Blackbirds thereby provide an excellent subject for study, especially in the spring when they will be nesting. Introduction
In this post we help you to plan a lesson about Blackbirds. Blackbirds will be nesting around March to July. It is helpful if the teacher first has an idea of where in the neighbourhood (playground even?) Blackbirds can be seen.
Bear in mind, that it will not be easy to find a Blackbird to study at the appointed time of your lesson, and even if you do, it will fly away at the approach of a class of children!! The best way to handle this, is to deliver the lesson in our pack first, informing the children a little about the Blackbird, and then to challenge the children to use their eyes and report any sightings THEY have, either in the playground, or on their way home from school, or in the garden, etc... These 'outside of class' experiences are just as valuable - if not more so, as they help the children to take ownership of their learning. Things that they have observed for themselves, without being directed, will be remembered by them for a much longer length of time and they will not forget so easily. You can encourage these informal observations by showing that you value them. I suggest keeping a class diary where the children can either add observations themselves, with the date and location, or the teacher can act as scribe. Children can be given time and space to verbally feed back their observations. Don't be discouraged if their is slow take up - it needs perseverance and encouragement to help children to adopt a new idea, but the end result will be worth it. They should experience different types of scientific enquiries, including practical activities, and begin to recognise ways in which they might answer scientific questions. They should use simple features to compare objects, materials and living things and, with help, decide how to sort and group them, observe changes over time, and, with guidance, they should begin to notice patterns and relationships.
When helping children to compare birds, it is helpful to get to know a few commonly seen birds first, and then comparisons are easy. For example:
Tell me about the size of a Blackbird and that of a Robin. Do Blackbirds eat the same food as Robins? How can you tell the difference between a Robin and a Blackbird singing? Once you yourself start to be more aware of the nature around you, you too will start asking questions - naturally - and your science lessons will never be the same again! Information about Blackbirds
Appearance:
Male Blackbirds are black, as their name suggests, with an orange beak and eye ring. The females are dull brown with a yellow-brown beak and can be confused with thrushes, however their shape and size is similar to the male.
Diet:
Blackbirds eat mainly worms and insects, adding fruit and seeds in the autumn. This makes them omnivores. It is worth looking at the seeds that you can buy to feed garden birds and ensuring that the children realise that seeds come from plants. The children need to understand that Blackbirds rely on both plants and other creatures (worms and insects) to survive. A blackbird on a lawn, with its head cocked to one side, is a familiar sight. Blackbirds are ground feeders, so they could be seen pecking seed underneath a bird feeder.
Song and call:
Blackbirds have a melodious, flute-like song. They do not repeat themselves like other thrushes. They may be heard calling 'Chook, chook' to warn other birds of danger. As they call, they flick their wings and tail. Recordings of Blackbird's songs and calls can be found online. Listen to them with your class. It will help to fine tune your children's hearing.
Nesting:
Blackbirds choose a sheltered site for their nest, usually in a tree or a bush. They like some where that provides protection from both predators and bad weather. They make a cupshaped nest from plant material and stick it together with mud and line it with soft grass. They can use the same nest for each brood. Birds in town and cities often start breeding sooner than those in the countryside. Blackbirds nest between March and July. They lay 3-4 eggs at a time, usually having 2-3 broods a year. Incubation is for approximately 2 weeks and it is a further 12-15 days before they are ready to leave the nest. Once fledged, the males usually looks after the young birds, while the female prepares for the next brood. Lesson 1: Learn about Blackbirds
These two lessons can be undertaken at any time of the year, but between March and July you can expect to see Blackbirds exhibiting nesting behavior which will be of interest to children and will make the second lesson relevant. You can of course do the first lesson in autumn or winter and follow it up in the spring with the second lesson.
For the first lesson, watch the accompanying 41-slide PowerPoint presentation and/read our differentiated 'Blackbirds Facts sheets' together with your class. If you have previously studied other birds you can compare them to the Blackbird. Begin by showing the children pictures of both male and female Blackbirds. picture of these are included in the pack. Note the differences between them. The male (see above) is jet-black, with a bright orange bill (its characteristic hallmark) and an orange eye-ring. The female is a dark brown with a yellow beak, and is less notable, however both are a similar shape. For your information, the Blackbird belongs to the thrush family. I would introduce the terms 'male' and 'female' early on, as it makes it so much easier to discuss birds if you use the correct language and children will soon be comfortable using the terms themselves. By all means start by explaining that males are the men and females the ladies (or Daddy and Mummy for very young children). Lesson 2: Nesting time
Explain that it is nesting time for Blackbirds and read our story of how Blackbirds build a nest, lay the eggs, keep them warm and feed the young chicks. Talk about how they look after the young until they are ready to survive by themselves.
The children can then, if it is felt appropriate, order our pictures and where able, write a short paragraph beneath each one, though this is not essential. You can enhance your lesson with photos and books but these alone will not teach the children about Blackbirds. That MUST come from direct observation. So, encourage the children to look for Blackbirds. Direct their observations. Was it a male or a female? First - can they identify and name a Blackbird when they see one? Then do they observe any eating? What are they eating? And so on. Pupils in years 1 and 2 should explore the world around them and raise their own questions. How to encourage children to ask questions
Children will copy the teacher. The teacher starts by modelling the asking of questions and looking for answers. Start with questions like these. Observe to see if you can find answers, or do research on the computer, or in books. Challenge the children to do as much investigative work for themselves as possible - both in and out of lesson time. Give time for children to feed back their observations.
Observe and question:
Where did you see a Blackbird? Was it alone, or with other birds? (usually alone, though there may be a female close by) What was it doing? (flying, on the lawn, hopping, running) What colour is the male? What makes it distinguishable from other black birds? What colour is female? What colour is the bill? (dark brown body, bill a yellowy colour) What does the Blackbird eat? How can we find out? (Look for them finding worms on a lawn. If you have a bird feeder in the school grounds, watch how they behave at the feeder.) What is the Blackbird's song like? (see above) When did you hear it sing - morning, noon, evening? Where does the Blackbird build its nest? (see above) What colour are the Blackbird's eggs? (Blue-green, speckled)
Science in KS1 should not be neatly packaged lessons that once ended, the teacher ticks the box and declares all complete. Science is an ongoing process, made up of learning to observe the same thing over time ( in the case of birds, through the seasons), and comparing and contrasting new observations with ideas that are already held, with the aim of ascertaining the truth as opposed to theories.
Our Blackbird's Nest pack contains:
Purchase your Pack here
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Welcome Hello, I am Lilibette (B.Ed Hons Early Years, Studies in the Environment Specialism Course), here to encourage the next generation to love the natural world, and thereby learn the necessary skills and knowledge to look after it in the years ahead. Read more... Categories
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