Natural Science Lessons for KS1We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This costs the purchaser nothing extra. In this way I can continue to provide free resources. Thank you for your support. |
This post contains affiliate links
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!
0 Comments
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! |
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
All
Popular Resources |