Birds Honor

Nature Study

Requirements

1. Present 4 characteristics used to distinguish birds from other animals.

   Answer: In birds you can identify the presence of feathers, a horny beak without teeth, pneumatic bones with air cavities, and the laying of eggs with a calcareous shell. These characteristics are exclusive to the group and are present in all species, whether they fly or not. — Feathers, according to fossil records of Archaeopteryx (about 150 million years old), are the most distinctive characteristic of birds among modern vertebrates.

2. Give the name of 3 birds that do not fly. Mention what they eat and give the name of the country or continent in which each of them lives.

   Answer: You can mention the ostrich of Africa, which eats leaves, seeds, and small insects; the rhea of South America, an omnivore that feeds on plants, fruits, and insects; and the emu of Australia, also an omnivore, which eats leaves, fruits, seeds, and insects. All three are flightless running birds. — The ostrich is the largest living bird, at up to 2.7 m and 150 kg, and the rhea is the largest bird in South America, according to the IUCN, both adapted to running instead of flight.

3. Mention the day of the week on which birds were created. Find in the Bible the names of 5 birds. Be able to mention 3 Bible stories where, through birds, God showed His care and love for us.

   Answer: Birds were created on the fifth day of the creation week, along with the aquatic animals (Genesis 1:20-23). Five birds mentioned in the Bible: the dove (Genesis 8:8-12), the raven (Genesis 8:7; 1 Kings 17:4-6), the eagle (Exodus 19:4; Isaiah 40:31), the sparrow (Matthew 10:29; Psalm 84:3), and the quail (Exodus 16:13). Three stories in which, through birds, God showed His care and love: (1) the dove that brought the olive leaf to Noah, showing that the waters had receded and there was hope (Genesis 8:11); (2) the ravens that fed the prophet Elijah by the brook Cherith during the drought (1 Kings 17:4-6); (3) Jesus teaching that God feeds the birds of the air and cares even for the sparrows, and would therefore care for us much more (Matthew 6:26; 10:29-31). — Genesis 1:20-23 records: 'And God created the great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly... and every winged bird... And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.'

4. Make a list of 20 birds that you have personally observed.

   Answer: The method of listing by direct observation is the standard of amateur ornithology since the Christmas Bird Count, created by the Audubon Society in 1900, which counts only birds identified on site.

5. Make a list of 5 bird species that you identified by sound, outdoors.

   Answer: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology maintains the Macaulay Library, the world's largest bank of bird songs, with more than 175,000 species catalogued, used by birdwatchers for auditory training.

6. Do one of the following tasks and produce a report with photos:
   • Set up a feeding station and report which birds came to it over 20 days.
   • Find a bird's nest and identify the species of the bird that built it. Describe the nest in detail, observe it for 5 days, and report what happened to the nest each day.
   • Set up a hummingbird feeder for 2 months, observing the following topics:

   Answer: You should keep a respectful distance so as not to stress the adults, who may abandon the nest if they sense danger, leaving eggs or chicks vulnerable. — Studies by the Cornell Lab show that repeated disturbances within 5 meters of the nest significantly increase the risk of parental abandonment and predation by other animals.

7. Make a collection with the common and scientific names of 30 birds (images or photos), of which at least 20 must be typical of your country.

   Answer: You first become familiar with the native fauna, the basis of environmental education and field identification in the local context. Knowing the species of your country also values regional biodiversity and deepens your admiration for the works of God in your own land. — Brazil is home to about 1,971 bird species catalogued by the Brazilian Committee of Ornithological Records, being one of the countries with the greatest avifaunal diversity on the planet.