AY Honors/Birds/Answer Key

1. Give two characteristics which set birds apart from all other creatures.

2. Name three flightless birds, tell what their diet consists of, and name the country or continent in which each one lives.

Cassowary

Cassowaries are native to the tropical forests of New Guinea and northeastern Australia. Some nearby islands also have small cassowary populations, but it is not known if these are natural or the result of the New Guinea trade in young birds. They are frugivorous; fallen fruit and fruit on low branches are the mainstay of their diet. They also eat fungi, snails, insects, frogs, snakes and other small animals.

Emu

The Emu is the largest bird native to Australia. They eat a variety of plant species; the type of plants eaten depends on seasonal availability. They also eat insects, including grasshoppers and crickets, lady beetles, soldier and saltbush caterpillars, cotton-boll moth larvae and ants.

Kiwi

Kiwis are from New Zealand. They eat small invertebrates, seeds, grubs, and many varieties of worms. They also may eat fruit, small crayfish, eels, and amphibians. Their long beaks, with nostrils at the end of them, help them to catch prey.

Ostrich

Ostriches live in the savannas of Africa. They mainly feed on seeds and other plant matter; occasionally they also eat insects such as locusts. Lacking teeth, they swallow pebbles that help as gastroliths to grind the swallowed foodstuff in the gizzard. An adult ostrich typically carries about 1 kg of stones in its stomach.

Penguin

Penguins are aquatc birds living exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend half of their life on land and half in the oceans.

Rhea

Rheas are native to South America. They are omnivorous, preferring broad-leafed plants, but also eating seeds, roots, fruit, insects, and small vertebrates.

3. Give the day of the week when birds were created. Find in the Bible the names of five birds and be able to name them from memory.

Birds were created on the Fifth day - see Genesis 1:20-23

Pelican, Raven, Owl - Isiah 34:11

Chicken - Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34

Eagle - Jeremiah 49:22, Jeremiah 4:13, Job 9:26, Deuteronomy 28:49, Job 39:27-29

Ostrich - Micha 1:8

Dove - Genesis 8:8-11, Matthew 10:16, Hosea 7:11

Eagle, Buzzard, Kite, Falcon, Raven, Ostrich, Owl, Sea Gull, Hawk, Little Owl, Cormorant, Great Owl, White Owl, Pelican, Vulture, Stork, Heron, Hoopoe, Bat - Leviticus 11:13-19

Peacock - 1 Kings 10:22

Raven - 1 Kings 17

Partridge - Jeremiah 17:11

4. Write or give orally three ways in which God's love and purpose is shown in the creation of birds.

5. Make a list of thirty species of wild birds, including birds from at least five different orders, that you personally have observed and positively identified by sight out of doors.

6. Make a list of five species of wild birds that you personally have positively identified by sound out of doors.

7. Do one of the following:

a. Set up a feeding station and report on the bird visitors observed for a period of seven days.

b. Find a bird's nest, during the nesting season, identify the species of bird that built it, describe the nest in detail, observe the nest for five days, and report what happened at the nest on each of the days.

c. In the Western Hemisphere: Maintain a hummingbird feeder for 2 months.

(1) What does man-made nectar consist of?

(2) Why shouldn't you use food coloring or honey?

(3) When should the feeder fluid be changed?

(4) How should the feeder be cared for?

d. In other areas of the world: Select at least three different habitats in your area and make comparative bird lists of them indicating the differences in birds expected and found.

References