What is a Habitat? Birds and Their Habitat Needs

Post Contributed by Ally Bernstein, Teaching Assistant

This week was themed around a favorite animal family of many Beye students – birds! The Cornell Lab of Ornithology via their BirdSleuth curriculum and teacher workshops provided us with a week packed full of interactive science and imagination-stretching exercises centered around habitats and of course, birds! These explorations provided fuel for our creative fire! Today, we focused specifically on habitat, and our lesson began with animal crackers (yes, animal crackers) for everyone.

Elise and Heidi

First, Ms. Adkins asked everyone to sort their animal crackers by "type". Many students initially sorted theirs by animal species, some students chose different methods, a few sorted by broken and unbroken crackers, and some others chose to separate animals found on the African continent and those found in colder regions. This last idea segued into a discussion of animal habitat, which consists of four very important factors – food, water, cover, and space. Every habitat must provide these factors to be a good home for animals!

Yinka

Ms. Adkins had posters that featured a variety of ecosystems, including but not limited to temperate forest, deserts, polar areas, and farms. We all began to sort our animals into these habitats. (Of course, it was hard not to eat our crackers, and we did snack on a few while we worked!) We discussed which animals could fit in which habitat and why, considering temperature, precipitation, food availability, etc.

Chan and Yeoeun

Upon discussing our results, we hit upon a few big ideas: that some species can exist in multiple habitats, that some habitats have similarities (temperate vs. tropical rainforests), and that some are quite different (deserts vs. wetlands). Upon finishing this exercise, everyone was excited to munch on all of the giraffes, lions, buffalo, sheep and other animals. We even had a few unanswered questions, which ended up on an “I Wonder?” board to be investigated later.

Jessica

Now that we had thought about the necessary functions provided by habitat, it was time to design our own birds. We considered what type of habitat we would live in if we were a bird. We imagined ourselves as avians – and thought about…

Where do we get food? Where do we find water? Where do we sleep and nest? What do we see? Where do we hide from predators?

Xantal

Our students were quite creative and drew beautiful bird versions of themselves occupying all types of habitats, from the coldest polar regions to the most lush rainforests. One student even created himself as a bird that lived in space and received all of his habitat needs from a well equipped space ship! Check out some of our creations below and have some fun for yourself: Consider where YOU would live as a bird!

Joaquin

Elise

Joel

Dexter

Jessica

Vivianna

Xantal