• What size is that bird?

     What size is that bird?

     What bird is that you might ask yourself?  Knowing the size and shape of a bird are important clues to identifying your mystery bird.  These are the first pieces of information every birder uses to identify a bird.  In October, we looked at pictures of a sparrow, robin, crow and goose.  We matched their size to everyday items to help remember the size of these birds.  Examples of these birds are posted in the 3rd grade hallway by the bird blind.
     
       Sparrow - about the size of a milk carton, soda can or cell phone.  house sparrow
     
       Robin - about the size of a notebook sheet of paper.                                     robin
       Crow - about the size of a 3rd - 4th grader's backpack.                                 crow
     
       Canadian Goose - about the size of a 3rd graders school chair.      canadian goose    
     
     
     
     
     
    Our iPad's have a great app called Merlin ID.  They use these four birds to begin solving the question; what is that bird? 
     
                                            what size was the bird  
     
        
      
     Now practice!  Compare a bird you see with these four examples.  Your estimate of size gets better the more times you compare one bird against the other.