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These Maps Are For The Birds

Educator Lesson Plan *DRAFT*

Students will study New York State Breeding Bird Atlas maps to learn where different bird species nest and how their distributions have changed over time.

Objectives:

Students will understand:

  • how maps serve as representations of a geographic region;
  • how the distribution of animals varies geographically based on habitat requirements; and
  • how the distribution of animals changes over time as environmental conditions change, often in response to human activities.

Grade level:

Elementary (Grades 4-5)

Subject Area:

Science, Social Studies

Standards:

Social Studies Standard

Mathematics, Science, & Technology Standard 4

Skills:

  • Interpret data presented geographically on a map.
  • Observe, identify, and communicate patterns in data.
  • Analyze document-based information presented in scientific figures.

Vocabulary:

atlas, breeding, data, habitat, landscape, pesticide, population, relief map, species

Duration:

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Activity time: 40 minutes

Materials:

Each student should have:

Background:

Maps usually show terrain, political regions, roads, towns, and similar features of the natural and built landscape, but can also show other information linked to geography. This lesson looks at how maps present data from the New York State Breeding Bird Atlas. Over 1,200 volunteers collected data on nesting birds in 5,332 blocks-sections of U.S. Geological Survey maps-that together formed a mosaic covering all of New York. On a map created for each species, blocks in which it occurred were colored in to show the bird's breeding distribution.

Students will view actual Breeding Bird Atlas maps and answer document-based questions about information in these scientific figures. The maps are unaltered except for being reduced in size and-most likely-converted to black and white in photocopying. Students will examine how bird distribution is linked to landscape and habitat. Using data collected over time, they will also study how this distribution can vary over time.

Environmental change can alter the distribution of breeding birds. Examples include the disappearance of grasslands due to urbanization, an increase in forest cover as farm fields are abandoned, and milder winters due to climate change. Humans can have more direct impacts on birds-through shooting and application of toxic pesticides, for instance. People have also brought birds from other places to New York; these exotics sometimes displace native birds.

Activity:

  1. Review vocabulary words and point out that the lesson will look at where birds nest in New York. The maps do not show where birds migrate or cover species that don't breed here.
  2. Compare an Atlas map to the state relief map showing counties. Point out the location of major topographic features such as the Adirondacks, Catskills, Atlantic Ocean, Great Lakes, and Hudson River. On the Atlas map, find the county in which your school is located.
  3. Go through the "These Maps Are For The Birds" worksheet in class.
  4. See Resources for links to more information about birds included in this lesson.

Assessment:

  • Have students share answers to worksheet questions, or collect and grade sheets.
  • Select other Breeding Bird Atlas maps for students to analyze. Suggestions: eastern bluebird, upland sandpiper, red-bellied woodpecker, and double-crested cormorant.

Answers:

1. evening grosbeak
2. common tern
3. Bicknell's thrush
4. black vulture
5. bald eagle
6. Carolina wren
7. whip-poor-will
8. mute swan
9. ring-necked pheasant
10. wild turkey increasing due to more forest cover and release by humans; eastern meadowlark decreasing as fields become forests or are developed; peregrine falcon increasing due to ban on pesticides like DDT.
11. a. bald eagle-common: no pesticides then; b. eastern meadowlark-uncommon: landscape was mostly forest; c. wild turkey-common: landscape mostly forest; d. Carolina wren-absent: winters more severe then; e. mute swan-absent: hadn't been imported to US yet.

Resources:

Classrooms with internet access can view all the actual Atlas maps at the Department of Environmental Conservation website http://www.dec.ny.gov/cfmx/extapps/bba/. Scroll down to the table "Breeding Bird Atlas - Maps By Species." In the row labeled "Alphabetic Order" select 1980-1985 or 2000-2005 to reach a list of species for which maps are available (to see maps from both time periods on one page, select "Alphabetic Order" in the row labeled "Compare Maps"). Clicking on a name in the list-duck, for example-opens a table listing one or more species in that category; click on a species name to access its distribution map.

The DEC website also has documents with information about changes in distribution of many birds, including two of the species in question 10. While the site's search function can locate such documents, it will be hard for elementary students to sort through the "hits" that the search produces. Here are the URLs for documents covering species included in the lesson:

bald eagle http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7068.html

common tern http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7100.html

mute swan http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7076.html

ring-necked pheasant http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7071.html

peregrine falcon http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7059.html

wild turkey http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/wildturk.pdf

For links to additional DEC fact sheets and information pages about birds, visit http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/271.html

A broad array of information about birds is available on the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's website at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/, including photographs of many species and activities for school classrooms.