Study of Birds

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Getting Acquainted Mammals
Guess My Name
Indoor Study Reptlies
Study of Birds
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In your month's nature program include an evening for bird study. The one described here might follow the meeting on Mammals and Reptiles.

If an introductory statement seems in order, one like the following, taken from Nature Hobbies, might be made.

"The best way to find out about birds is to go out and look at them. As you become acquainted with birds, do not stop with just learning their names. It is fun to go out and see birds - to see a great many different birds. But it is more fun to find out as much as you can about those birds: where they live, what they eat, how many eggs they lay, where they fly to in the fall, when they return in the spring, and many other things."

Guess My Name Applied to Birds

If you used Guess My Name at the preceding meeting, try it again, now that the Scouts know how to play it. Select birds common in your section of the country.

I am a Crow

8. I am a bird, I am larger than a robin and smaller than an eagle.

7. The Indians named one month, or moon as they call it, after me. It is the same as our March, sometimes called the wakening moon.

6. If captured when young, I make a good pet.

5. My nest is of sticks in tall trees.

4. I am fond of fresh sprouted corn, and am wary of men with guns.

3. I am a permanent resident of the rural section of northeastern United States.

2. I am black in color.

1. I call "Caw! caw! caw!"

I am a House Wren

8. I am a bird. I am less than five inches long.

7. My nest is of sticks and other materials, in a hole in a tree or bird box.

6. If you make a bird house for me, please have the hole about the size of a quarter.

5. My upper parts are of a warm brown color.

4. My song is a bubbling musical trill about three seconds long, but I have been known to sing ten songs a minute and keep it up for two hours.

3. When I start courting and housekeeping, I sing most of the time from early daylight till night-fall.

2. When scolding an intruder, my tail is cocked over my back, but when I sing my love song, my tail points downward.

1. For a short pet name they call me Jenny, because I hang around the house, I suppose.

 

I am a Whippoorwill

8. I am a bird. I am about ten inches long with white spots on my tail.

7. Some believe that a visit from me means misfortune.

6. I fly only by night, and stick rather close to the woodland. 5. I build my nest, but lay two eggs on leaves on the ground. 4. I sleep in the daytime, squatted on the ground.

3. When quiet, I will not move until you are about to tread upon me.

2. My whiskers are conspicuous.

1. No boy whose name is William enjoys hearing me.

 

I am a White-Throated Sparrow

8. I am a bird. My summer home is Canada or New England, but I am a common migrant through northeastern United States.

7. I am about seven inches long.

6. My crown is black with a white stripe through the center.

5. I have a broad white stripe over each eye.

4. My song probably has had more words put to it than that of any other bird.

3. In Canada they say that I sing, "Hard times in Canada, Canada, Canada." In Maine they interpret my song as "Oh, how I pity you, pity you"; some say I sing, "Sow wheat Peaverly, Peaverly, Peaverly," and others: "Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody"; and still others: "All's well in the wilderness, wilderness, wilderness."

2. I have a white patch on my throat.

1. I am a member of the sparrow family.

I am a Chimney Swift

8. I am a bird. My body is about the size of an English sparrow though my wings are larger.

7. My body is a dark gray with a lighter gray throat.

6. I feed entirely upon insects.

5. I cannot perch on a limb, but I can cling with my feet to a perpendicular wall for hours.

4. When away from my roosting place, I am always on the wing.

3. My chicks are always hungry and I often pack them full of insects.

2. No other bird can surpass, and few equal my speed in the air, often 250 miles an hour.

1. I am often called a swallow, but I belong to an entirely different family.

 

I am a Spotted Sandpiper

8. I am a bird. I am about six inches long, and have many names.

7. Unlike most of my kin, I never fly in a flock.

6. I am found along the shores of both fresh and salt water.

5. I am probably more widely known than any other shore bird.

4. I am the shore bird which often nests in cornfields and pastures.

3. My upper parts are brownish gray, my lower parts are white and spotted.

2. I have a distinctive call of "weet, weet, weet."

1. My body is always on the move, my teetering motion gives me one of my names.

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