Miller GT

Our final learning unit of the year for the 4th grade GT students was all about birds! You might think that everyone knows everything about birds because we see them everywhere every day. However, they are complex fascinating creatures that hold many surprises!

To begin the unit, our students learned "bird words"! These included:

• Asymmetrical
• Brooding (see the photos above taken by Miss Hunt for examples)
• Cache
• Crepuscular
• Metabolism
• Nictating Membrane (see the photo below taken by Miss Hunt to see it in action!)
• Torpor
• Zygodactyl

If some of these words are unfamiliar to you, just ask one of the 4th grade GT students! They will be happy to explain them to you!

Keira N.: A Few days ago, Ms. Hunt and Mrs. Pettit showed us a video about birds and told us that we would be making a paragraph about a bird we like and that we have to include some of the vocabulary words we learned. Today, I will be talking about owls. Owls are a type of raptor or bird of prey. Birds of prey are birds that eat meat. But owls are not just any type of raptor, they are nocturnal raptors, which means they are active at nighttime. {Even though a few of them are crepuscular, which means they hunt at twilight hours. Examples include the Barn owl or the Short-eared owl.} Have you ever seen videos of owls hunting at night and wondered how they could locate their prey in the dark? Well, one thing that helps them is their asymmetrical ears. when something is asymmetrical if you were to draw a line down the middle of it both sides would be different in some way. In this case one of the owls' ears is higher that the other. This helps them decide whether their prey is below or above them and if it is near the left or near the right.{this is only one of many adaptations owls have.an adaptation is when something changes over time to help a animal or plant survive.} Owls also have binocular eyes. This means that an owls eyes can only focus at one thing at a time and they can't move their eyes to the left or right. Instead owls can rotate their head to look all the way behind them. If you are to stumble upon an owls nest at the right time you might be lucky enough to see the mother owl brooding her chicks. Brooding is when a mother bird will sit on a egg or chick to keep them warm until they are old enough to grow their own feathers.

Erik P.: My favorite bird is definitely the Juvenile bald eagle. His wings are so long and cool! One of the adaptations juvenile bald eagles have is their sharp beak. This makes it easier for juvenile bald eagles to rip prey and eat. Wow, looks like juvenile bald eagles aren’t messing around with their prey! Juvenile bald eagles are also active at mostly daylight hours, which means they are diurnal. He is also a raptor, or a bird of prey. This means the juvenile bald eagle will prey on other birds or animals. My personal favorite fact about the juvenile bald eagle is that he has a nictitating membrane. This means he has an eyelid that will blink on his eye every few seconds to make his eyes not dry out, just like how we blink. He will also activate his nictitating membrane when he is ripping prey so nothing will get into his eye. I personally LOVE the nictitating membrane the juvenile bald eagle has because it looks so cool and it’s just another good adaptation the juvenile bald eagle has. This is why I love the juvenile bald eagle!

Avery S.: One of my favorite types of birds are bald eagles. So, here are some eagle facts that will blow your mind! The first fact is that bald eagles are one of the world's biggest raptors. This means that the bald eagle is one of the biggest birds of prey. Some of the eagle adaptations are that they have sharp, pointy beaks to help them rip and tear apart their food. Another fact is that eagles are diurnal birds. That means that they hunt and are awake during the day, and are asleep at night, just like us! Here is the last eagle fact. Eagles are generalists. They eat a variety of food, such as fish, sea birds, ducks, etc. They also eat mammals such as rabbits, squirrels, muskrats, and prairie dogs. The eagles are also so awesome that they got a NFL team named after them!

Zildjian S.: Last week, we started a lesson about birds of prey. My favorite bird of prey is vultures. Did you know that vultures are considered raptors? A raptor is a bird that has a curved or hooked beak, very sharp talons and a bird that is carnivorous. Also, a vulture has a nictitating membrane or a “third eyelid” to protect it from small particles and it keeps the eye moist. Also another fact about vultures is that they are diurnal like most birds and diurnal means that they hunt in the day and vultures hunt 3-4 hours after sunrise. Also, some species of vultures are critically endangered meaning their population is near extinct like the Long-Billed Vulture! Vultures also have an adaptation with its hooked beak to tear out meat chunks out of dead animals. So these vultures are very violent!

Students also learned about the many adaptations birds have to help them survive. These include having specialized beaks, feet and feathers. For example, raptors, or birds of prey, have curved beaks and long sharp talons for tearing as they are omnivores and prey on other birds and animals. A hummingbird, on the other hand, has a long slender beak because it drinks nectar from flowers. Other adaptations, called behavioral adaptations, include specific migration routes and stop-overs that certain species follow year after year.

After learning all about birds in general, our budding ornithologists narrowed their focus to birds of prey!

For this part of the learning unit, the students were presented with the following scenario:

"You are an employee of the Miller Zoological Park. The latest exhibits installed at the Zoo are about birds of prey. Your job is to create informational signage for one of these exhibits. You must include photos and specific information about your BOP so the Board of Directors can decide which signs they will authorize the Directors of Marketing to purchase and display. Choose one bird of prey from our video, discussions, or from the wall photos, and create an informational poster about it. You will be using Canva for this!"

Included in their posters was the following information:

• Name of BOP

• Description

• size

• wing span

• color

• weight

• Range - where is it found in the world?

• Habitat - the type of place where it lives (swamp, forest, water, etc.)

• Prey - what does it eat?

• Predators - what hunts it?

• Is it:

• Diurnal

• Nocturnal

• Crepuscular

• Three (3) ADDITIONAL facts

• Three (3) pictures of your bird - MINIMUM

• You MUST also use the Miller Zoo logo (provided) somewhere on your poster.

Check out some of their awesome posters above and below by clicking on them!

From their studies on birds of prey in general, students now focused on one species of raptor: owls and their pellets! Though many birds make pellets, owl pellets tend to be larger because owls usually swallow prey whole as opposed to tearing it. In order to better understand pellets, the students visited "Sherlock Bones and the Mysterious Missing Mouse!", an online site that explains everything having to do with owls and their pellets.

The first misconception that was cleared up was just what is an owl pellet. According to their research, students found that pellets are formed from the indigestible parts of an owl's meal including bones, feathers, and fur. Because their digestive acids are not as strong as other birds, the pellet contains more complete bones, and these materials could damage the owl's digestive tract. Once or twice a day, owls need to get rid of the pellet so they can eat again. To do this they regurgitate it!

Using "Sherlock Bones and the Mysterious Missing Mouse!" website, the students were able to virtually dissect a pellet and see just what can be found in them. As they were dissecting, they were able to choose between three types of prey and see the differences in each. Their task had them fighting the clock to see just hoooooo was the fastest at finding the missing mouse!

Check out this video below to see what owl pellets are all about!

Unbeknownst to the students, the virtual dissection was just an introduction. After that, they were going to be dissecting an actual owl pellet! To do this, they learned about the tools they would use and prepared by viewing at a video of an actual dissection. When the day came, many were nervous, but they were ready to go! While dissecting, several students used their own devices to take photos to use in another part of their lab work. Everyone found clues in the pellets to indicate the meals of our owls, and one lucky student found four skulls, setting the class record for this year!

Check out the photos above and below of our scientists at work!

Create a 30 to 60 second video. 📱🤳🏻

Include the following:
▶Introduce yourself - First and Last name
▶Show and talk about three things you found (This is why I told you to save your bones from your pellet!).
▶Be sure to properly identify them (names of the bones) (Charts are on our website and in Google Classroom.).
▶Tell us one thing that surprised you about or during the dissection.
▶Tell your favorite part of the dissection.

Check out some of their awesome videos below!

As a culminating activity for our Birds of Prey learning unit, the 4th graders had the pleasure of travelling to the Cape May Zoo to become Ornithologists/Zoologists for the day! Upon arriving, the students got to meet Lenny, a Spectacled owl, one of the Zoo's animal ambassadors. As an extra surprise, Zoo Education staff also introduced us to Morticia, a Turkey Vulture who is being trained to become an animal ambassador as well! After hanging out with, and learning about, them for quite some time, the students got to see a taxidermied Great-horned Owl. With this learning aid, they were able to see an owl's asymmetrical ears as well has his huge talons! Last year, our students were given the opportunity to name another taxidermied owl, and they came up with "Jimmy Tallon"! Since they did such a great job, the Zoo staff asked our students for suggestions for the Great-horned owl as well. (As of press time, they haven't chosen it's name yet!)

As they traveled through the Zoo, the students had a "scavenger hunt" of sorts where they had to find the different birds in the exhibits as well as in nature. They were also tasked with stopping by the Kookaburra and singing the "Kookaburra Song" with him! (see below) While they were at it, many tried to see if they could jump as far as a kangaroo and get photo ops with the various "cut-outs" like the peacock. A fan favorite, "Spread Your Wings", showed your arm span as compared to the wingspan of several birds. Unfortunately, it was taken down, but our students created their own versions of it instead!

As mentioned above, one challenge was to find the Kookaburra and, as a group, sing the "Kookaburra Song"! Check out some of their videos below! Many also stopped at the kangaroo area and tried to see if they could jump as far as a kangaroo! (Videos below!) This trip was the perfect culminating activity for our Birds of Prey learning unit! Students, teachers, and parent chaperones had a blast!

As a second, extra special culminating activity for our Birds of Prey learning unit, the 4th graders had the pleasure of a "private" meeting with three live birds of prey! These guests are residents at the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge in Medford, NJ. Refuge naturalist and Assistant Director of Education Rachel Ndeto, along with Grace and Tia, two Refuge volunteers, spoke to the students about how they help injured wildlife and why some become permanent residents there. She then introduced them to the stars of the show: Cyrus the Broad-winged Hawk, Hoo-dini the Great-horned Owl and Clementine an Eastern Screech Owl! (Picture above right)

Throughout the presentation, students had the opportunity to share their knowledge and also ask questions. Needless to say, Rachel was very impressed with them! She also had a few artifacts from birds of prey that included the foot and talons, as well as wings from an Osprey, Great Horned Owl, and a Red-tailed Hawk which the students got to see and touch. They know that an owl's flight is basically silent, but they were able to actually hear if for themselves! All in all, the students LOVED this and all of the activities in our Birds of Prey learning unit!

**If you're looking for a great place to visit this summer, click here check out Woodford Cedar Run!

As we finished up our learning unit on Birds of Prey, we asked the students what they thought about it. They were asked their favorite part, if there was anything they didn't like, and what they thought about our Cape May Zoo trip and Cedar Run presentation. Check out their thoughts below!

1. What do you call an owl that boxes?
2. What do you call a magical owl?
   
3. What is a owl’s favorite subject at school?
   
4. What type of books do owls like to read?
   

(Answers below)

1. Muhammad OWLEE!
   
2. HOOOO-Dini!
   
3. Owlgebra!
   
4. Hooo-dunnits!