The Early Bird Catches the Worm

Well, this may be true, but we were catching more than worms with our bills in science today. We were scooping shellfish pasta, chomping on gummy worms and Swedish fish, and catching pesky bug raisins. My little birds were trying out three different beaks: a long pointed beak (2 popsicle sticks attached with a rubberband); strong jaw (clothespin); and a scoop beak (spoon). I set up four feeding stations each with a different food. Student groups rotated through the stations trying to pick-up food with each beak type. The object was to pick up as many of the food items with a specific beak type in one try. Once they made an attempt, students counted the number of items the bird ate and recorded the data under the graph for that food item and beak type.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Last we came to a conclusion about which beak works best for each food type.