Connecticut

Nature Common Core Standards CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI3.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.

SL.3.4, CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.B.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.1

Healthy Habitats- For the birds and you!

Written by Audubon CT

Right now, millions of birds in
the Northeast U.S are making their
way south to spend the winter in
warmer climates of Central and
South America. Migration is an
exciting time in the bird world
and it’s just one of the times of
year that you can help make a
difference for birds. At Audubon
Connecticut, we know what’s good
for birds is good for people and
our Bird-friendly Communities
Initiative promotes that everyday,
everybody can take action that
helps birds and creates a healthier
environment for us all.
Like our interstate highways,
birds also use corridors to
travel. Birds travelling though
Connecticut during migration are
commuting along a path called
the Atlantic Flyway. What birds
really need along these paths are
quality stop-over habitats they can
use to rest and refuel during their
long journeys. The habitats they
are looking for are right in your
own yards, a local city park or
schoolyard.
Where to start? One way you
can create healthy habitats for
birds is by landscaping with native
plants. These are plants that have
spent hundreds of thousands of
years evolving with the natural
conditions of our soil, climate
and wildlife and their fruits, nuts,
seeds and insect life they support
are a major food source for over
96% of terrestrial birds. Removing
invasive plants, conserving water,
reducing pesticide use, keeping
your cat indoors and placing a bird
feeder or bird house in your yard
are a few more ways you can help
birds right at home or school.
To find out more about creating
bird-friendly communities in your
yard, neighborhood park or school,
contact Audubon’s Bird-Friendly
Communities Coordinator Katie
Blake at kblake@audubon.org and
visit http://ct.audubon.org/bfc .

Student Activity
Ideas for creating Healthy Habitats
Have students select an animal that
they might find in their schoolyard,
such as a bee, ant, robin, butterfly,
crow, squirrel, spider, earthworm, or
red-tailed hawk. Have students learn
some basic facts about their animal
(check out www.ct.gov/deep for
wildlife fact sheets, or www.arkive.
org). Students can become real
estate agents for their animals. Based
on the animal’s habitat requirements,
students can do an assessment
in their schoolyard to find which
particular space could be “sold”
to their animal client. In science
notebooks, students should record
the results of their assessment. For
example, students with the robin
should indicate whether or not
their schoolyard provides adequate
food, water, shelter, and space for
the robin to survive, based on their
careful observations and reference to
the animal fact card or research they
have conducted.
What inferences did students
make based on their habitat
assessment and interpretation of the
information on the animal fact card?
Did students tap into their prior
knowledge for any decisions as a
real estate agent? Students should
share their observations of the
habitat and try to be very persuasive
when sharing their ideas with the
group. Did students assess potential
hazards of the schoolyard and offer
possible solutions? What can you
do to improve the schoolyard for a
particular animal? Some ideas may
include ensuring that the animals
they would like to see in their
schoolyard have sufficient space,
shelter, water, and food. What might
your students do to see an increase in
gray catbirds in the schoolyard?
This is a great opportunity
to discuss the concept of your
schoolyard habitat as an important
piece of a larger scale concept:
international migration. For
migratory birds, your schoolyard
habitat serves as an international
hotel because it provides a great
place for birds to stop and refuel
along their journey.
• Have students create a
• Read about local animal habitats promotional travel brochure for
and adaptations from the websites their schoolyard habitat, inviting a
mentioned above or your favorite particular animal to come and stay in
animal encyclopedia. Ask students their habitat.
to summarize in their own words the
adaptations that were described in Need more ideas? Download the
the text, drawing parallels to those Audubon CT Schoolyard Habitat
of animals found in their very own Curriculum Guide at http://
schoolyard. ct.audubon.org/school and check out
the Real Estate Survey lesson!
• Students can write a narrative
where they become a local animal
for a day and night. Narratives
should include how their animal
survives in its environment. What
does your animal wish to have in
their habitat to make them feel more
“at home?”
• Students can create a scaled
picture graph and bar graph to
represent how many of each type
of animal could potentially live in
their schoolyard. How many more
squirrels than hawks is the habitat
suited for?

Vocabulary:
Adaptation - an inherited characteristic (something an
Bring it Home! –
leave the leaves and how
animal is born with) that helps an animal survive in its habitat.
it helps songbirds
You can imitate Mother Nature by leaving the leaves
Adaptations can be behavioral (what the animal does, such as that fall this Autumn season. Instead of bagging
curl up into a ball when startled like a hedgehog), physiological them, blowing or raking leaves, below are a few
environmentally friendly alternatives. These will not
(something that occurs inside the body, such as a camel’s ability only save you time and money, but reduce noise and air
to go long periods without drinking water or a human’s ability to pollution from blowers and benefit wildlife and plants.
sweat when too warm, without thinking about it), or physical (on
• Throw leaves into your compost pile.
an animal’s body, such as fur, feathers, claws, big ears, or sharp • Rake some of your fallen leaves around landscape
teeth). plantings as natural mulch- as they decompose, they

Advantage- a condition that allows for a greater chance of

recycle nutrients back into the soil that create healthier,
happier plants.
surviving long enough to have offspring. • Rake leaves around a grouping of potted native
perennial plants you are overwintering to add an
Camouflage- adaptation that enables an organism to blend insulation layer.
Leaving leaves helps birds and other wildlife by:
with their surroundings and avoid detection. offering nesting material for many types of birds, shelter

Habitat- the natural living space for an animals, for small animals, especially during the winter and
places for eggs, cocoons, larvae and adult insects such as
plant, or other organism where it can meet all of its numerous butterfly species to overwinter.
requirements (food, water, shelter, space) to survive.