TEACHER’S GUIDE TOSTUDENT WORKSHEETS

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Unit OneBirds You Know

Index:

Worksheet 1A- Your Bird List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Worksheet 1B - Class Bird List . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Worksheet 1C - Use Your Field Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Watching birds can involve muchmore than simply learning theirnames, but that is the first,indispensable step. In back of thisbook is a simplified field guidecovering 100 species o f b i rdscommon somewhere in Alaska. Ifpossible, each student should havea copy of his or her own. Youmight duplicate the pages and postthem alongside each other as aclass checklist. Other birds seenbut not on this guide could beadded to the posted list.

Some of these birds are foundthroughout Alaska, but others areonly found in certain regions.The plumage of many speciesvaries depending on age, sex, andtime of year. In bird specieswhose plumage varies, our fieldguide illustration and description

P is of an adult male in spring plum-

age. The spring males are usuallythe most colorful and easiest birdsto identify. (There are exceptions,such as phalaropes, in which thefemale is more brightly coloredthan the male.) For help inidentifying females and juveniles,as well as the less common speciesthat we don’t cover, we urge youto obtain at least one field guidefor class use. The standardAmerican f ie ld guides are de-scribed in the bibl iography. ANew, Expanded Guide to the Birdsof Alaska, by Robert Armstrong,has photographs of each speciesand contains information aboutwhere birds can be found inAlaska in all seasons. Fieldguides stress identification, and ifyou wish to explore any topic ofbird life in depth, you’ll need togo to other kinds of texts.

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Worksheet IA Worksheet 1BYour Bird List Class Bird List

This is an exercise to show stu-dents that they already know quitea lot about birds--and to developexcitement for learning more. Asthe students work through thebook, they will return to this pageand fill out the remaining columns.

Get students to start thinkingabout birds by talking about thosethey are familiar with locally andfrom trips, books, movies, tele-vision, etc. Additional paper canbe used if the students know morebirds than will fit on the chart.If possible, incorporate names ofbirds in local languages. Thenames of birds in different Nativelanguages are available in Gabriel-son and Lincoln’s Birds of Alaska.

This activity should help to sharp-en student skills in compiling data.This list will undoubtedly includethe most common birds in yourarea, and the ones most likely tobe seen on a field trip.

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Worksheet 1 CUse Your Field Guide

Learning to use a field guide is animportant aspect of this course.Discuss the organization of thestudent field guide. The fieldguide separates birds by groupsand by species. There is a boxfor checking off the species asthey are seen, and information onsize, bills, feet, springwhere the birds winter,their identifying features.map for each bird showsAlaska it is found.

habitat,and onA range

where in

In general, field guides start withthe least evolutionarily advancedfamilies of birds (swimming birds)and go to the more advanced(perching birds). The Sea Weekfield guide follows a simplifiedclassification system under whichbirds are divided into six groups:

Swimming birds include water-fowl (ducks, geese, andswans), loons, grebes ,_ andsome seabirds (cormorants,puffins, murres, murrelets,auklets, and guillemots).Bird watching on a lake orbay, with binoculars or aspotting scope, can be re-warding even at midday whenbird activity is low and birdscan be difficult to find inother habitats.

Birds of prey include owls,hawks, and eagles, and fal-cons. Owls are nocturnal andmay be hard to find. Lookfor the pellets of bones andfeathers that they leaveunder trees.

Grouse and Ptarmigan are thesmallest group; four speciesof grouse and three speciesof ptarmigan are found inAlaska. They have feathersover their nostrils and lowerlegs and, in ptarmigans, overthe entire foot.

Waders include cranes, her-ons, and shorebirds (oyster-catchers, plovers, and sand-pipers) . Many shorebirdsstay in flocks during migra-tion and in winter . Theflocks often show remarkablecoordination, flying wing-to-wing and displaying alter-nately their dark backs andtheir light bellies.

Gull-like birds include thegulls, terns, jaegers, andgull-like seabirds ( fulmars,petrels, albatrosses, andshearwaters). These latterbirds, the tubenoses, breedon far offshore islands andare rarely seen near themainland--we have thereforeomitted them from the studentfield guide.

Perching birds include thetrue perching (passerine)birds, whose feet, with threetoes in front and a long onebehind, are adapted forlocking onto branches. Fly-catchers, larks, swallows,jays, crows, ravens, chicka-dees, wrens, thrushes,warblers, finches, and spar-rows comprise only a partiallist of passerine families. Forpurposes of simplified classifi-cation we have also includedwoodpeckers, kingfishers,hummingbirds, and pigeonswith the perching birds.

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1CUse Your Field Guide

Show the students other fieldguides. Explain how these aresimilar to their Sea Week guide andencourage students to use them toidentify less-common birds, femalesor juveniles, not in their own fieldguide. Have students immediatelybegin to check off birds in theirfield guide as they see and identi-fy them. A bird that is seen butis not on the list can be added tothe student guide in the correctbird group. Unusual sightingsshould be reported to Dr. BrinaKessel or Dan Gibson at theUniversity of Alaska Museum,Fairbanks, AK 99775.(On question 5, worksheet 1C,students may be interested inidentifying each bird’s name aswell as its group: a. Snowy Owl;b. Mallard ; c. Common Raven;d. Bald Eagle; e. Tufted Puffin;f. Chickadee; g. Yellowlegs; h.Bonaparte’s Gull; i. Willow Ptarmi-gan; j. Sandhill Crane.)

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GLOSSARY

Introduce the glossary in the backof the student workbook. Theglossary can be used for spelling,games, vocabulary words.Have the ‘ztudents add additionalwords as they find them duringtheir studies. Make a classroomset of flash cards with theseterms. The students can eachmake two or three cards; thenlaminate the set.

Additional Activities:

elders, birdwatchers, hun-ters , governmentpersonnel,

agencymuseum staff,

taxidermists. )

5. Social Studies, Science: Adopta bird. Have each studentchoose one kind of local birdto learn more about, and lookfor that bird whenever pos-sible, recording informationabout it.

Suggestions for data torecord :

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2.

3.

4.

Language Arts : Have stu-dents practice making carefulobservations by describing aclassmate in detail, so thatthe description is unique tothat person. No other class-mate will fit it entirely.

Language Arts, Science:Next, have a student describea mystery bird to the classone feature at a time, usingthe field guide or a picture ofthe bird. After each clue isgiven, classmates try toguess the bird. The firststudent to correctly identifyit takes the next turn de-scribing a bird to the class.

Language Arts: Work withstudents and the librarian todevelop a bibliography ofbooks about birds that areavailable in your schoollibrary.

Social Studies, Science: Havestudents make a list of peoplein the community who know alot about birds. Some ofthese people may be willing toshare their knowledge withyour students. (List mayinclude parents, village

Name of bird

Habitat where the bird isseen (marsh, tundra,forest, schoolyard)

Location of the bird(ground, shrub , air,tree branch, tree trunk)

Bird activity (flying,perching, w alking ,eating, hopping, sing-ing , swimming)

Observations aboutactivity (manner offlying, how and what iteats)

Relationship with otheranimals (whether it isalone or in a group, howit communicates withother birds or animals)

At the end of the week, askstudents to share and com-pare their observations.Happy birding !

Unit TwoDefinition of a Bird

Index:

Worksheet 2A - What is a Bird? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Worksheet

Worksheet

Worksheet

2B-Make a Feather Pen. . . . . . . . . . . . .

2C-How Birds Flyy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2D - Flight Strategies ...............

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Worksheet 2AWhat is a Bird?

Bring or have students bring somefeathers for this exercise.

2A What is a Bii?.IFdS - dllf.r.nr I_ or_kr qmup. et uld.. b?

1.

6.

7.

. .

,.

10.

Worksheet 2BMake a Feather Pen

You will need feathers, knives orscissors, bottles of ink or ballpointpen filler points, and glue. Youmay also need boards on which tocut.

Be sure to have a safety session ifstudents will be using the knives.Ask students to suggest ways tobe safe. They should cut awayfrom themselves and never walkaround with open knives. If forsome reason a student needs tocarry a straight-bladed knife with-out a sheath, the knife should beheld at the side, pointing down-wards. The ballpoint filler pen iseasier to make than an ink pen,but does not demonstrate the waya quill pen works.

Worksheet 2CHow Birds Fly

You may want to bring in bird andanimal bones for comparison .Open the bones to show what isinside.

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3.

Worksheet 2DFlight Strategies

Students may want to invite a localpilot to talk to them about theproblems of flying. For centuries,people dreamed of flying like thebirds--but it is only recently thatwe learned how. You might readaloud the Greek story of Icarus,the boy who wanted to fly. Hemade wings of wax and jumped offa mountain, but the sun melted thewax and he fell to his death.

Additional Activities:

1. Language Arts: Have stu-dents close their eyes. Thentouch them with a variety offeathers on the backs andpalms of their hands, and ontheir cheeks. See if they cantell a down feather from aflight feather or one speciesof bird feather from another.Have them talk about thedifferences. For example, anowl feather has a soft velvetcover on it that helps silencethe bird’s flight.

2. Music, Language Arts: Havestudents sing bird songs,then write your own. Beginwith a common tune everyoneknows , and make up versesabout local birds. For ex-ample, here’s an adaptation of“Old McDonald Had a Farm”:

Old, old Chevak had sometundra

e i e i oAnd on that tundra lived a

goosee i e i o

With a honk honk here and ahonk honk there

Here a honk, there a honk,everywhere a honk honk

Old, old Chevak had sometundra

e i e i oAnd on that tundra lived a

tundra swan.. . . . . .

3. Social Studies, LanguageArts : Have students find outabout local aviation history.When did a plane first cometo your community? How didpeople react to planes? Howdid planes change the waypeople lived?

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Unit ThreeParts of a Bird

Index:

Worksheet 3A - Making a Living . . . . . . . . . m . . . . . 12

Worksheet 3B -Types of Beaks .................. 1213

Worksheet 3C -Types of Feet ................... 13

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Worksheet 3AMaking a Living

Once students have completed thisactivity, have them play a modifiedform of “Simon Says” to reinforcethe comparison of humans withbirds made in the student work-book. They can take turns lead-ing the activity in front of theclass.

Peter says :-“Open your beak! "

“Wave your wing! ”“Pat your belly! ”“Touch your eye stripe! ”

Making a Living 3A

b.

Worksheet 36Types of Beaks

Have students make up questionsto quiz each other on types ofbeaks.

“What kind of bill does arobin have?”

“What bird has a sharphooked bill? ”

Worksheet 3CTypes of Feet

After students have completed theactivity sheet, play foot charades.Have them move their feet orhands to imitate swimming, wading,grasping, perching, scratching--and see if the other students canguess what bird they’re mimicking.

Note that the student book directsstudents to fill in both beak andfoot types on the chart of birdsthey began in Unit 1.

Additional Activities:

1. Language Arts, Art, Science:Have students work in groupsto design imaginary birds.Use large sheets of paper andmagic markers. Have stu-dents explain the parts of thebird and how it makes aliving using its specializedparts. Their bird might eatgarbage, run computer pro-grams, nest in oil drums, orfly messages along the Idita-rod trail!

2. Art: Copy this tangram andhave students cut it out andarrange the pieces into avariety of bird shapes. Usepaints or crayons to color thebirds.

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Unit FourBirds - Bird Watching

Index:

Worksheet 4A - Make a Bird Feeder . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Worksheet 4B - Field Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Worksheet 4C - Name and Color these Birds! . . . . .

Worksheet 4D - Alaska Bird Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Anyone can enjoy watching birds,but to become good at identifyingthem in the field requires carefulobservation and patience. Many ofthe nation’s best birders began atthe age of your students. Settingup a feeder is an especially goodactivity for beginning birders,because birds at a feeder can beobserved at close range. Gradual-ly, students will learn to identifybirds at a distance and in flight.

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Worksheet 4AMake a Bird Feeder Worksheet 4B

Field Marks

If possible, build a bird feederdirectly outside your classroomwindow. The Alaska Departmentof Fish and Game report WinterBird Feeding in Alaska mentionedin the student book is an excellentsource of ideas. Students cantake turns recording data. Theymay want to design experiments aswell.window

Put an owl picture in theand see what happens.

Play recordings of bird songs.Try different kinds of food, suchas sunflower seeds versus a bird-seed mix. This can be done inone feeder at different times, orthe students can set up a second(control) feeder.

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One of the most difficult aspects ofbirding is to remember what yousee when you observe a bird, sothat you can identify it later.This activity will help sharpenstudents’ observational skills aswell as their use of descriptivelanguage.

Worksheet 4C Name and Color these

Birds!

You can make flash cards frombird pictures cut out of the stu-dent guide or magazines. Stu-dents can practice identifying themwith binoculars. Have one studenthold up the cards, while anotherat the back of the room usesbinoculars to identify them. Mostbinoculars have both a centerfocus and an individual eyepiecefocus. The individual eyepiecefocus helps when one eye isstronger than the other. Itremains on the same setting for anindividual; if both eyes are thesame, set it on zero. When a birdis spotted, look at it and raise thebinoculars to meet it, then focuswith the center focus. If youdon’t see the bird, circle aroundthe spot with the binoculars. Ifyou still don’t see it, start overand look for it again without thebinoculars.

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Name and Color These Birds!

I;fftd puffin

Worksheet 4DAlaska Bird Regions

Alaska has a great variety of birdhabitats . Dr . Brina Kessel andDan Gibson described six regionsin their 1978 publication Statusand Distribution of Alaska Birds(see bibliography) ; these regionsare also used in Armstrong’s Guideto the Birds of Alaska, and wemake use of them in the studentfield guide at the back of thisbook. For this activity, studentswill need red pencils or- crayons tocolor their region red. You maywant to have an Alaska map avail-able so that students can locatethe names of communities in thedifferent regions. Have yourstudents write letters to classes inother regions, including questionsabout local bird life and othertopics of interest. The followingtable may be helpful in yourgeographical studies.

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TABLE OF CHARACTERISTICS OF ALASKA BIRD REGIONS

South-eastern

WeatherWinter cool-wetSummer cool-wet

Vegetation TypesWetland YesForest YesMountain Tundra YesWet Tundra (wetland) no

South- South-coastal western

cool-wet cool-dampcool-wet cool-damp

Yes YesYes noYes yesno Yes

Central Western Northern

cold-dry cold-dry cold-dryhot-dry cool-damp cool-damp

Yes Yes YesYes no noYes Yes Yesno Yes Yes

Length of Season(Open Water)Fresh WaterSalt Water

Bird AbundanceSummerWinter

8-12 months 8-12 months 8-12 months 6 months 5-6 months 2-5 monthsall year all year all year none 8 months 6 months

abundant abundant abundant abundant abundant abundantabundant abundant abundant scarce scarce scarce

Numbers of regularly seen bird species (kinds)

Summer Water Birds 85 106 105 64 104 72Summer Land Birds 91 80 62 87 65 35

All Birds Summer 176 186 167 151 169 107All Birds Winter 124 119 105 39 28 5

For all of Alaska, the total number of species, not including accidentals, is 355.

4D

You may want to put the precedingchart on an overhead projector foryour students, and ask themquestions about it such as:

. How would you describe theweather in our region?

. What else can you find outabout our region from thechart?

. What region has a hotsummer? (Central)

. What region has the mostspecies of birds in summer?(Southcoastal)

. What region has the fewestspecies of water birds?(Central)

. What region has the fewestbirds in winter? (Northern)

. What region has the mostspecies of water birds insummer? (Southcoastal)

. Is fresh water or salt waterfree of ice for the longerperiod? (salt water)

Additional Activities:

1.

2.

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Art: Make a bird mobile.Cut out pictures of birds orbring in feathers and attachthem with heavy thread todriftwood or pieces of coathanger.

Science : Encourage studentsto be bird detectives. Manyimportant discoveries aboutbird behavior have been madeby people watching birds outtheir windows ! (See “TheNew Art of Bird Reading” byJean George, published in

both International WildlifeMar. /Apr. 1973 and Reader’sDigest Mar. 1973. Here are afew ideas to get your stu-dents started:

Which birds dominate atthe feeder?What happens when aneagle or raven fliesoverhead?Where does each bird eatat the feeder?How does each bird comein for a landing?What happens on asunny day compared to arainy or snowy day?What happens when it’swindy?

One book that may be particularlyhelpful during these migrationstudies is Bellrose’s Ducks, Geeseand Swans of North America (seebibliography). It has full-pagemaps of waterfowl migrationroutes.

For more information on whatoverwintering birds eat, see theAlaska Department of Fish andGame Wildlife Weather Reports No.1 (Winter Bird Feeding in Alaska)and No. 2 (Landscaping for Wild-life in Alaska) by Sue Quinlan. Amore comprehensive treatment isgiven in The Audubon SocietyEncylopedia o f North AmericanBirds.

Additional Activities:

1. Geography, Science, Art :Make a large classroom birdmigration map. Have s tu-dents trace the migrationroutes of several birds on themap with different-coloredmarkers. See how manyAlaskan birds you can track.But remind students that wedon’t know birds’ exactmigration routes. We cangain information by bandingbirds, but sometimes all wefind out are the end pointsand general direction.

2. Language Arts : Migration isa special time. Birds flyingsouth in the fall are a signthat winter is coming; birdsreturning after the longwinter seem to bring thespring with them. Have stu-dents look for poems aboutmigration--and write theirown. The English poet TedHughes has written an espe-cially fine poem on thesubject : (see next page)

3. Art, Geography : Havestudents draw pictures ofwhat birds see as they mi-grate over your community.Add pictures of what birdssee en route, and attach withyarn to a bulletin board mapof the bird’s migration route.

4. Mathematics : Use the migra-tion map and scale to createmath problems. Have stu-dents determine 1) the lengthof the oldsquaw’s flight path;2) how long it would take theoldsquaw, flying 40 miles perhour, to reach its winteringgrounds ; 3) how many daysthe flight would take if thebird flew nonstop; 4) howmany days it would take ifthe bird flew eight hours aday and rested and ate theremainder of the time.

5. Physical Education, Math-ematics, Geography : Figurethe migration distances flownby several different birds.Then have the class pick onebird. Adding up daily dis-tances for the whole class,have the students try to runas far as the bird migrates.Mark your progress on themap. For example, if each ofyour 25 students runs a mile,then your bird has flown 25miles for that day. You mayneed help from other classes,joggers , or cross-countryteam members to reach yourbird’s destination. Anotheralternative would be for yourclass to run every day for aweek. Then have the stu-dents figure what fraction ofthe bird’s migration routethey have completed.

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GOOSE

The White Bear, with smokingmouth, embraces

All the North.The Wild Goose listens.

HomesickSmells the first flower of the

Northern Lights--

South, south--the Goose stretches

his neckOver the glacier.

And high, highTurns the globe in his hands

Hunts with his pack from star tostar

Sees the sun far down behind theworld.

Sinks through fingers of light,with apricot breast,

To startle sleeping farms, at appledawn,

With iceberg breath.

Then to and fro all Christmas,evening and morning,

Urging his linked team,Clears the fowler’s gun and the

surf angler.

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Clears the Lamb’s cry, wrestlesheaven,

Sets the globe turning.

Clears the dawns--a compasstolling

North, North.North, North.

Wingbeat wading the flame ofevening.

Till he dips his eyesIn the whale’s music

Among the boomOf calving glaciers

And wooing of wolvesAnd rumpus of walrus.

“Goose” from Under the North Starbq Ted Hughes. copyright ( c ) 1981by6 Ted - Hughes. Reprinted bypermission of Viking Penguin Inc.

Unit FiveBird Migration

Index:

Worksheet

Worksheet

Worksheet

5A - Alaska Bird Migrations ..........

5B - Bird Wintering Areas ............

5C - Alaska Bird Migration Map ......

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5A

of birds has been anof fascination. How

The migrationendless topicdo birds manage totime after time?without road signs,or travel guides.

travel so farBirds travel

restaurants,

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Worksheet 5AAlaska Bird MigrationsWorksheet 5BBird Wintering AreasWorksheet 5CAlaska Bird Migration Map

The Alaska Bird Migration Map,worksheet 5C, is needed for bothexercises in this unit. Studentswill also need colored pencils andnarrow felt-tip markers or cray-ons .

---5c

Alaska Bid 1

Bird Wintering Arear

5B

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Unit SixWetland Habitats

Index:

Worksheet 6A -What Makes a Habitat? . . . . . . . . . 27

Worksheet 6B - Coastal Wetlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Worksheet 6C - Estuary: A Very Special Place . . . . . 29

Worksheet 6D -Wet Tundra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Worksheet 6E - Rivers, Lakes, and Marshes . . . . . . . 32

Worksheet 6F - Muskeg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Worksheet 6G - Other Bird Habitat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Worksheet 6H - Habitat Choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Alaska is more than 85 percent Wetlands are highly productivewetlands. Look at the number of biologically, producing moreponds, rivers, sloughs, streams, biomass per acre than our best farmlakes, and freshwater marshes on a fields. Alaska’s wetlands providedetailed map of the state--not to food, water, and cover for fish andmention the 34,640 miles of coast- wildlife, and food and recreationline wi th its estuaries, salt for people. Alaskans visit wet-marshes, tidelands, river deltas, lands to pick berries or to fish,and barrier island lagoon systems. to hunt moose, bears, ducks, and

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geese, to trap muskrat and beavers,and simply to watch and enjoy thewildlife. Wetlands function inother ways useful to humans: theyhelp control floods, buffer storms,improve water quality, and providedrinking water.

In Unit 11, we’ll discuss the waysin which wetlands benefit us. Fornow, let’s take a closer look atwhat a wetland is.

Alaska’s wetlands are wet most ofthe summer and support plants andanimals that prefer wet soil. Inthis book we talk about four cate-gories of wetlands: coastal wet-lands; wet tundra; rivers, lakes,and marshes; and muskeg. (Thesedivisions basically follow theclassification system used in theAlaska Department of Fish andGame's Wildlife Week materials bySue Quinlan--see bibliography. Wehave used the Water, Wetlands, andWildlife volume of the WildlifeWeek program extensively in pre-paring this unit.)

These four types of wetlands aretied together by the water cycle.Water falls on land as rain andsnow, then heads slowly toward thesea. Some water collects inlow-lying areas, where it createslakes, ponds, puddles, and soggyland. The rest flows in rivers tothe sea; surface sea water evapo-rates and collects in clouds;clouds blow inland; and the waterfalls again as rain or snow.

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Worksheet 6AWhat Makes a Habitat?

The concept of habitat is veryimportant. Plants and animals needtheir habitat (or home) to providethe right amount of food, water,and safe cover. The single great-est threat to wildlife is loss ofhabitat. As towns, roads, andindustrial developments spread, theranges of animals like caribou,bears, and waterfowl are reduceddramatically. Sane species areable to co-exist with people;others cannot a d a p t t o h u m a nencroachment . Mallards will returnto a lake that is being built up.Trumpeter s w a n s , b y contrast,although they may tolerate sanehuman activity, will not nest on alake that is being crisscrossed bymotorboats.

Birds nest in many different kindsof habitat, but the summer nestingbirds in Alaska concentrate in thewetlands; the river flats andtundra. Millions of migratorybirds nest and raise their young inAlaska, primarily in these biologi-cally rich wetland areas. If toomuch of this keystroyed, they willgo.

habitat is de-have no place to

For designing a wetland logo,students will need colored pencils,crayons, or narrow felt-tip pens,scissors, cardboard, glue andsafety pins. Students may want tosketch their logos in their books,then draw them again on a separatepiece of paper. After coloring,they can cut the logos out, pasteonto cardboard, attach safety pins,perhaps glue on ribbons, and wearas badges.

Worksheet 6BCoastal WetlandsAlaska’s coastal wetlands, wherenutrient-laden river water meetsthe salt water, are biologicallyamong the most productive areas inthe world. They are importantfeeding, resting, and nestinghabitat for astonishing numbers ofmigratory birds. Coastal wetlandstake different forms: river deltas,salt marshes, tidelands, estuaries,and barrier island lagoon systems.Every small delta and salt marsh isan important link in the chain ofwetlands that enables birds tomigrate from as far away as SouthAmerica and Polynesia to arcticAlaska. Most migratory water-birds--from swans to sandpipers--stop in wetlands to rest and eat inpreparation for the next leg oftheir journey. They also needwetlands all along their route forshelter during storms.

DELTAS

Migratory birds are found in all ofAlaska ’ s coastal wetlands, butcertain areas are particularlyimportant to 1arge numbers ofbirds. For example, the delta atthe mouth of the Stikine River insoutheast Alaska is a migrationstopover for thousands of snowgeese, trumpeter swans, ducks, andshorebirds (or waders). Othermajor coastal wetlands in the stateinclude the Copper River Delta, theYukon-Kuskokwim Delta, IzembekLagoon, and the North Slope’sbarrier island lagoon system.

The Copper River Delta in southcen-tral Alaska is a stopover andfeeding ground for thousands ofsandhill cranes and nearly 20million shorebirds, including theentire world population of westernsandpipers and most of the redknots and dunlin in North America.These birds rest and feed in thedelta before flying farther northand west to nest in other Alaskanwetlands. They use their longbills to probe deep in the estuarymud for tiny clams, worms, a n dother invertebrates. The CopperRiver Delta includes not onlyextensive mud tidelands used byshorebirds, but also salt marshesand a series of sloughs among thefreshwater ponds and marshesheavily used by ducks, geese, andtrumpeter swans. Offshore sandbarislands provide nesting habitat forglaucous-winged gulls, and aprotected lagoon system used bysalmon, seals, and sea otters.

In western Alaska, t h e Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta area, where wettundra on the inland delta inter-grades with rich coastal estuaries,is one of world's most importantbird nesting areas. This deltaalone is the nesting ground for

nearly two million waterfowl and anestimated 100 million shorebirds,including most of the westernsandpipers, dunlin, and blackturnstones in North America. It isimportant habitat for sandhillcranes, tundra swans, and three ofAlaska’s most beautiful ducks: thecommon, spectacled, and Stel ler’seiders. Nearly the entire worldpopulation of emperor geese andcackling Canada geese, and most ofthe Pacific flyway white-frontedgeese and brant, nest in this area.Unfortunately, these goose popula-tions have declined dramatically inthe past few years. Biologists andinterested people living all alongthe flyway have been joining forcesto help protect them.

Along the North Slope and in a fewplaces in western and southwesternAlaska, long, narrow gravel barrierislands separate the sea from themainland. The islands protect thelagoons from icy winds, rough seas,and the harsh scouring of pack ice.The lagoons are rich, like othercoastal wetlands, because of thecontinuous deposit of silt anddetritus (dead organic matter) byrivers and streams. The lagoonwater warms up more quickly thanopen sea water, and the barrierislands provide nesting sites freefrom predators such as arcticfoxes, which can’t cross the lagoonwaters. Molting waterfowl utilizethe protected waters; SimpsonLagoon in northern Alaska is

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crowded each summer with over100,000 molting oldsquaw ducks.

The protected lagoons are importantstopover places for migratory birdssuch as common eiders, arcticterns, and brant. Most of thewestern North American populationof brant stop to rest in IzembekLagoon on the Alaska Peninsula, andto feed on the eelgrass in theshallow water, before making theirtwo-and-one-half-day nonstop flightto Baja California. Most of theworld population of Steller’seiders and emperor geese alsogather in Izembek Lagoon duringfall, and remain in Alaska through-out the winter.

Invertebrates that live in lagoonmud are also food for fish and graywhales. Many fish overwinter inlagoon channels where a bit of openwater remains during winter.Belukha whales, and ringed andspotted seals,spend much of everysummer preying on fish that live inthe lagoons.

The barrier islands off the CopperRiver Delta are sandbar islands.This barrier island lagoon systemis very rich and productive,supporting large populations offish, shellfish, marine mammalsand birds. The islands are impor-tant nesting areas for thousands ofglaucous-winged gulls. Most duskyCanada geese (a subspecies ofCanada) nest on the Copper RiverDelta. But some of these duskiesare starting to nest on the islandsas the predator population, con-sisting primarily of brown bears,increases on the mainland.

(The above material is drawnlargely from Sue Quinlan’s descrip-tion in Water, Wetlands, andWildlife, p. 9; Unit 2 of WildlifeWT

Worksheet 6CEstuary: A Very SpecialPlace

Estuaries, a type of coastalwetland, form where rivers meet thesea. The term includes the mouthof the river or stream, along withthe bay and adjacent marshes,tideland, and river delta. Saltwater and fresh water mix in warmshallow water and support anextremely high level of productiv-ity. Scientists call this a“nutrient trap.” The lighter,fresh river water flows over theheavier ocean water. The saltwater moving in from below createsa circular motion that traps thenutrients. Twice a day, the risingtide from the ocean sends thesenutrients surging over the marsh.And the ebb tide returns nutrientsto the bay.

Nutrient-rich water draining intocoastal wetlands enriches sea waterand provides a rich nursery groundfor marine fish and invertebrates.Clams, crabs, and abalone are amongthe great variety of marine animalsthat use estuaries during part oftheir lives. Most of the animalspecies that we harvest from thesea in Alaska depend on estuaries.

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Worksheet 6DWet Tundra

Wet tundra is found over most ofnorthern and western Alaska. Someof the areas covered by wet tundrareceive only 8 to 10 inches of rainand snow per year--desert con-ditions. But in spite of the lowprecipitation, these areas areclassified as wetlands because ofthe permafrost--permanently frozenground--beneath the surface. Watercan’t soak into permafrost, so whenthe few inches of winter snowmelts, the watersurface and coversa sheet of water.

remains at thethe tundra with

6D

Wet Tundra

In winter, there is n o t muchwildlife on the tundra. Cariboupaw out craters in the snow toreach lichens, sedges, and shrubbyplants that are buried beneathwind-drifted snow. Lemmings andvoles tunnel beneath the snow andalso eat the previous summer'splant growth- -- grasses, sedges,willows, and mosses. Ptarmigan,tundra hares, and beaver alsoover-winter, as well as predatorsincluding wolves, foxes, weasels,ravens, and gyrfalcons.

In summer, however, the wet tun-dra areas teem with life. Cotton-grass and other sedges, berryplants, and other tundra plantsgrow quickly during the 24-hourdaylight of the arctic summer.Insects, including blackflies,mosquitoes, and springtails, flour-ish, using the ample ponds andpuddles for their larval stages.

These insects are the prime sourceof protein for the millions ofmigratory birds that raise theiryoung on the tundra. Alaska’s wettundra areas are important nestinggrounds f o r brant, Canada andgreater white-fronted geese, threetypes of eiders, oldsquaw, andother ducks. During years ofdrought, even more ducks, millionsof them that usually nest inCanada, come north to Alaska’swetlands. Without our wetlands,these birds could not survive drysummers.

Wet tundra is critical habitat formany waders, such as western andsemipalmated sandpipers, phala-ropes, dunlins, and whimbrels.These birds lay eggs and raisetheir young in just two shortmonths.

Other nesting birds on wet tundrainclude swans, loons, parasiticjaegers, snowy owls, and short-eared owls.

Wet tundra is also crucial forthousands of geese after thenesting season. Brant, Canadageese, and greater white-frontedgeese migrate to large wet tundralakes to molt their wing feathers.During the few weeks they areunable to fly, the geese feed onthe rich sedge meadows and escapepredators by swimming offshore inthe lakes.

(The above description was adaptedfrom Sue Quinlan’s Water, Wetlands,and Wildlife, p. 6.)

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Worksheet 6ERivers, Lakes, andMarshes

Water from Alaska’s vast expansesof muskeg and wet tundra seeps andflows into low-lying areas to formrivers and lakes. Freshwatermarshes form along the riverbanksand lake shores. Detritus fromthese marshes provides nutrientsfor the plants and animals thatlive in the rivers and lakes.

This detritus is eaten by aquaticinvertebrates such as snails,clams, and the larvae of mayflies,stoneflies, blackflies, and caddis-flies; They are also eaten by somefish, such as rainbow trout andDolly Varden. Young silver salmonfeed on detritus, algae, andplankton. Other kinds of fish,such as red, pink, and king salmonfry, feed on detritus-eatinganimals. Since most salmon fryspend one to three years in freshwater before migrating out to sea,their survival depends on detritusin our streams.

Other wildlife that depend on thisaquatic food chain include riverotters, mink, brown bears, watershrews, spotted sandpipers, yellow-legs, bald eagles; ospreys, andkingfishers. Although theseanimals live mainly on land, theyneed the food resources of riversand lakes in order to survive.

Algae are the most common lake andriver plants. Pondweeds are foundin the slower sections of rivers,throughout ponds, and along theshallower portions of lakes.Marshes are characterized by soft-stemmed plants: grasses, sedges,

and rushes. Cattails are common inInterior Alaska. Beavers create alot of marsh habitat as they dam upstreams and sloughs.

6E

Rivers, lakes, and the surroundingmarshes have been used as importantsources of food throughout humanhistory. Villages are traditional-ly located along river banks orlake shores. Today, as they alwayshave been, rivers and lakes arevital avenues of transportation,for boats and floatplanes in thesummer , and for dog teams, snow-mobiles, and ski-planes in thewinter. Commercial, sport, andsubsistence fishing depends on thesalmon runs up Alaska’ s network ofmighty rivers and lakes. Thesewetland areas support a touristindustry as well; people travelfrom all over the world to photo-graph, fish, hunt, and observewildlife.

(This description is based on SueQuinlan’s Water, Wetlands, andWildlife, p. 9.)

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Worksheet 6FMuskeg

Muskeg is another word for bog. Itis a type of freshwater wetlandthat occurs below tree line onlow-lying lands in Alaska. Lakesand ponds are scattered throughoutthe muskeg.

Common muskeg plants includesphagnum moss, blueberries, cran-berries, willows, Labrador tea,sundews, dwarf birch, and smalltrees like black spruce in InteriorAlaska, mountain hemlock in south-coastal Alaska, and lodgepole pinein southeast Alaska--all plantsthat thrive in areas where theground is covered or filled withwater. The muskeg ground is com-posed of a thick layer of peat(decayed plants, primarily sphagnummoss), which in some places may be40 or more feet thick. Peat soaksup water, so walking on muskeg insummer has a spongy quality.

Millions of ducks, especiallynorthern pintails, American wigeon,lesser scaup, surf scoters, andwhite-winged scoters nest in andnear the muskeg of the Yukon Flats,Minto Flats, and Tetlin. Theseareas are among the most importantduck-breeding areas in NorthAmerica. During years when theprairie potholes are dry; even moreducks than usual arrive from Canadaand the northcentral United States.

muskeg wetlands, too.

Muskeg wetlands provide habitat forblack bears, moose, muskrat, mink,beaver, red fox, marten, wolves,coyotes, and deer. People go tothese areas to pick berries, fish,hunt, trap, and to observe andphotograph wildlife.

(Again this description is based onSue Quinlan’s Water, Wetlands, andWildlife, p. 6.5----------

Many Canada and greater white-fronted geese, as well as loons,grebes, and mergansers make theirnests on muskeg lakes. Sandhillcranes dance their courtshipdisplays and raise their young on

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Worksheet 6GOther Bird Habitats

Birds are found everywhere. Discusswith students the fact that dif-ferent birds prefer differenthabitats--just like people. Somepeople like Interior Alaska best,other people like coastal Alaska,and others like the lower 48states, Hawaii, or foreign coun-tries. Similarly, some birds livedeep in the forest, others arefound only high in the mountaintundra, and others live on cliffs.Although we have emphasized wet-lands habitat in this book, bothbecause wet lands make up the bulkof Alaska and because wildlifetends to be heavily concentrated inwetlands, students who want to lookfor woodpeckers will have to lookin the woods, and those who want tosee wheatears will have to go upinto the dry mountain tundra wherewheatears build their nests.

Wildlife tends to be most abundanton the border between two types ofhabitat--where the forest touchesthe edge of a marsh, for example.At the junction you will find birdsand animals from both types ofhabitat. This is known as the"edge effect ,” and is a goodconcept to introduce to students.

Worksheet 6HHabitat Choice

This activity provides students achance to do some writing on theirown, and to review what is coveredin this unit.

Additional Activities:

1. Art, Science, Language Arts:Divide class into small groupsto investigate wetland habitattypes. Make murals of localwetland types, labeling cover(shelter or nesting site),food and water. Use string toconnect the food with theorganisms that eat it. Drawthe sun, which provides energyto plants.

2. Language Arts, Science: Drawa chart on the board comparingtwo different wetlands--wettundra vs. muskeg; estuary vs.freshwater marsh; and so on.

3. Physical Education, Science:Eagles eat fish, and fish eatinsects. Let students chooseto be insects, f i s h , o reagles. On a signal from theteacher, the eagles try to tagthe fish, while the fish tryto tag the insects. If aneagle catches a fish, the fishturns into another eagle, andif the fish catches an insect,the insect turns into a fish.After a few moments, stop theplay. Any of the originaleagles who have not caught afish die and fall into thestream, where they are eaten

by the insects; in the nextround of play, they turn intoinsects. Start game up again.

What happened? If you startedwith lots of eagles, were theyall able to get enough food?Have the students reassignthemselves in a way that willresult in having some of eachcreature at the end of thegame. They should discoverthat there needs to be a lotof insects, some fish, and avery few eagles. Not only dothe eagles need the fish, butthe fish also need the eagles.If there weren’t any eagles tocontrol the fish population,the fish would wipe out theirfood source (the insects), andstarve. Similarly, withoutfish to keep their numbers incheck, the insects wouldoverpopulate and wipe out allthe plants that make up theirfood source. Discuss how thisgame reflects the situation inthe real world. What are thegame’s shortcomings?

4. Language Arts, Art, Science:Have students each choose abird they would like to havelive in their area. Have themlist the habitat needs of thatbird (refer to student birdguide). From this list havethem write an ad for thenewspaper or make a posteradvertising their neighborhoodor village as a prime site fora home-hunting bird.

5. Physical Education, Science:You’ll need blindfolds, chalk-board, chalk, string, a signthat says “predator,” and asign that says “prey.” Askthe class to name some re-gional predators and theirprey. Write these pairs onthe blackboard. Have twovolunteers play the role ofone of these pairs. Eachperson must wear the appro-priate predator or prey sign.Clear a large space in themiddle of the room. Blindfoldthe student who is acting asprey and place her somedistance from the predator.Have the predator try toapproach its prey stealthily.If the prey senses the ap-proaching predator, she shouldpoint in his direction. Ifthe predator is thus “spot-ted,” the game ends and a newpair is chosen. A variationof this game would be to placethe blindfold on the predator,spin her around, and tell herto locate the rabbit (hare)who must remain in place(al though she may makesqueaky, scratchy rabbit(hare) noises if she wishes.)

A particularly rousing anduproarious version of the gamefollows: clear a large spacein the middle of the roan.

Have the students form a largecircle. In the middle of thecircle place a blindfoldedpredator and a blindfoldedprey. Gently spin eacharound. The predator willthen begin to stalk the prey.The predator must occasionallymake hungry noises (growls andlip smacking) and the preymust also make appropriateanimal noises from time totime. These auditory cueswill help them alternativelyapproach and avoid each other.After four or five pairs ofstudents have played thepredator-prey game, interestwill be high for a classdiscussion concerning thequalities of successful pred-ators (especially quickreflexes, good hearing andsmell, overall physicalstrength) . Also discuss waysin which prey protect them-selves (speed, immobility,protective coloration, offen-sive odors). (Described byBarb Tervo, Selawik ElementarySchool, Selawik. )

6. Language Arts : Have studentstry to find as many names aspossible for wetland habitatsand define these names. Theirlist should include:

Freshwater wetlands - -marsh,swamp, bog, muskeg, pond,lake, river, stream, creek,brook, island, mudflat, point,peninsula.

Saltwater wetland- -tideland,reef, island, cove, inlet,bay, point, estuary, saltmarsh, peninsula, lagoon,slough.

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