Yesterday, we collected 16 pounds of banana peels from only the 5th and 6th grade classes. There are 5 homeroom classes in 5th grade and 3 homeroom classes in 6th grades. So, about how many banana peels could we have collected from the other 30 homeroom classes from K-4th grade? What do you think our total weight of banana peels could have been for the whole school?
YES, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is only 11 days away! The annual event happens Friday, February 12 to Monday, February 15, 2010.
Are you ready to identify your local birds? Go the the Birdsource link on the Blogroll to learn how to participate and to “brush up” on your birding skills.
Can you determine the difference between a Red-winged blackbird and an American crow? Look at the wings and the size.
How about the difference between a red-tailed hawk and a red-shouldered hawk? Look at the tail feathers.
What about a bluejay and an Eastern bluebird? Look at the top of the head, the chest color, and the wing feathers.
Now, that we have your interest. Go outside; watch the birds as they dance in the skies and they serenade you with their song.
This year we will be sharing our birding interest at our next PTA meeting. We challenge you to join in the count, the Great Backyard Bird Count.
“COUNT for the fun, COUNT for the future!”
Do you know your birds? The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming next month. Are you ready to challenge your birding knowledge?
Take the Bird Identification Quiz to get ready to train your eyes and ears for our feathered friends!
http://www.tvja.org/science/7_8_Science_Tests/Bird%20Identification%20-%20output/quizmaker.html
Ten of the whooping cranes landed today at their winter home! FINALLY-at home at last! Migration day #82 from Wisconsin to St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge in St. Mark’s, Florida! Whew, what a trip of over 1,000 miles!! The other ten whooping cranes will be making their winter home elsewhere in a few days.
Visit the attached link to experience their welcome today at St. Mark’s from a “whooping crane’s view”!
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/crane/09/WCEPHighlights011310.html
I am a severely endangered species and the tallest bird in North America with a height of almost 5 feet! I have a long neck and long legs, black wingtips, and a white body with a red forehead and red cheeks.
My wingspan is almost 8 feet and my call is a loud, single bugle-like note. I like to eat insects, fish, frogs, mollusks, and feed grain. If you place feed grain on the ground, I will peck and stab the food with my bill.
My eggs are light brown with brown notches. When I am born, I can walk and swim soon after hatching. I can also feed myself the day after I am born.
My recently-born relatives are migrating from Wisconsin to Florida as part of the Operation Migration.
What feathered friend am I?
ANSWER: I am a whooping crane. Congratulations to my feathered friends who knew me!
The Operation Migration group of 20 whooping cranes are airborne!
They left Franklin County, AL this morning by following the Ultralights and will possibly land in Chilton County, AL later today. The 20 chicks have been grounded in Franklin County over the holidays waiting for the best winds and weather to head toward their Florida winter home.
Watch the link for the amazing liftoff and release of the pen for flight.
I am often called a “Snowbird” and many people believe that my return to the south during the winter can foretell the return of winter’s cold and snowy weather. Even my white belly plumage and dark gray-colored back reminds you of a winter scene with its “leaden sky above and snow below.” I also have a pink beak.
Watch for me feeding on the ground under your feeders this winter because I am primarily a ground feeder and am drawn to the millet and mixed seeds around the base of your feeders. I usually return to the same roost location repeatedly, sharing it with others in my flock, but we do not huddle together. Chances are that you might see me at your feeder every winter.
What feathered “winter” friend am I?
ANSWER: I am a dark-eyed junco!
Even though I was born in Syracuse, New York, I am an astronaut from Alabama who performed fluid physics as crystal experiments in space. I was a Payload Specialist on the Space Shuttle Mission STS-50 as part of the U.S. Microgravity Laboratory Spacelab Mission. I currently am the Director of the Center for Biophysical Scienecs and Engineering at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) with the crystals. I am also a Professor of Optometry at UAB and I live in Birmingham, Alabama. Who am I?
ANSWER: I am Dr. Lawrence “Larry” DeLucas!
I developed nitroglycerin so roads could be blasted out of mountains instead of human labor. I manufactured nitroglycerin but my factory blew up. Through further experimenting, I invented dynamite. I was a bachelor and I eventually became wealthy enough to leave nine million dollars for Prizes to be awarded each year for high achievement. These awards and an Institute in Sweden are named after me. U. S. President Obama received one of my awards this year.
Who am I?
ANSWER: I am Alfred Nobel. Congratulations to those who found the answer.
