BirdSleuth Explorer’s Guidebook

BECOME AN EXPERT OBSERVER! 

Follow this step-by-step BirdSleuth Explorer’s Guidebook
and use your senses to discover the birds in this park.
 Welcome, BirdSleuth Explorer!

Scientists are explorers.

They search for new discoveries and ideas. You can be a scientist, too. Science starts with
curiosity and observation. Keep your ears and eyes open and record what you notice.
Using these science skills is a great way to explore this park.

Your Name______________________________________

Park Name______________________________________

State___________________________________________

Date___________________________________________

Scientists and explorers make lots of observations and ask tons of questions.
If you think of a question that you can’t answer, don’t worry. Just turn to page 11 of your
BirdSleuth Explorer’s Guidebook and write it there. You can find the answer later.

2
 Wake Up Your Ears
Use your sense of hearing to start exploring the world around you!

Find a quiet spot. Sit and listen for five minutes. Use this
space to make a map of what you hear, like the girl in
the picture. The X on the page marks the spot where
you are. Use your own symbols to map the sounds
around you (like cars, running water, and birds).

Where are the sounds?

X
You are here

3
 What’s a Habitat?
Great job! Now that your ears are listening, look for the four parts of a habitat.

A good habitat has everything a bird needs to survive. There are four parts to a habitat.
Put a check next to each part you see: food, water, cover, and space.

FOOD: Just like you, birds need a healthy WATER: From a puddle to a pond, or a
diet. Different birds eat different foods, for ripple to a river, birds need clean water for
example seeds, insects, and fruit. drinking and bathing.

COVER: Birds need safe places to sleep SPACE: Birds need room to grow and live.
and raise young, and shelter from bad They need to be able to find enough food,
weather and predators. Birds find cover water, and cover in the place they
in trees, bushes, and structures made by call “home.”
people.

4
 Habitat Scavenger Hunt
Now you’ve got the hang of it! How many parts of a habitat can you discover?

This park might have more than one kind of habitat (such as forests, wetlands,
grasslands, and deserts). Observe the habitat around you closely.
How many things can you find on the list?

‰‰ insect
‰‰ spider
‰‰ spider web
‰‰ place where a bird can hide
‰‰ plant that is as tall as you
‰‰ mammal
‰‰ leaf bigger than your hand
‰‰ animal making noise
‰‰ something a bird can eat
‰‰ animal track
‰‰ hole in a tree
‰‰ rock bigger than a baseball
‰‰ bird nesting material
‰‰ water for animals

What was the most colorful thing you found? _______________________________________

What was your favorite thing you observed? _______________________________________

What would you name the habitat you are in? ______________________________________

5
 Bird Search
Now that you’ve explored this habitat, let’s see if you can find any birds.

You can find out if birds are here by using your eyes and ears.
How many items can you check off the list below?

Bird evidence Variety of birds

‰‰ feather ‰‰ group of three or more birds
‰‰ droppings ‰‰ two birds together
‰‰ nest ‰‰ colorful bird
‰‰ bird that is mostly black
Birds using habitat— ‰‰ bird with white on its body
look for them:
‰‰ bird with a long tail
‰‰ on a branch
‰‰ bird with a short tail
‰‰ on a wire or roof
‰‰ flying or soaring
‰‰ on the ground
‰‰ swimming
‰‰ eating
‰‰ drinking

Bird illustrations on this page by Evan Barbour, Bartels Science Illustration Intern

Do not take anything that you find in a park home with you. Leave everything where you find it
so the next explorer can see it, too. Scientists take notes or photos to remember what they see.

6
 Bird Groups
You’re really becoming a great observer and explorer!
Now that we know that birds are all around us, let’s start trying to identify them.

There are many different types of birds. They can be grouped by their shape.
Species in each group have similar shapes. Here are just a few bird groups
you might see as you explore.

Songbirds Crows Doves Swallows Hummingbirds Woodpeckers

Herons Geese Ducks Gulls Hawks Owls

Can you find a bird from any of these groups?

Record the group and where in the habitat you saw it.

Group Name Where You Saw It

(such as owl) (such as in a tree)

7
 Identification Clues
Now that you can use shape to determine a bird’s group,
let’s add more details to help identify a bird by species.

Bird watchers use many clues to identify birds. Knowing the shape, size, and color pattern
of a bird, and where and when you saw it, can help you identify the birds you see.
Focus on one bird and gather information about it!

Your Habitat: __________________________________________ Date: ________________

Where was it? (circle one): At a feeder In the water On the ground

In trees or bushes On a fence or wire Soaring or flying

What size was the bird? Put a star on the line closest to the size of the bird you saw.

Circle up to three main colors you saw.

Red Orange Yellow Green Blue

Black Gray White Brown

The bird size graphic is from the Be a Better BIrder tutorial at birds.cornell.edu/courses/home/tutorial ©2016 Cornell University

8
Did you notice any interesting patterns on the bird? Were there stripes on the head or wings?
Sketch or make notes about any patterns you observed.

Sketch and Notes Example:

thick beak
brownish body

black chin

white wingbar

I think my bird is:______________________________________________________

It’s OK if you don’t know the species. What type of bird do you think it is?

With this information, you have a good chance of identifying your bird. You can use a field
guide or app to help you. If you have a smartphone or tablet, the Merlin Bird ID app can
give you a list of birds you might have seen. merlin.allaboutbirds.org

9
 Bird Count
You’ve learned a lot about habitat and the birds around you.
Use your new skills to count birds and become a citizen scientist!

Find a good spot to look for birds and carefully collect data during a
5- to 10-minute bird count. If you don’t know the name of a bird,
make notes or a sketch and look it up later.

Location: ______________________________________ Start time: _____________________

Date: ____________________________ How long was your count: _____________________

Circle one: Stationary Traveling

(Did you stay in one place?) (Did you move from one place to another?)

Species Number seen

Become a citizen scientist! With the help of an adult, enter your data at
ebird.org to help scientists learn about the birds you saw!

What is citizen science? Scientists around the world depend on people like you to help
collect information, called data. There are lots of different citizen-science projects for
studying birds, butterflies, frogs, and more. When you collect data for these projects,
you are a citizen scientist!

10
 I Wonder
You’ve done a great job exploring the park!
Did you discover anything that you want to learn more about?

Exploring nature can leave you with lots of questions. It’s OK if you don’t know the answers!
Write down your questions so you can explore these topics later.

11
THANKS FOR EXPLORING NATURE WITH BIRDSLEUTH! 
Download your BirdSleuth Explorer’s Certificate at birdsleuth.org/explorer.
You may also want to explore the Cornell Lab of Ornithology sites:

‰‰ Visit allaboutbirds.org to look up the birds you saw today and learn
cool facts about them.
‰‰ You can be a citizen scientist by entering counts for any location into
eBird, including your backyard or neighborhood! ebird.org
‰‰ Download the Merlin Bird ID app or use the photo identification tool
online at merlin.allaboutbirds.org.

All illustrations by Bartels Science Illustration Intern Anna Rettberg, © 2016 Cornell unless otherwise noted.