Science at home: Designing Bird Feeders

We have been working on a project at home.  Our task was to design two different bird feeders, which we could hang in our garden.  We had to design them using waterproof materials (so they could stay outside in the rain).  We brought them in to school to show each other and compare our feeders.  It was great, we all used different types of materials and all the feeders look different. 
During our mid-term break we're going to bring our feeders home to hang in our garden.  We'll put the same type of food in each feeder and watch to see which feeders are the most attractive for the birds.

Our Birdwatching Day.

A few of the girls wrote a report about our birdwatching day.  They wrote the report at home and then e-mailed them to me.  We also took some photos during the day.  I think they're so great that I wanted to share them with you.
Ms McHale.

Reporter 1: Amber K

Today walking down the park was interesting.
Because we seen a new swan the egyiption swan that we never seen before.
We saw loads of seagulls some mallard ducks.
Some of us saw black birds,Hooded Crow,rook. Some of us did see them birds some of us didn't.

Then we sketched two birds and we were suppose to take down what birds we saw as well that was really fun. We took our

• cameras
• binoculars
• pencil's and rubber's
• bird watching note books

1. with our camera's we zoomed in to take a better look at the birds
2. with our binouculars we looked in them to see if we saw birds
3. with our bird watching notebooks  we took down what birds we saw where they m/f  and the last one was to count  how many we saw

                                                     thats interesting
so i really love to see more birds/ducks down parks,fields,front gardens anywhere  at all.
                                                thats all i wanted to say
                                                           Bye!!!!!!

Reporter 2: Tarryn
Today the (14 of February) 4th class went to Dargle Park in Bray to do some birdwatching. It was a bright sunny morning and the birds were happily chirping. We saw lots of different  birds like the Seagull, Rook, Egyptian  swan, Blackbird and Mallard duck.  It was a very enjoyable outing and I was excited to see the Egyptian Swan.

Back at school, 3rd class joined us for bird watching from our classroom window where they saw a Coal Tit, a Blackbird and a Robin.

During the afternoon 4th class went to Senior Infants. We were each given a Senior Infants pupil to mind. We went outside around the school looking for signs of spring. We had to work from a sheet that my teacher, Ms McHale, gave to us to help us find the signs of spring. We saw buds, daffodil shoots, little baby leaves on the trees and new bushes.   I had a lovely day at school today.

Reporter 3: Naoimi

On monday we went to the park to have a look at birds .We saw rooks,sea gulls,mallerd ducks and an egyptian swan.We had never seen an egyptian swan before so it was very interesting and exciting! When we came back 3rd class came in to our class to look out the window for birds with us. We saw a great tit,a robin and a hooded crow. When we came in from yard we went on a nature walk with senior infants. We each got a partner and went to look for birds and signs of nature.We saw a hooded crow and a few sea gulls flying by.
It was really an exciting day!
Reporter 4: Sophie

Today we went to the park . We fed the birds bread in the peoples park which is in Bray . When we threw out the bread on the grass, suddenly seagulls, crows and rooks came gliding down . There was so many birds flying that you could hardly see a thing it was even difficult to see the sky. When we were finished feeding the bird's we sketched the birds that we had seen in our note book. I really enjoyed doing this.

While we were gone to feed the birds and take some photo's third class were using our class room to do some bird watching of their own.

Later on that day my class mates and I brought the senior infants class out around the school grounds for a spring walk. We tried to explain to them some of the signs of spring such as buds on the trees and shoots from flowers.
Reporter 5: Natalia B

Today was my favorite day in Ireland.  The sun was shining, it was a little cold and warm wind was blowing.  I am with my class went to the park. I saw the Egyptian swan.  I saw a very nice birds.  I saw rooks, blackbirds, gulls and ducks.   We took pictures of all the birds we've seen.  Then we went to the playground, it was very good.  It was a really nice day.

Our Trip to Bray Harbour: Visiting the Swans



What a team!!

In January our class went for a walk down to Bray Harbour to visit the colony of mute swans that live there. 

We had to remember a few rules:

Don't get too close to the swans as they are terretorial birds.

Stay calm and quiet so we don't scare the birds.

It was a great experience as we saw loads of birds, and we were very close to them.  It was a great change to look at their behaviour and what they look like.



We took some photos.



We fed the birds.



We took loads of photos of the birds and the harbour, and of course of each other.



Some of us brought food so we could feed the birds.

I'd like everyone to leave a comment about what they enjoyed most during the day.  What are your special memories?

Bird-watching in the classroom

What an exciting afternoon we had.  We have been putting food outside our classroom window to try and attract some of the birds closer to us so we can watch them. 

This afternoon we put out some oats and some bread scraps on the wall.  We filled a bird feeder with seed and hung it on a tree, and we hung a suet ball for birds from another tree.  We didn't think we'd have many birds this afternoon, because there were so many people walking past our classroom.

But...we were wrong!

One group was put in charge of the birdwatching while the rest of us worked on our bird reports.  The group had binoculars and a camera.  They had the bird identification posters ready just in case anything came for a bite.

Over the afternoon we saw loads of different types of birds.  Two hooded crows came to eat our oats and bread.  We also saw a siskin, five gold finches, a robin, a male and female blackbird, two coal tits, a magpie, a long-tailed tit, a pied wagtail and a chaffinch.  It was really exciting.  They hopped and flew about very fast so we had to be quick to spot them.  We looked at their appearance carefully and check some of them using the posters, but we managed very well.

By the end of the afternoon everyone was looking out the window.

Tomorrow we'll put some food out earlier and we'll leave a team of birdwatchers at the window all day to see what birds come to visit.