Instructional Video8:55
PBS

The Giant Bird That Got Lost in Time

For Students 6th - 12th
The California condor is the largest flying bird in North America and has been for a very long time. While perfectly equipped to survive in their time period, today there are fewer and fewer in existence. An episode of a larger series...
Instructional Video3:03
MinuteEarth

Birds that Hibernate in Lakes?!

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Birds seem to disappear at various times of the year, and many early theories about this phenomenon turned out to be wrong. The video introduces two of these theories as well as how scientists learned the truth. It explains a few...
Unit Plan
Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Amazing Birds

For Teachers K - 4th
What's so amazing about birds? Find out just how amazing birds are with a physics of animal behavior unit created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Have learners explore and tap into their observational skills and notice how birds fly, what...
Instructional Video4:31
TED-Ed

Why Can't Some Birds Fly?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Back in the day, all birds had the ability to fly. Why would evolutionary adaptations take that away from some species? A video presentation discusses the cost of having the ability to fly and why that feature may not be ideal for...
Instructional Video3:48
Deep Look

How Do Pelicans Survive Their Death-Defying Dives?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Get ready to take the plunge! Science scholars go fishing with a brown pelican and see how it can withstand the impact of the water from a height of 40 feet. The narrator shows the birds in action and describes the physical adaptations...
Instructional Video3:26
Deep Look

What Happens When You Put a Hummingbird in a Wind Tunnel?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Hummingbirds consume their weight in nectar every day. The video explains their unusual flying abilities. From holding their bodies perfectly still while flapping their wings in mid air in order to get the nectar to shaking off water...
Instructional Video25:02
TED-Ed

From Mach-20 Glider to Humming Bird Drone

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
"What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" This question guides Regina Dugan's exploration of amazing achievements in science and engineering that push the boundary of impossibility. From robotic hummingbirds and...
Instructional Video4:32
Be Smart

Where Do Birds Go In Winter?

For Students 6th - 12th
The poet Homer believed that birds went to battle tribes of goat-riding dwarfs during the winter. As the video explains, this myth and many others that seem crazy to us now, wasn't questioned for many years. The reality isn't quite as...
Instructional Video5:15
PBS

The Biggest Thing That Ever Flew

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Imagine a reptile the size of a giraffe that flies across oceans. This reptile, quetzalcoatlus, existed, and scientists continue to learn more about this fascinating creature. The video, part of the Eons series, explains where the...
Instructional Video2:37
Be Smart

How Do Squirrels Find Their Nuts?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Viewers of this short video learn how squirrels and birds not only find their stored nuts in winter but also distract would-be thieves. Viewers see that animals have the ability to take action today (burying nuts) to fulfill their...
Instructional Video10:16
Be Smart

The Mystery of the World’s Greatest Butterfly Migration

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Follow the migration of the monarch butterfly from northern North America to southern Mexico. A video explains how monarch butterflies navigate their migration north in the spring and south in the fall. Pupils learn how it takes multiple...
Instructional Video3:13
Deep Look

What Makes Owls So Quiet and So Deadly?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Known as excellent hunters, owls don't fly with the fast speeds of other birds of prey. The video focuses on the feathers and nocturnal habit of owls. With quiet, almost silent flight, owls sneak up on their prey.
Instructional Video3:45
Deep Look

Can A Thousand Tiny Swarming Robots Outsmart Nature?

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Kilobots, made from only $15 worth of parts, work together to achieve a group goal. The video explains how with a few simple lines of programming, these tiny robots tackle tasks in much the same way animals or cells have for centuries....
Instructional Video4:57
The Brain Scoop

Two Bats and a Spider

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
What creatures lurk in the rainforest at night? Meet three of them in one short video. Part of a playlist exploring mammals, the video presents a look at night research in the Amazon. Scientists locate and photograph two bat species and...
Instructional Video4:01
Real Engineering

Area Rule: How to Make Planes Fly Faster

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a modern aircraft with cross-sectional areas taken into consideration. A short video in the Real Engineering playlist describes how cross-sectional areas of airplanes relate to their speeds. It shows...
Instructional Video6:37
TED-Ed

The Surprising (And Invisible) Signatures of Sea Creatures

For Students 7th - 12th
Airplanes resulted from observations of birds flying. What inventions could be inspired by watching sea creatures move? Viewers are challenged to consider how bio-observation might lead them to design something to overcome...
Unit Plan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

That’s Amazing!: Challenge Activities (Theme 3)

For Teachers 4th
Synonym dominoes, anyone? As part of the activities designed for kids who have mastered the basic concepts in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt thematic unit That's Amazing! kids are offered a variety of activities that include...
Instructional Video7:01
Curated OER

Jurassic Fight Club: T-Rex vs. Raptors - Part 1/2

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Fight or flight response and physical prowess is examined in this seven-minute video. Using evidence and a knowledge of animal behavior, scientists were able to show how the bird-like raptor attacked its prey. Studying dinosaur behavior...
Instructional Video2:57
MinuteEarth

Are any Animals Truly Monogamous?

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Known for being one of the few monogamous animals, Diplozoon paradoxum live on fishgills. The video details animals that appear monogamous and the research on their mating habits. From open polygamy to cheating, various species strive...
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Life Science: Birds

For Students 6th - 8th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] There is an amazingly wide variety of birds. Birds are vertebrates. Almost all have forelimbs modified as wings, but not all birds can fly. Learn more about birds in...
Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Biology: Bird Structure and Function

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] An overview of flight structures in birds.
Instructional Video
California Academy of Sciences

Ca Academy of Sciences: Feeding the Birds in the Rainforest Exhibit

For Students 3rd - 8th
Academy aviculturist Vikki provides a behind the scenes look into feeding the free-flying birds that inhabit the Rainforests of the World exhibit. [1:09]
Unit Plan
University of California

Ucmp: The Evolution of Flight in Birds

For Students 9th - 10th
Evidence from the fossil record is used to support bird evolution from small carnivorous dinosaurs. In the student module, feathers, behavior, and skeletal structure are examined in an interactive lesson designed to impart a complete...
Unit Plan
PBS

Pbs Nova: Flying Casanovas

For Students 9th - 10th
Here's another great website that is a companion to a PBS television series. This time the show was called "Flying Casanovas" and the topic is bowerbirds. A lot about courtship and behavior in these bird groups. There's even a matching...

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