Week Fifteen
Lesson 15: Bird bath observations & data
S2E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.
b. Construct an explanation of the causes and effects of a change to the environment in your community
As discussed in the previous uploads, environmental change has a pretty significant impact on plants, animals and living things in general. But noticing differences in the environment or a certain ecosystem doesn't always involve a big environmental change (ex. global warming). It can just be something as small as a cold rainy day, or a day where the lawn is mowed. On a cold rainy day, it is not likely that many animals such as birds will be seen around, and things such as mowing your lawn can cause disturbances for other animals. Some organisms like to hide/live in tall grass, while other are just affected or scared off by the noise.
Even other things that humans do, such as spray weed killers or other chemicals on their lawns can affect the animals and plants you usually notice. Bird baths are not just only a source of water or a bath for birds, squirrels, or whatever animal that comes upon it. But it can also provide food... such as mosquito eggs. The neighboring plants to the bird bath can also provide a source of food for the birds (ex. insects). But birds don't always like to approach bird baths because of its distance or proximity to houses.
Watch this video to learn more! --->
- The figure above shows the data collected from January 27th to February 9th. These observations were recorded on weekdays from 7:00 to 8:00am and 12:00 to 2:00pm. The activity at the bird bath seemed to mainly fluctuate depending on the weather or temperature that day. The minimum amount of birds seen was 0, while the maximum was 7. Fewer numbers of birds were seen in the morning than afternoon, most likely due to colder morning temperatures and warmer temperatures in the afternoon.
Comentários