Curriculum Connections
Migration
Mishaps*
Overview: Migration Mishaps is a game that helps to demonstrate
why animals that migrate, such as hummingbirds, are threatened by
habitat destruction.
Subject
areas: science, physical education, math, geography
Key
concepts: habitat, migration, survival, competition, limiting
factors, population dynamics
Skills: graphing and map skills (extension activity)
Location: outdoors
Estimated
time: 20 minutes
Materials: 2
paper plates or pieces of cloth (“habitat havens”) for every 3
students plus 3-5 extra; migration cards;
3-5 soft foam balls (for adaptation); wipe-off board and marker (for
extension activity)
Preparation: Review
with students the definition of habitat (food, water, shelter,
and space suitably arranged) and explain that many
factors limit the survival of populations of hummingbirds, including
changes in the two habitats on which they depend. Have students research
wintering and breeding habitats of hummingbird species in your area.
(Ruby-throated hummingbirds winter mainly in Mexico and Central America,
and their nesting habitat is in eastern United States and southern
Canada).
Procedure Select
a large area up to 70 feet (20 meters) in length. Designate one
end of the area as the wintering grounds and the other end
as the nesting grounds. Distribute the “habitat havens”
(paper plates or cloth pieces) equally in the wintering and nesting
grounds.
-
Begin
the activity with all students at the wintering grounds, assigning
no more than three players to each habitat haven. Explain
that at your signal they are to migrate to a habitat haven
in the nesting grounds.
-
Read
aloud a migration card, and remove or add habitat havens in the
area to which the hummingbirds will be migrating (in
this round, the nesting grounds).
-
Give
the signal to migrate. If players cannot find space at the new
habitat (remind them that only three birds can
share one habitat
haven), they must die and move to the sidelines temporarily.
These “dead” birds may re-enter the game as hatchlings
when favorable
conditions
make more habitat havens available in the nesting grounds. Safety
note: Even though hummingbirds are aggressive
and territorial, caution students that there should be
no pushing
or shoving
over habitat. You may want to require students to
migrate in
slow motion by walking instead of running.
-
Play
several more rounds, beginning each round by reading a card,
and adding or removing habitat havens in the
habitat to which students
will migrate.
Wrap-up: Ask students to summarize what they have learned
about some of the many factors that affect migrating
birds and their
habitat.
Discuss what students can do about habitat loss and degradation.
What can they do to improve hummingbird habitat?
Adaptation: Hummingbirds face perils along the migration route as
well as in wintering and nesting grounds. Soft foam balls can represent
such perils as storms or running out of energy. Let students in the
“dead bird” zone take turns tossing the balls into the path of “migrating”
students. When a ball makes contact with a migrating student, he/she
becomes a “dead bird.”
Extensions: Use a wipe-off board and marker to graph the shifting
hummingbird population after each round. Students in the “dead bird”
zone can help with this while they are waiting to re-enter the game.
Examine maps to chart the actual migration routes between the wintering
and nesting areas of hummingbird species. Use the map scale to determine
distances traveled.
*Adapted
from Migration Headache, Project
WILD Aquatic Activity Guide.
This activity,
written by Kim Bailey, was originally published in Green Teacher
magazine (Spring 2002) and is also included in Green Teacher’s
book, Teaching Green: The Middle Years.
Migration
Cards for Migration Mishaps Activity
| A large habitat was designated as a wildlife preserve. Gain
3 habitat havens. |
A wetland is filled so a new highway can be
built. Lose 2 habitat havens.
|
Pollution severely damaged a riverside habitat. Lose 2 habitat
havens.
|
The construction of a new subdivision and golf course destroys
a forest habitat. Lose 3 habitat havens. |
A concerned school group improved a damaged habitat by creating
an outdoor classroom and garden. Gain 2 habitat havens.
|
A neighborhood creates backyard wildlife habitats. Gain 2 habitat
havens. |
Drought killed some flowering plants. Lose 2 habitat havens.
|
An apartment dweller plants hanging baskets with hummingbird-attracting
flowers. Gain 1 habitat haven. |
Tougher laws are passed to protect bird habitat. Gain 1 habitat
haven.
|
A homeowner plants a row of trees for shelter. Gain 1 habitat
haven. |
Pesticides contaminated the flowers’ nectar. Lose 2 habitat
havens.
|
A late frost killed the first spring flowers. But sap is available
through a sapsucker’s holes in some trees. Gain 1 habitat haven. |
Insecticides killed insects needed for protein. Lose 1 habitat
haven.
|
A school hangs up hummingbird feeders. Gain 2 habitat havens. |
Trees used for shelter and nesting are cut down to make paper.
Lose 2 habitat havens.
|
A city-dweller hangs up a hummingbird feeder. But there are
no trees for shelter in the area. Sorry, no habitat haven. |
|
