Where? Where? Wedgie! Day 3 : 17-05-2023

Today we're going to find out more about raptors!

How many diurnal* birds of prey** live in Tasmania? And what do they look like? Clare had a lot of fun working through this, with the help of James' great knowledge and a good text book.

If you don't have time for the whole video right now, you can watch us just go through the list (it takes us one and a half minutes...), and then come back to the details later. James helps us figure out some of the differences between the species - it's not easy, but it's a great start. For those participating in the survey, or who are just interested, NatureTrackers has created a more detailed video which goes through more details of how to identify different raptors. 

(By the way - Nick Mooney was keen for us also to mention the whistling kite which is occasionally seen in Tasmania, but we didn't include it in the video). 

What kind of habitat are we standing in this time...?

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*diurnal = awake in the day

** birds of prey = raptors

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DAY 3 RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS:

• Raptors >>

Clare's friend Stewart photographed a beautiful bird of prey in his garden the other day, but couldn't decide if it was a brown goshawk or a collared sparrowhawk. 

Nick Mooney helped us out. The collared sparrowhawk has an extremely long middle toe which you can see hanging down below the branch in the photo. The brown goshawk's middle toe is quite similar in length to its other toes. Also, he says collared sparrowhawks look much more surprised while brown goshawks have a bit of a frown ('goshawks glare, sparrowhawks stare').

These two take a lot of experience to tell apart, but most of the other species are easier!

We suppose that goshawks and sparrowhawks find it really easy though...

Activity: Paper Plane Challenge

Birds, well most of them anyway, have the wonderful ability to fly. Let's see if we can make something fly today by doing the paper plane challenge. The following link will guide you through the challenge. Let us know on the discussion board how you went.

Paper Plane Challenge