Water is very important to the bird life in the area. It may not only supply drinking water for the birds, but also be where they feed, shelter and rear their young. In bird watch, we are going to look at certain common and fairly widely distributed birds of the south west.

Their presence can tell us about the quality of our water and other organisms likely to be found there. The identification sheets will help you to identify some of the birds in and around our waterways. Do not worry if you can’t identify them all. It takes a long time to become a bird expert.

1. Open & print the Bird Watch activity sheet and bring it on holiday with you. Find a nice quiet place by a water source and while you are at your water-monitoring site, fill in the details.

   Top box- Number of birds. Try to estimate a number.

   Middle box- Where the birds were seen. eg. reeds, edge.

   Bottom box- Bird activity- preening, roosting, and looking after their young, feeding or resting.

   Something to think about.

2. Does the waterway have lots of bird life? Explain.
3. Do you think any of the birds may be breeding at this site?

4. Using the library or other resources, for each of the birds you identified find out what it eats and how it collects food.