While schools are closed, we're creating a series of "Talk of Iowa" episodes that will be fun and educational for learners of all ages.Every Tuesday, we'll learn about Iowa wildlife, and every Thursday, we'll learn about Iowa history.
We begin our series of nature shows learning about the birds you'll see in Iowa in March.
The Decorah eagles are already sitting on their nests and waiting for their eggs to hatch. John Howe, director of the Raptor Resource Project, brings us up to date on the family life of these famous birds. We also find out what we can learn from watching the Decorah eagle cam.
Then, Jim Pease introduces us to some of the other birds already nesting this early in the season including great horned owls, barred owls, screech owls, and migratory birds.
Many migratory birds that have just returned to Iowa including two species, killdeer and wood ducks, that build their nests in unlikely places.
Vocabulary from this podcast:
- precocial, adj. :capable of a high degree of independent ativity from birth, ducklings are precocial
- altricial, adj :being hatched or born or having young that are hatched or born in a very immature and helpless condition so as to require care for some time
- migration, noun :the act, process, or an instance of traveling periodically from one region or climate to another for feeding or breeding
Conversation questions for this podcast:
- What are some other birds with precocial young?
- What are some birds who have altricial young? Can you think of other animals whose young are born helpless?
- What animals can you think of that migrate?
