Teacher's Zone

Here are some lesson plan ideas:

  Nesting

A peregrines nesting place is called an eyrie and in Britain peregrine falcons traditionally nest on cliff ledges either on the coast or inland. In more recent years peregrines have begun to exploit cliff ledges created by humans in quarries or even on artificial ‘cliffs’ such as tower blocks or church spires in our towns and cities. The following ideas could be explored with your class after watching the footage of the peregrine nesting.

Links with Adaptation in Science:
Peregrine falcons nest on cliff ledges, they do not collect materials to make a nest just lay the eggs in a depression on the ledge. This may seem like a rather exposed place to nest. Pupils could discuss the advantages a cliff nest might give, such as safety from predators, a good vantage point to see predators or prey and proximity to food such as sea bird colonies on the coast. Pupils could also consider any disadvantages to this type of nest site and any adaptations the peregrines might show to counter these disadvantages. Eggs and chicks could fall off the ledge or be affected by exposure to the elements. Peregrines counter these problems by choosing ledges that are usually at least 45cm deep and parent birds shelter the eggs and young from rain and wind.

Links with skills and Knowledge and understanding of places in Geography:
Pupils could use maps of the UK to identify where the quarry is located in the UK. Pupils could then identify further areas of the UK which would provide good nesting habitat for peregrines because of the presence of mountains or coastal cliffs.

Links with Knowledge and understanding of environmental change and sustainable development in Geography and preparing to play an active role as citizens in PSHE:
Pupils could consider how people have changed the landscape by quarrying. For some people and wildlife this may have a detrimental effect but for some species such as peregrines it may be providing more nest sites. Pupils could also consider how building towns and cities could have similar positive and negative effects.

Link with Design and technology:
In some places, where peregrines have attempted to nest but been too exposed or where people are trying to protect peregrine nest sites from disturbance due to development, artificial nest platforms have been provided. Pupils could design a nest box for peregrines that could be installed in exposed places. It would need to be about 45cm by 90cm and about 75cm high. A landing ledge would be required and the box would have to be strong. The box would need to protect the birds from wind and rain but enable them to have a wide view of the surrounding landscape.

  Egg laying

Peregrines usually lay one clutch of eggs late March to early May (although sometimes they will lay again if the first clutch is destroyed) which usually contains 2 to 4 eggs. The eggs are usually a reddish-brown colour with dark brown/black mottles and blotches although some are lighter shades. Unfortunately, although it is illegal, the eggs are still targeted by egg collectors who will risk life and limb to reach inaccessible cliff nests or pay other people to do this. Many nests are still guarded by volunteers in order to prevent the eggs being stolen.

The following ideas could be explored with your class after watching the footage of the peregrine laying eggs.

Links with Feeding relationships in Science:
During the 1960’s peregrine numbers began to decline and research revealed that their eggs were breaking before the young were developed because the shells were too thin. The cause of the thinning was DDT used to treat seeds in order to protect them against insect pests before they were sown. DDT is a persistent chemical – it does not break down quickly in the environment. Pupils could be challenge to draw up a food chain that shows how peregrines, predators at the top of their food chain, were being affected by a chemical spread on seeds. Birds such as pigeons ate the seeds and because DDT remained in their bodies it passed on to the peregrines that ate them. Each time a peregrine ate an affected bird more DDT built up in the peregrines until it reached toxic levels which affected the egg shells.

Links with Preparing to play an active role as citizens in PSHE:
Peregrine numbers are recovering now as DDT is no longer used as seed dressing in Britain but pupils could discuss the decisions humans have to make when using chemicals. Chemicals can help protect food crops for people but may then affect food chains for other species. For example killing insects may decrease the food available to insect eating birds affecting their populations which could then affect top carnivores such as birds of prey.

Links with Victorian Britain in History and Preparing to play an active role as citizens in PSHE:
Pupils could investigate the Victorian collectors and how, at the time, collecting birds eggs was regarded as interesting and perhaps thought of as contributing to scientific investigation. Pupils could consider how cultural attitudes to egg collecting have changed, how it is now illegal to collect peregrine eggs and how some people are willing to give up their time as volunteers to guard nests from egg thieves.

Link with Understanding the properties of shape in Maths:
Pupils could be challenged to think about how the shape of an egg might help to prevent it rolling off ledges.

  Incubation

Peregrines do not start incubating their eggs until they have laid the third or fourth egg, this means that all the chicks hatch out at almost the same time. The adult birds will cover an incomplete clutch of eggs if the weather is bad but not incubate properly. Incubation takes 28-33 days and is done mainly by the female, the male bird is smaller and may not be large enough to cover the eggs fully. The male does most of the hunting whilst the female incubates, he often incubates whilst she is eating away from the nest ledge.

The following ideas could be explored with your class after watching the footage of the peregrine incubating.

Links with Adaptation and Grouping and classifying materials in Science:
Peregrine eggs need to be incubated in order to maintain their temperature and enable the embryo inside to mature. On a warm spring day in this country the peregrines can leave the eggs for 2 hours without damage but in the Arctic 20 minutes would be too long. When they have eggs peregrines develop a brood patch, an area of skin without feathers where the eggs can get heat directly through the birds skin. The temperature of the adult birds body is maintained by its covering of feathers but this insulation would also prevent heat reaching the eggs if the brood patch was not present. The class could design an experiment to test the insulating properties of feathers, perhaps by monitoring the temperature of containers of warm water wrapped in feathers or exposed to the air.

Link with Art and design:
Pupils could look at some examples of peregrines or other birds depicted in paintings or sculpture and consider how feathers are depicted. Pupils could produce their own artwork inspired by the colour, shape and/or form of feathers.

  Hatching

Peregrine chicks begin to cheep before they hatch out of the egg and the peregrines become more defensive of the nest. The chick breaks the shell and it can then be up to 72 hours before it breaks free, it is not active all this time and takes only a few hours to actively break out. The chicks all hatch out at more or less the same time and they are coloured with fluffy white down.

The following ideas could be explored with your class after watching the footage of the peregrine eggs hatching.

Links with Adaptation in Science:
In most species of birds of prey there is a space of a few days between each chick hatching so the chicks are of different ages and sizes, this is not the case for peregrines. Pupils could consider why most birds of prey have chicks of differing ages, this is a survival tactic in case of food shortage as the largest and strongest chick will be able to demand most of the food and thus survive. Pupils could also consider why this adaptation is not seen in most peregrines, food shortage is not usually a problem for peregrines during the nesting season. Many young birds have highly camouflaged feathers but peregrine chicks have no camouflaged feathering, they are white and often easily seen on the nest ledge. Pupils could suggest why this is the case, peregrines are powerful predators very capable of defending their nest and the nest sites are often inaccessible to most predators that might harm the chicks.

Links with Preparing to play an active role as citizens in PSHE and Victorian Britain and Britain 1066-1500 in History:
Cultural attitudes towards birds of prey have changed through history. During the Medieval period peregrine falcons were highly prized for falconry and their eyries were protected by law. During the Victorian era all birds of prey could be shot and were killed either as vermin or to be stuffed for collectors. Today peregrines and their eyries are again protected by law but young wild peregrines are still prized as falconry birds in other countries, even though captive bred birds are available, and young birds are still stolen from nests. Pupils could investigate the Medieval and/or Victorian attitudes to birds of prey and discuss current attitudes including calls from some groups who would like the protection of peregrines to be lifted.

  Feeding

Peregrine falcons are powerful hunters catching aerial prey on the wing. The male bird brings food in for the female and chicks whilst they are still small. At first the female tears up the food and gives small pieces to the chicks but after about 3 weeks the chicks begin to snatch food from the parents and feed themselves. After about 5 weeks the chicks can demolish whole prey items. Peregrines regurgitate pellets or castings containing the inedible remains of food, chicks begin to do this after about 3 weeks, before this the female gives them mostly the soft parts of the prey.

The following ideas could be explored with your class after watching the footage of the peregrine feeding the chicks.

Links with Feeding relationships and Adaptation in Science:
Pupils can construct food chains showing peregrines as the top carnivore. Peregrines eat a wide variety of birds including pigeons, ducks, waders, game birds and small birds such as blackbirds, pipits and thrushes. These in turn eat a range of foods including seeds, insects and worms. Female peregrines are larger than males, this is common in many bird of prey species. Pupils could consider why peregrines are adapted in this way, females can carry heavier prey items for longer distances whereas the male birds can catch faster, more agile but smaller prey so this may help to expand the range of prey species caught and reduce competition between the sexes.

Links with Number and algebra and Processing, representing and interpreting data in Maths:
An example of a peregrines diet could be 68% pigeons by weight, 10% game birds, 8% waders, 1% ducks, 9% small birds such as pipits, 3% gulls and 1% other things. Pupils could present this data in graphic form. It has been estimated that a young peregrine needs about 7000g of food from hatching to fledging (about 42 days) so pupils could calculate how much food is needed on average per day. ( 166.67g on average per day although the amount will be less when the chicks first hatch and more as they grow). If a thrush weighs about 80g and a pigeon 425g then pupils could calculate that the adult peregrines would need to catch the equivalent of 8 thrushes per day or 1.5 pigeons to feed a brood of 4 chicks. The adults would also need food for themselves about 130g for a female and a little less for the male. This will give pupils some idea of how hard the adult birds, particularly the male, will have to hunt during the breeding season.

First flight:
After 4 weeks the young peregrines begin to shed their down and show juvenile feathers, they begin to flap their wings frequently and at 5 weeks they begin to hop and flap onto nearby ledges. The young take their first flight around 40 days after hatching. They often land on other ledges but are still found and fed by their parents. Gradually the young learn to hunt with their parents and by the end of the year most of them will have left to find territories of their own.

The following ideas could be explored with your class after watching the footage of the peregrine chicks taking their first flight.

Link with Adaptation in Science
Peregrines have sickle shaped wings which are good for fast flying in pursuit of prey. They are Britains fastest recorded birds reaching speeds of well over 100 mph when they fold their wings and stoop on prey flying beneath them. Pupils could compare the wing shapes of peregrines with those of other birds of prey which use different hunting methods. Eagles and buzzards have broad wings with ‘fingered’ primary feathers at the end, good for soaring whilst watching the ground for prey. Hawks have short rounded wings, good for manoeuvrability whilst chasing prey through woodland.

Pupils could also consider the behavioural adaptations prey species show to try and avoid getting caught such as trying to stay above the peregrine in flight so that the peregrine is unable to stoop down on them.

Link with skills in Geography
The peregrine falcon gets its name from the word peregrinatory which means to wander. Peregrines in Britain do not migrate far, only moving to slightly different territories during the winter but in more Northern regions peregrines move south during the cold Arctic winters. Some birds from Scandinavia come to Britain for the winter and peregrines in Canada may move down to South America – a bird from Northwest Canada was found in Argentina, 14,500 km away. Siberian peregrines move south to the Middle East and North Africa. Pupils could locate these places on a globe or world map and estimate the distances travelled by the birds on migration.

  Other / life cycle

The following ideas could be explored with your class after watching the footage of the peregrine life cycle from nesting to first flight.

Links with Science, English, Art and design or Music
Pupils could produce a piece of work describing the peregrine life cycle in diagrammatic form, in words or through drama, as a piece of art work or as a piece of music.

Links with Variation and classification in Science.
Pupils could use the information available from the footage to explain the characteristics that classify peregrines as birds and suggest some of the characteristics that place them in the order Falconiformes (Falcons).