LIFT OFF! How do birds do it? You can figure it out by building different bird models, with different features that may or may not help it fly.

MIGRATION HOPSCOTCH Think flying is hard? How about flying thousands of miles every spring and fall, navigating to the same spot year after year. Play this game to try to make the journey.

SHAPES AND SIZES A bird's wings and an airplane's wings both have to keep it aloft. Both are also designed to fly specific ways. See how different wing types are good for different kinds of flight.

Learn the relationship between how a bird lives and its wingspan and flying style. Print out the .PDF files for both the Cuban Bee Hummingbird and the Andean Condor. Measure out the profile of the Andean Condor, then trace it in chalk on the playground or using an overhead projector to project the image onto large paper or a cloth sheet. hummingbird and condor printouts chart paper graph paper pencil tablet

Hummingbirds beat their tiny wings about a hundred times per second. Condors glide for hours without flapping once. Compare the biggest and smallest wings.

Find the diameter of the birds to determine the correct answer

B.Using the printouts, multiply the head to tail measurement by the wingspan to find the diameter of each bird. Then divide the diameter of the condor by the diameter of the hummingbird to reveal how many hummingbirds would fit in a condor and graph it along side your estimate.

How many hummingbirds fit inside the profile of the condor?

A. Guesstimate how many hummingbirds will fit into the profile. Graph your estimate results (on chart paper or chalkboard) and explain how you came up with your estimate.

Choose any bird and figure out its diameter and compare to the condor and hummingbird

C. Follow up by researching a bird of your choice, sketching an outline, guesstimating, then figuring out the number of hummingbird profiles that will fit into this mystery bird, or the number of mystery birds that will fit into the Condor profile through division and multiplication.