A bird's beak is like a tool that helps the bird eat.The very first birds had teeth. We think that later birds evolved beaks to help reduce their weight. It is important for a flying creature to be light, and a beak weighs less than a mouth full of teeth.&nbsp;Each bird has a type of beak that has been modified by evolution to suit the way it eats. For example, some have strong beaks for cracking nuts. Some have beaks like tweezers, which can be used to probe for insects.Different birds have evolved different beaks to deal with different types of food.

Why do birds have beaks?

Open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science.

Sign up now for tons of  free  lessons like this one!

Sign up now for a free trial through June 30, 2021. Get tons of lessons!

DISCUSS : How are these beaks different?

You've completed the Exploration &amp; Activity!

If you have more time, view the <a href="#slide-id-2369">assessment </a>, <a href="#slide-id-2369">reading </a>, and <a href="#slide-id-2369">extension activity </a>in the <a href="#slide-id-2369">extensions </a>.

<ul><li><a href="/print/preview/g/1LiYMuwoX8mxusnUPhJL1NopoJGTkiq5rCSZJcC9fp5w/presentation/1Ro5lIf_W3BeWE3-EYTEPhZhC1t60FUNwAj8NaV7E_wI/presentation">End of Mystery Assessment </a> </li><li>Activity Extension: <a href="#slide-id-2430">More ways to experiment </a>with bird “beaks” and “food.” </li><li>Read-Aloud Books: <a href="#slide-id-2431">Online books </a>that focus on ducks, a familiar bird with an interesting bill. </li><li>Video Activity: Watch <a href="#slide-id-2432">videos of birds eating </a>and discuss why each bird has the beak it does. </li><li>Thinking Activity: Explore the <a href="#slide-id-2433">similarities between bird beaks and human tools. </a> </li> </ul>

Activity Extensions: More Experiments to Try

There are several ways to extend this activity.

<ul><li>Repeat the activity with additional "foods" in each test square. Rubber bands make good worms. Different pastas can simulate seed pods. Marbles and pennies present a challenge. Which beak works best for which food? </li><li>Simulate situations that make food more difficult to get. Crumple aluminum foil to represent rough tree bark. Sprinkle it with beans and macaroni. </li><li>Check out the <a href="http://sciencenetlinks.com/student-teacher-sheets/choosing-your-food-wisely/">“Choose Your Food” activity </a>from AAAS Science Net Links, which includes instructions for adding a mathematical component to the activity. Students count how many food items each beak picks up in a given time. Graph the data to compare the performance of different beaks. </li> </ul>

Epic! offers books online for teachers to use for free. Just click “Get Started” to register.

<ul><li><a href="https://www.getepic.com/book/43022366/quack-like-a-duck">Quack Like A Duck </a>— a fun book that will have kids mooing, quacking, and hee-haw-ing. (for ages 0 to 4) </li><li><a href="https://www.getepic.com/book/14087482/ducks?edu=1">Animals on the Farm: Ducks </a>— A duck on the farm describes his life. (for ages 5 to 7) </li><li><a href="https://www.getepic.com/book/15612885/i-love-you-just-enough?edu=1">I Love You Just Enough </a>— A girl raises a lost duckling, then lets it return to nature as a wild duck. (for ages 7 to 9) </li> </ul>

Watch videos of different birds eating. After each video, talk about what the bird is eating and how it uses its beak.

<ul><li><a href="https://video.link/w/Ytur">Hummingbird </a>sips from a flower. </li><li><a href="http://video.link/w/Sgcb">Macaws </a>eat nuts. </li><li><a href="http://video.link/w/ibY">Great blue heron </a>catches fish. </li><li><a href="http://video.link/w/sbY">Robin </a>finds a worm. </li> </ul>

Do you think a hummingbird could crack a nut like a macaw? Do you think a macaw could catch a fish like a great blue heron?

A bird’s beak is like a tool that helps the bird eat. What kinds of tools would you use if you wanted to:

<ul><li>Crack a nut open? </li><li>Scoop cereal out of a bowl filled with cereal and milk? </li><li>Sip soda from a tall glass? </li><li>Catch a slippery fish? </li> </ul>

Can you think of a bird beak that works like these tools? If you’re stumped, advance to the <a href="#slide-id-2434">next slide to see our ideas. </a>

At Mystery Science, we use nutcrackers for cracking nuts. A parrot’s beak is short and strong, and it works like a nut cracker.

A spoon is good for scooping up soggy cereal. It works like a duck’s broad bill.

A straw helps you sip soda from the bottom of a tall glass, just like the hummingbird’s beak lets that bird sip the sweet juice called nectar from the bottom of a flower.

A fork can stab a slippery fish, just like the pointy beak of an egret.

In this lesson, students carry out an investigation to determine the relationship between the shape of different bird beaks and the food each bird eats. In the activity, Find the Best Beak, students experiment with long pointy beaks that are great for picking up seeds and wide flat beaks that are good for scooping. They discover that different beaks are best for different kinds of food.

<a href="#slide-id-2352"> Preview activity </a>

We suggest students work in groups of four. Homeschool students can work on their own.

This activity works best on a low pile carpet. If your classroom has a smooth floor (such as linoleum), you’ll need a bath towel to serve as the work area for each group of 4 students.

Each student will need a “pointy beak” and a “duck beak” to experiment with.

Here’s how to make a “pointy beak”:

<ul><li>Fold a straw in half. </li><li>Make sure that the ends of the straws are even. (If they aren’t, trim them with scissors.) </li><li>Store your “beaks” in a cup so they stay folded. </li> </ul>

Here’s how to make a “duck beak”:

<ul><li>You will use half of your Dixie cups to make “duck beaks.” Leave the other half of your Dixie cups whole as they will serve as “stomach cups” for students. </li><li>For half the Dixie cups, use scissors to make a cut from the lip to the base of the cup. </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Make a matching cut on the other side of the cup. </li><li>Squeeze the sides together to make a beak. (Quacking is optional.) </li> </ul>

Mark off a test area for each group of four students.

<ul><li>If you have a low-pile carpet, mark a 3’ x 3’ square with masking tape. </li><li>If you have hard floors, spread out a bath towel and tape down the corners. </li> </ul>

For each group, you’ll need to prepare two cups. One filled with model “bird food” and the other filled with model “rocks.”

<ul><li>Divide the 8 oz paper cups in half. </li><li>For half of the cups, fill each about one-third full with dried macaroni “bird food.” </li><li>For the other half of the cups, fill each about one-third full with dried beans “rocks.” </li> </ul>

At the start of the activity, each student needs a worksheet, “pointy beak,” “duck beak,” and “stomach cup.” Each group also needs a cup of “bird food.”

Each group will need a cup of “rocks” later in the activity. You may want to organize or separate supplies for easier classroom distribution.

<a href="/getting-started">Getting Started </a>· <a href="https://support.mysteryscience.com">FAQ </a>· <a href="https://mysteryscience.com/pricing">Pricing </a>· <a href="https://mysteryscience.com/contact">Contact </a>· <a href="https://mysteryscience.com/press">Press </a>· <a href="https://mysteryscience.com/terms">Terms </a>· <a href="https://mysteryscience.com/privacy">Privacy </a>

<a href="https://about.mystery.org">About </a>· <a href="https://about.mystery.org/careers">Careers </a>· <a href="https://about.mystery.org/team">Team </a>

Please follow these steps:

<ol><li>Very rarely a video will fail to completely load in your browser. Try to <a href="#">reload this page </a>to see if that fixes the problem. </li><li>If reloading does not help, <a href="/powers/mystery-1/animal-structures-survival/117?video_player=youtube">try our other video player </a>. </li><li>If the video still fails to play, <a href="#">open this video in a new tab </a>and please <a href="#">let us know </a>you’re having trouble. We want to fix this issue for you. </li> </ol>

Why do birds have beaks?

Why do birds have beaks?

Other curated ideas on this topic: