May the Best Beak Win...
Bird Beak Adaptations
Objective: To observe how the shape of a
bird’s beak determines what it eats
Hypothesis: Which beak do you think will be
best suited for each food type?
Background Information: Birds are a varied
species of animal. They can have brightly
colored feathers or be camouflaged within their
environment. Their feet can be webbed for
swimming, have talons for shredding, or
adapted for sitting on limbs. Their beaks can
also tell a lot about the types of food that the
bird can eat. This lab demonstrates how the
shape of a bird’s beak decides what food within
the environment is suitable for consumption.
© Getting Nerdy, LLC
Before You Begin:
1. What is an adaptation?
A trait that allows an organism to successfully survive
in its environment
2. Describe at least three adaptations that an owl has:
Fringed flight
feathers muffle
sound for silent
flight
Large forward facing eyes for hunting.
Light sensitive rods give them good
night vision
Wide range
of neck
motion for
following
prey
Sharp talons for
catching prey
© Getting Nerdy, LLC
Sharp hooked beak for tearing
and shredding flesh
May the Best Beak Win...
Bird Beak Adaptations
What You Do:
1. Select one beak from the objects provided
by your teacher
2. Get one plastic cup filled with “food” and
empty it out slowly in front of you on a
paper plate (your “habitat”). There are 20
food items in each cup. The empty cup now
represents your “stomach.”
3. Hold your stomach in one hand and your
beak in the other.
4. When your teacher tells you, use your beak
to pick up the food from your habitat and
place them in your stomach. You will have
30 seconds to get as many food items as
possible.
© Getting Nerdy, LLC
May the Best Beak Win...
Bird Beak Adaptations
What You Do: (continued…)
5. When your teacher says “Stop,” count the
remaining food on the plate and subtract
that number from 20 to obtain the number
of food items that were eaten. Record that
number in your “Bird beak data table”
under the correct beak in your handout.
6. After round 1, rotate the food source but
keep your beak.
7. Continue to do this until you have eaten
each type of food source with your current
beak.
8. Swap beaks for a different beak type and
repeat steps 1-7 until you have used all
beaks.
9. When complete, you should have eaten all
types of food with each type of beak.
© Getting Nerdy, LLC