Introduction

Kenya is a country full of beautiful plants and animals, many of which are found only in Kenya itself. If you were to take a safari in Kenya, you would see animals such as giraffes, cape buffalo, rhinoceros, leopards, lions, and even birds. Kenya has over 1,000 different types of birds and some of these birds are so friendly they’ll fly right to you and eat food out of your hand, while others may be more dangerous. Stay away from those birds!

Information

For this activity, you need to go to the website titled Birds of Kenya found at http://www.dc-adnet.com/Photo-Info/birder.htm. Once at this website, you will look at different birds and compare them, noting the differences in their size, color, bills, leg and feet shapes, etc.

Activity

Go to the Birds of Kenya website. Please answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper.

1. Click on the Weavers and Finches link at the top of the screen. Compare the Waxbills and Starlings. How are they similar? How are they different?

2. What environments do these birds live in? What do they eat?

3. Click on the Buffalo Weaver and Superb Starling links and compare their pictures. Do they look alike? How do they look different? Consider their coloring, size, bills and legs.

4. Click on the Vultures and Birds of Prey link at the top of the screen. Compare the Vultures with the Weavers. How are they similar? How are they different?

5. Click on the links of the Hooded Vulture and compare it to the picture you saw of the Buffalo Weaver. Note how the two may be alike and how they may be different. Do they have the same shape? The same size? Coloring?

6. What do you think the purpose of the Weaver is? What do you think the purpose of the vulture is?