The wonderful world of birds.

This Saturday we tried to get acquainted with a variety of birdlife. We started with songs or the way of communicating of birds: during flirting, finding partners to protect and mark their territory during nests and nursing … Some species of birds have the ability to learn, construct, and communicate within groups, linking sounds to objects or specific situations.

The parrots repeat what a man is talking about, he cannot speak our language but is able to imitate, sometimes with incredible accuracy. We can safely say that parrots better transmit information than our Patrol-kids. Our dear Patrol-kids were trying to convey the story from ear to ear, but that story would eventually have a completely different meaning. In the world the parrots did not really go anyway, but swallows and other birds that need to organize themselves before going on a trip (migration). Patrol-kids managed to settle in alphabetical order, height, hair length, etc. without using words, just using sounds like little swallows before leaving for Africa.

What is our most famous marine bird whose natural habitats are remote islands and is today a permanent resident of the cities by the sea? The answer is easy, it’s the gull. Their great number in cities has become a serious problem. Carriers are many diseases and impurities, and create noise. When it comes to food, they are warlike within their own species. The children showed this characteristic through the competition between two flocks of gulls – red and grey. The reds eventually took the victory, gathering more ‘residues of food on the dumpster’.

Children showed the consequences of ecological catastrophe, oil spills in the sea with negative impact on sea birds. Normally, the feathers of healthy birds are waterproof, but in contact with the oil it becomes permeable, leading the sea birds to die of cold or drowning. After that, they started making paper feathers in different colours, which became the perfect props for unavoidable photography.

Throughout the game, the Patrol-kids met the skills that birds developed to get food, such as a good memory. They were birds that are preparing for adverse winter conditions by collecting and hiding food by the woods a few months ago. Furthermore, they also became acquainted with birds of prey which have an exceptional ability to observe (sight) and speed.

With the story of the most famous extinct bird from Mauritius, they met through the game “Cooked Dodo”. If people did not come to an uninhabited island until 1500 years ago, this species would probably still be alive. So this workshop, at the request of our patrols, ended with a minute of silence for all extinct birds.

Until next Saturday, be as free as a bird. See you 😉