Endangered Bird Poems and essays

Bird Keynote

Endangered Bird Reports

Students researched a CA endangered bird, putting notes into the categories indicated on the various report "slides." 

They looked for graphics on the internet and used them appropriately throughout the report.

 They also wrote "found poems" from the articles on their birds in Life on the Edge. 

Click here to view an Endangered Bird Keynote PowerPoint Presentation.

Found poems and written excerpts from other students' presentations. 

California Least Tern
by Kara Fellows

Oh little baby tern,
please look into the sky
in search of predators
unseen to your little eyes.
Oh fluffy little baby chick
whose feathers look like sand,
you know the peregrine falcon
can see you when you stand
run, hide, find your mother
before he dives,
for the sake of your life
scream that little kip-kip-zreeep!
Don‚t wait
before it‚s too late,
before he takes your life
run, hide!
But wait! Can it be?
Mother‚s warning call,
do what she says
quickly fall,
fall on your stomach
use your camouflage.
The falcon stops and looks around
then he flies away.
Your camouflage worked!
Now the California least tern
is one more baby farther
from being extinct


California Least Tern
by Ava Mohsenin

with black tipped wings
and broad forked tail
the tern flies gracefully above river mouths
a white blaze crosses its forehead
the banded bird sits on its eggs
purple and brown
unconcealed
chir-e-e-eep
together but apart
the colony makes the estuary its home
light colored sand
shallow depressions
fragile tern
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
The Least Bell‚s Vireo Poem
by Frederick Huxham

cheedle-cheedle-chee
cheedle-cheedle-chew
small active songbird
sing your rapid warbling song
olive gray above and whitish underneath
ash gray head, pale sulfur yellow tinged sides
two white dull wing bars
beak short and slightly hooked at tip
a nest of bark, like a cup
woven with fine grasses and horse hair
hidden amongst the willow and wild rose
oh poor little bird
your habitat is being eaten up
and now so few of you are here

Least Bell's Vireo
by Jack Cathcart

small songbird
sings a rapid, warbling song
plucking its prey from
deciduous trees
hovering
picking insects from the air
willow, wild rose, dense vegetation
baby nestlings fledge
shaping cuplike nests
bark, fine grasses, horse hair
Brown-Headed Cowbird
destroys a nest
Least Bell‚s Vireo
sings a series of husky phrases
Cheedle-Cheedle-Chee
Cheedle-Cheedle-Chew
Brown-Headed Cowbird
knocking eggs from the nest
all that remains
is a mate to love


THE NORTHERN SPOTTED OWL
By Julia Barnet

Whooping, swooping through the air,
flying over its leaf littered floor
Whoo, whoo it calls
white and brown creamy feathers
over the dense old-growth forest
filled with vegetation.
It is night.  
The owl sees everything
as it hides in the strange old tree∑
PLOP!
It comes whizzing towards the mouse
scampering across the ground.
But will the spotted owl be protected?
The old-growth forest provides protection
from its predators.
But will it survive?
Threatened by man who has destroyed its habitat,
the owl cries out for help!
Whoo, whoo!

Northern Spotted Owl
by Kelly Klein

Whooping, swooping, through the trees
and over the leaf littered forest floor,
mice scatter about as the powerful bird flies by,
but the eyes are too quick,
a squueeaak!!! disturbs the old growth woods.
A dead mouse held in his sharp talons,
he is something small creatures always fear
        ... the owl.           
He is not all bad, though.
In fact, he is all good.
What I just told you about,
is just nature's way.  
Here is what he really is......  
A round headed, dark eyed bird
searching for insects,
in the cool darkness of the forest,
calmly cooing his hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, song,
while other birds respond to his gentle speech.  
Poor bird,
not knowing what is in his future,
of cars, parking lots, and buildings,
what should have been left in peace.
Still surrounded by trees and nature,  
his creamy blaze ruffles in the wind,
while his sharp beak grasps a crunchy grasshopper...
The Northern Spotted Owl.


Western Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
by Dani Hogan

"TWEET, TWEET"
A little beak cracks its way
out of the shell to meet earth.
A western yellow billed cuckoo
 has hatched
In dense forests they flourish
In the floodplains of California‚s rivers
Hiding in flimsy twig nests
Under dense canopy cover
Shadows of yellow and black
Slender, stunning, and graceful
Not soon forgotten

by dani h

Western Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
by Katie B

Sleek yellow billed cuckoo‚s cinnamon wings
Yellow and black shining mandible
Alert yellow billed cuckoo remains undetected
Despite its loud hollow kuk-kuk-kuk
It forages for caterpillars
hidden in holes of trees

The cuckoos build fragile, open-cup nests
Two  days later, the chicks emerge
and appear blind as they poke out of their shells.
Mother and father care for them
Within six weeks, they are on their own

But now, people are cutting down your cottonwoods
and starting wildfires
More and more, your homes destroyed.  
D.D.T is sprayed on your food and poisoning it
So much damage has been done
as one by one
the western yellow billed cuckoos are perishing

In a way,  hope is in peoples‚ hands
to save you from becoming extinct
there is a chance your story will live on.

Swainson‚s Hawk
by Patrick T

Swainson's Hawk
large, fierce
        dark or light always amazingly strange
         the hawk dive-bombs down for prey
                 devouring voles and mice  
               krreeeeeeeeeeeeeeer it screeches
                 settles down in extended yard
               making exquisite and large nests
spotted eggs
endangered bird
  loss of land and habitat for farms and cities
     all that they have is crumbs of habitat



Swainson's Hawk
by Nick B

Graceful and swift as it circles above the grass
Waiting, waiting
Looking for a catch
When she finds her catch
She comes home to her babies
Brown and white eggs ready to be hatched
But when the mommy sits on them they break
Mommy is alone
Mate is gone

The Endangered Elf Owl
by Henry Orr and Peter Mascheroni
The elf owl is a very interesting bird. It has many unique abilities, such as, it doesn‚t have to drink water because it gets hydration from its prey.  Also, it can hear, and catch, a scorpion in the dead of night. The elf owl‚s scientific name is Micrathene whitneyi.

Unfortunately many elf owls die in the first year of life. They get killed by their siblings in the nest.

The elf owl is the smallest owl in the world.  The body is 5-6 inches high.  Its wing span is about 13 1/2 inches, and its tail is very short.  The weight of the elf owl is 1 1/2 ounces.  That is roughly the weight of 2 pencils!  It has a round head with a yellow greenish tail, and large round eyes.  The plumage is white with brown and red streaks on its breast.  The back is brown and gray.  The elf owl has two distinct white eyebrows on its head, so it is very easy to spot.

The elf owl is on the Federal Fish and Game Department‚s endangered list.  In 1987 the California Fish and Game Department counted only 15 - 25 elf owls. Many riparian forest areas, where the elf owl usually live, have been eliminated in the last hundred years.  Habitat loss is the number one threat to elf owl survival.  Scientists have been helping the elf owl by urging farmers not to cut down mesquite and willow forests that this owl needs to survive.  Also, several federal and state agencies are trying to restore habitat for this owl, and other birds, by planting new stands of cottonwood and mesquite along the Colorado River.   

Marbled Murrelet
By Isabel Daffern

Cheep cheep cheep!
the Marbled Murrelet's baby has been born
But then suddenly...thwack !
a tree falls and now the baby dies
The extensive cutting
 of the old growth forests is getting worse
more and more murrelets are dying
Robins and ravens raid their nests
and nobody knows where the eggs are now
 What do we do?

Marbled Murrlet
by Isabel Daffern

flying from branch to branch
high in the dismal skies,
landing on the 100 year oak.
only to find a bare nest,
all it takes is a whiff
to sense a recent raven robbery
the brooding Mamu squeals a call
keer-keer
silence.

The Bank Swallow
by Sebastian Pavlina

With long pointed wings
and sharp black beak
the bank swallow swoops everywhere
high, low, left and right
shooting everywhere
it finally lands in its nest
hopping to the back of its chamber
with full belly it sings
twit zirt twit twit
when it steps onto the edge of its tunnel
its beautiful white breast
and chocolate brown back
glitter in the sunlight
it takes off once more
darting straight for the water
one inch away from it
finally it shoots right back up to the bank wall
thirty holes in the bank wall
along with its own
thirty feet above the water
the bank swallow looks happy
but quarry operations
and bank stabilization projects
threaten its existence
poor bank swallow

The Endangered Bank Swallow
by Sebastian Pavlina and Shay Scharf

        The bank swallow is known to scientists as riparia riparia.  This bird is an aerialist and a neo tropical migrant.  We wanted to study the bank swallow because it is one of the most endangered birds because quarry operations and stream control projects are destroying its habitat.  One of the most striking things about this bird is the way that it swoops so quickly through the air.  Another thing is that it builds a tunnel in a dirt wall.  
        When Seb's mother was a kid, she lived in Pullman, a town in Washington.  She used to go down to the Snake River and put a plastic or paper bag over the holes in the bank swallow wall, and when the birds came out, she would catch them!  When Seb was younger and saw holes in the river bank, he thought that they were snake holes, but now he believes that he was seeing bank swallow nests.  Recently, we saw holes in the creek bank behind Seb‚s backyard, we thought they might be bank swallow holes, but so far we have not seen a bird enter one.
        Unfortunately, the bank swallow has been declared endangered by the State of California.  In 1999 there were 8,210 pairs remained along the Sacramento River and in the northeast corner of the state.  Their status in 1999 was „declining.‰

The Endangered California Condor
by Julian Goldman and Will Terry

        The California condor‚s scientific name is Gymnogyps Californiaus. The most amazing thing about this bird is in 1987 all of the wild condors were captured for a captive breeding program which has had significant success. This great bird was once widespread from British Columbia to Baja California. The condor is America‚s most famous endangered bird as well as the most important in the Native American religious tradition.

        The good news about this bird is that since 1987 the condor has been in a captive breeding program.  In that year the last wild condors were trapped and placed in three programs run by the Los Angeles Zoo, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and the World Center for Birds of Prey in Boise, Idaho.  They have been trying to keep condors away from danger so that the birds can successfully raise their young. If they were in the wild, both the parents and the young would have to face many dangers.  Captive condors‚ young are not allowed to grow used to human presence or else they might come close to humans after being released into the wild. The number of condors released and surviving grows and then shrinks because of traps, habitat loss, or poison. For this reason the status of the condor population in California continues to be questionable.