Bird Beaks, Feet, and Diet

• A bird uses its beak to catch and eat food.
• Different birds have different kinds of beaks depending upon the food they eat.

Bird Beaks & Diet

• Sparrows and pigeons eat nuts and seeds and have strong, short, and hard beaks to crack open their food.
• Eagles, vultures, and hawks eat small birds and animals and have strong, sharp, and hooked beaks for tearing flesh.
• Woodpeckers have strong, pointed beaks to poke holes into hard tree trunks to find insects and similarly, the hoopoe uses its beak to find food.
• Ducks and geese, which are water birds, have broad and flat beaks to take in muddy water with insects, worms, and plants .
• Sunbirds and hummingbirds have long and pointed beaks which help to suck nectar from flowers.

Bird Feet and Claws

• Birds have two feet with four toes on each and use them to walk, hop, catch, and hold food.
• Flesh-eating birds like eagles and vultures have very sharp claws called talons.
• Talons help them pick up small animals such as toads, mice, and rats.
• Perching birds like crows, sparrows, pigeons, and parrots use their feet to hold on to tree branches and sit, which is called perching.
• Scratching birds like hens and peacocks have sharp claws to dig the ground and dig out food using their toes.
• Climbing birds like woodpeckers have two toes pointing upwards and two toes downwards, helping them to climb and hold onto trees.
• Water birds like ducks and geese have webbed feet to help them swim in water because their front toes are joined by skin, giving them a flat appearance, which helps them push water.

Water Birds

• Water birds like herons, storks, and cranes can walk through the water and this is called wading.
• Wading birds have long legs with spread-out toes that help them walk in water.

Bird Flight

• Birds fly with the help of their wings and wings are joined to the body with strong muscles that help them move.
• Birds flap their wings in upward and downward directions. These strokes are called upstroke and downstroke.

Bird Feathers

• A bird's body and wings are covered with many feathers and there are three kinds of feathers.
• Body feathers cover a bird's body.
• Down feathers are fluffy and soft and keep the bird warm.
• Flight feathers are mainly on the wings and are for flying.

Bird Nests

• Birds build nests using leaves, straws, twigs, wool, cotton, and thread, taking care to build their nests in safe places from enemies and bad weather.
• Birds' nests can be seen on trees, terraces of buildings, and even sometimes on ceilings.
• Birds build nests mostly to lay eggs in them and the chicks stay in the nests until they are old enough to fly.
• A tailor bird uses its beak like a needle to sew leaves together to build a nest and also uses materials for sewing.
• A weaver bird uses its beak to weave pieces of leaves, grass, or twigs to build a nest with an opening.
• Woodpeckers use their beaks to peck into tree trunks and make a hole.
• Penguins live in cold places, and collect stones and pebbles to make nests on the ground.

Length

• Length is the size of the measurement of how long something is and in the early days, people used body parts to measure length
• Examples of body part measurements include hand span, cubit, footspan, and stride.
• Measuring using body parts are not precise since the size varies.
• A unit is a fixed quantity used as a standard of measurement.
• Meter, centimetre are the fixed units of measure for length.

Mass

• Mass tells us the amount of material an object contains
• Beam balance is used to find the mass of an object.

Capacity

• Capacity of a container is the amount of liquid it can hold.
• Litre is the commonly used unit for measuring capacity and smaller amounts of liquids are measured in millilitres
• Measuring cylinder is used for measuring the amount of liquid and measuring cylinders come in various capacities.

Time

• Time is measured using a clock or a watch and the unit for measuring time is seconds.
• Minutes, hour, day, week, month, or year can also be used according to the need.

Light

• Light helps us to see and the sun is the main source of both light and heat on the earth.
• Objects that give out light are called luminous.
• Examples of luminous objects are the sun, candle, light bulbs etc.
• Objects that do not give out light are called non-luminous.
• Examples of non-luminous objects are paper, tables, and the moon.
• When light falls on non-luminous objects then we are able to see them.
• Shadows are formed when an object blocks the path of light from luminous objects
• The length of a shadow changes throughout the day according to the position of the sun.

Sound

• Sound is created when we talk use our tongues.
• Sound travels through air, without air there is no sound.
• Sound travels in different volumes ranging from soft (whispering) to loud (ringing of a bell).
• Some sounds are pleasant such as music and some are not like the honking of a vehicle.

Force

• Force is a push or a pull and helps us to do many things
• Force can move an object or stop a moving object and force can even change the shape of an object.

Friction

• Friction is a special force that slows down movements and less friction can cause things to slide.

Air

• Air contains water in the form of water vapour.
• Air also contains important gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, dust particles, and germs.

Water

• Water is very important for life on Earth.
• All living things need water.
• We use water for various purposes such as drinking, cooking, and watering plants.

Water Cycle

• Ice, water, and water vapour are the three forms of water.
• Evaporation is the change of water in wet clothes to water vapor due to heat from the sun.
• Condensation is the change of water vapour to water droplets
• A cycle involving change of water into water vapor, and then to water again, is called the water cycle.

Weather

• General conditions of air around us is called the weather and changes in weather are caused by the sun, wind, and water vapor in the air.
• On sunny days it is usually hot, with the afternoons being the hottest and mornings and evenings are cooler.

Seasons

• Moving air is called wind.
• When the wind blows slowly it is called a breeze and strong winds that are accompanied by storms can cause damage.
• There are five main seasons in India: the year-summer, monsoon, autumn, winter, and spring.

Earth

• The Earth is the third planet in the solar system and is the only planet known to have plants and animals.

Shape of Earth

• Earth appears flat to us because we only see a tiny part of it.
• People that have traveled into space have seen the Earth is round from there, people who travel into space are called astronauts.

Earth Movements

• The Earth shows two kinds of movement known as rotation and revolution.

Rotation

• Rotation is the spinning movement of the Earth about its axis and takes nearly 24 hours .
• When the Earth rotates on its axis, one half of the Earth faces the sun and the other half of the Earth is away from the sun.
• So, it is daytime on that half that faces the sun and nighttime on the other half.

Revolution

• The Earth moves around the sun in a fixed path called Earth's orbit, taking about 365 days and 5 hours to complete one revolution, with 365 days making a year.

Our Environment

• Our environment includes the air, water, land, animals, plants, and the place where we live.
• Humans have dirtied the planet and must strive to fix it.