An educational experience, teaching awareness and respect for wildlife using live, native birds of prey
“Who is Eating Whom” –
Sky Hunters makes the food chain come alive with an introduction of top of the chain predators, the raptors!
Have you ever wondered how a Sky Hunters presentation is created and how it works in the classroom or for a small group? I start with our mission to teach respect and awareness of wildlife and wildlife habitats. What could be more perfect than discussing what the birds need to survive and demonstrating the whole environment needed to produce the food they eat? Then I review the California Standards, focusing on the Life Sciences for each grade level to make sure the presentation covers all the important concepts for the schools.
In the classroom, I start off by reading a very silly poem called “Links in the Food Chain”, author unknown. I give the students the opportunity to rate the poem at the end; thumbs up or down indicate how they feel about the poem. If this presentation is an introduction, the poem helps to give them direction to identify the technical terms of the food chain.
The poem begins, “There once was a flower that grew on the plain, where the sun helped it grow and so did the rain”. The sun and the rain introduce the need for energy to enter the food chain, while the flower is the introduction to producers. If the class is hesitant to name other produces, I ask for their favorite fruit or vegetable, this starts the class thinking 
and participating. This is the first very interactive part. The poem continues “There once was a bug who nibbled on flower, it nibbled on flowers for hours and hours. The bug ate the flower that grew on the plain, where the sun helped it grow and so did the rain.” You get the idea. Primary consumers, the herbivores are introduced. The students identify as many of the plant-eating animals as they can, then the Carnivores, and Omnivores. If they run out of ideas I start the guessing game “I am thinking of a large mammal with a long neck from Africa who eats leaves from tall trees.”
The poem ends with “The hawk, he grew old and died on spring day, but he made the soil rich when he rotted away, a new flower grew where he died on the plain, where the sun helped it grow and so did the rain.” This is a comfortable way to end the food chain with the decomposers and the introduction of bacterial, fungus, insects and the reintroduction of nutrients to the soil.
Then I bring out one of the birds, 
we go over a little natural history, identify what the birds is, and where it lives. The clue is given “The size of the feet determine what the raptor can catch and eat.” And the students guess what the bird could find in its habitat to eat and what it could catch by the size of its feet. They also identify where the bird sits in the food chain and if other predators would eat it. Then the second bird is introduced and the same lesson is repeated.
To top off the program, I offer a scenario. Think of a perfect meadow, surrounded with trees where the two birds live. It is a balanced habitat, with plenty of food for the hawk, the owl, the mice, the insects, and other creatures. Someone comes in to bulldoze half the meadow. What happens to the birds, the mice, and the food supply? Then a house is built on the bulldozed side of the meadow, the mice move back, into the house, they are in your cereal and in your bread, what do you do? This scenario introduces the dangers of poison, the importance of restoration of habitats, and the need for a balance system for the food chain to work properly.
It is always interesting to me how students get excited about something new or some new way of looking at things. At the end of most of these presentations the students are energized and chatting about what they would do to change the world. The presentations introduce the need for balance environments, shows the interconnection of life from the lowest bacteria to the top of the chain predators, and teaches environmental awareness. I love it!