A Lesson Plan from the Virginia State Parks'
Your Backyard Classrooms

Feathered Feeders

Bill Matching Exercise



Instructions: Locate the feathered feeders with the following bill characteristics.
Pincer-like bill for grasping caterpillars, beetles, bugs, and other insects found among the foliage of trees and thickets.
  • Mockingbird
  • Cuckoo
  • Vireo
Crushing bill for cracking seeds of many different types of land plants.
  • Cardinal
  • Evening Grosbeak
  • Purple Finch
Probing bill for poking into mud and soil for worms and crustaceans.
  • Ibis
  • Rail
  • Woodcock
Ripping bill for eating meat of birds, mammals, reptiles and fish.
  • Great Horned Owl
  • Hawk
  • Vulture
Long grasping bill for catching fish, crustaceans and other aquatic prey.
  • Heron Belted Kingfisher
  • American Bittern
  • Common Tern
Wide bill for straining seeds, crustaceans and aquatic plants from water and muddy bottoms of waterways.
  • Mallard
  • Mute Swan