Learning About Birds: Ducks and Other Waterfowl

Ducks are a favorite in our household. My kids love visiting the ducks at the pond near our house, and our old neighbors had pet ducks that my kids adored, so naturally we had to include them in our bird study.

Information About Waterfowl:

Waterfowl include ducks, geese, and swans. They require an aquatic habitat like wetlands, lakes, rivers, or coastlines to survive. They have webbed feet for swimming and flat beaks for filtering food from water. Some waterfowl, like geese, are primarily herbivores, feeding mainly on aquatic vegetation. Other waterfowl, like ducks, are omnivores, and eat a combination of vegetation, fish, and insects.

Many waterfowl are migratory. They breed and spend their summers up north in places like Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, and then migrate south to warmer climates for the winter. My family is lucky to live near some of the wetlands that are the winter home to many waterfowl including snow geese and tundra swans. We love watching them arriving by the thousands in the fall and then leaving in the early spring.

Videos and Other Resources About Waterfowl:

-Amazing Mallard Duck Information

-Geese Fly Together from National Geographic

-Through the Lense: Snow Goose Migration from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

-Duck Facts for Kids from Homeschool Pop

-Duck Identification: Mallards from The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

-Mallard Life History from All About Birds

-Amazing Waterfowl Facts from Ducks Unlimited

-Canada Goose Life History from All About Birds

Mallard Duck Handprint Craft:

I love how cute these handprint mallard ducks turned out and they were actually pretty simple. For this craft you will need:

-a white piece of paper

-brown washable paint

-a paintbrush

-craft feathers, preferably brown, green, or yellow

-green construction paper

-orange construction paper

-markers or watercolors

Start by painting your child's hand brown and make a handprint on the white paper.

Cut a head out of the green construction paper and an orange beak out of the orange construction paper. Glue them above the thumb on the handprint.

Add some feathers on the handprint for a wing and add an eye to the head with a marker.

If your kids want, let them add a pond around their duck with markers or watercolors.

If you enjoyed this post and would like more activity ideas and resources for teaching your children about birds, check out the other posts in my Learning About Birds Series.

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