Reading the Wind: teacher key

Golden Eagles, grade 10 edition, written for 10th grade. Tracking tags show how golden eagles use rising air to save energy. Learn how they look, hunt, nest and raise young, and what counts of the birds say.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. How many flight behaviors did the GPS study sort?
   • Two
   • Twelve
   • Five (answer)
2. When was orographic soaring more frequent?
   • In winter only
   • In autumn (answer)
   • Never
3. Who was better at using the flight mode that saved the most energy?
   • Adults (answer)
   • Subadults
   • Neither
4. What is the newest estimate for the interior western United States?
   • 318 golden eagles
   • 3 million golden eagles
   • 31,800 golden eagles (answer)
5. Thermals were less available in autumn. What happened in the study?
   • Orographic soaring was more frequent (answer)
   • Orographic soaring stopped
   • The eagles stopped flying
6. What does orographic soaring use?
   • Heat from a nest
   • Air pushed up by hills (answer)
   • Ocean waves

Words

• orographic: hill-lifted
• thermals: rising warm air
• subadults: young eagles
• telemetry: remote tracking
• estuary: river mouth