Hunters of Many Birds: teacher key

Peregrine Falcons, grade 7 edition, written for 7th grade. A peregrine falcon hunts hundreds of kinds of birds. See how big it is, how people have worked with it and how its numbers fell and grew back.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. About how many bird species in North America have been documented as peregrine prey?
   • About 45
   • About 450 (answer)
   • About 4,500
2. What do trained peregrines do at airports?
   • Carry bags
   • Guide planes
   • Scare off birds that could hit planes (answer)
3. How many known pairs lived in the lower 48 states in 1970?
   • 39 (answer)
   • 390
   • 3,900
4. How long do the eggs take to hatch?
   • 3 to 5 days
   • 33 to 35 days (answer)
   • About a year
5. Why is the number of young that live to age 1 so low?
   • Eggs never hatch
   • They never leave the nest
   • Most do not survive their first year (answer)
6. What is a subspecies?
   • A regional variant (answer)
   • A kind of nest
   • A bird call

Words

• subspecies: regional variant
• falconry: training falcons
• scrape: small dip
• perch: high seat
• species: kind of animal