Hummingbird TrunkBird ID and Costume Trunk – for pre-school to middle school ages. What’s a great way to learn about birds? By becoming one of course! This trunk provides a costume to dress your students up with all the major bird adaptations to turn them into “real” birds of a feather, and real feathers for show as you create your bird.

Common Birds of the Flathead Trunk – appropriate for elementary to high school ages. Students will learn about the most visible birds around Flathead Valley. Trunk includes preserved bird specimens, slides, CD, photos, books, activities and worksheets. Linked to Montana Content and Performance Standards for K-12.

Field Studies Trunk – There are two trunks of materials available for field studies: A classroom set of 20 National Geographic Bird Guides and 12 “7×35” power binoculars for 5th grade and above. For younger students (2nd to 5th grade) there is also a classroom set of 10 Montana Birds field guides and 8 smaller-sized binoculars that are “8×28” power. The second set can also be used by older students. Use of these trunks can help your students gain basic birding skills including use and care of binoculars and bird identification techniques!

The Changing Neighborhood Trunk – appropriate from Pre-school to Primary Elementary School. Use felt figures to relay the story of environmental change and the effects of change on native species.

Maggie the Magpie Trunk – appropriate for Elementary school ages. Have your students take Maggie the Magpie (a puppet) home and journal about her activities! This is a great one for getting those shyer birds in your class to fledge!

Cavity Nesters Trunk – Linked to Montana Content and Performance Standards for K-12. Tell the wonderful story of life in dead trees! Students will explore the adaptations and life cycles of native birds that use dead trees for food and shelter. Trunk includes puppets, activity pages, preserved bird specimens, real cavity nests and much, much more!

Hummingbird Trunk – Linked to Montana Content and Performance Standards for K-12. Did you know a hummingbird only weighs as much as a penny? Learn all about this lightweight of the bird world with the Hummingbird Trunk! Trunk includes a 30 minute narrative with visual aids, puppets and puppet show scripts, specimens, research units on our native hummingbirds and a “humdinger” of a resource notebook full of great lessons and activities.

Owls – (Grades K-5) Includes owl specimens, dissected pellets, tools to dissect your own pellets (you’ll need to supply the pellets themselves), a bird costume, funnels to demonstrate asymmetrical hearing, skull, talon, wing, books and a teacher guide with lesson plan ideas.

Snowy Owls – Whoo Are They? Appropriate from Elementary to Middle School ages. Book and Trunk –Audubon and the Owl Research Institute have joined together to develop this trunk based on the book written by Ansley Watson Ford and Denver Holt.

Wetland and Riparian Studies Trunk – (Grades 4-8, correlated to National Science Education Standards for K-12) Developed in partnership with Flathead Conservation District for educating on the importance of wetland and riparian areas for protecting or improving water quality from nonpoint source pollution, and their importance for wildlife and habitat. Trunk contains background information for teachers; bird song CD, a variety of hands-on activities including a developed unit of study, with recommended activities.

All above trunks are available through Flathead Audubon’s Conservation Educator. Contact auduboneducator@gmail.com to reserve one today. Also available from other sources for bird education:

Songbird Kit – (Grades K-8) – free from Glacier National Park (Contact Laura Law, Education Specialist, 406/888-5837 or laura_law@nps.gov) This dynamic trunk has activities geared for the classroom as well as outdoors relating to songbirds and migration. Resource materials, activities, videos, a felt storyboard, posters, recorded bird songs, and puppets all help students learn more about the natural history of several Montana songbirds.

Loon Trunk – (Grades pre-K-12) – free from Montana Loon Society (or call the Flathead National Forest Supervisor’s Office 406/758-5204 or twenum@fs.fed.us) – Meet “Lottie” the Loon, who plays a true loon wail, learn how to identify a loon by dressing up a student, participate in games to learn how pollution is harmful to loons through the process of bioaccumulation; examine topographic maps to determine what lakes would make a good territory for a pair of nesting loons. This box contains a wealth of fun, hands-on items including a loon egg replica, puppets, scripts, videos, posters and much more to learn about Montana Loons. A three-ring notebook is full of lesson and activity ideas that meet Montana Content and Performance Standards for science, math, social studies, art, and language arts.