Celebrate Birds of Prey with Poetry

In this activity, kids write poems about owls, eagles, hawks, or other raptors to share with family and friends.

This activity invites children to use their creative imaginations to celebrate raptors鈥攁.k.a., birds of prey鈥攚ith poetry. All you need are pencils, paper, and your words.

Raptors are a fascinating group of birds for many reasons. They are symbols of strength, power, wisdom, and even ferocity. They are also beautiful and graceful. These characteristics and qualities have inspired writers of all kinds, including poets.

1. Look through the 探花精选 Adventures magazine, , paying attention to the photographs and illustrations of different kinds of raptors. Also focus on the characteristics that all raptors share and that make them such powerful and effective hunters: extra-keen eyesight and hearing, strong grasping feet with sharp talons, and a curved slicing beak. Owls even have a special arrangement of feathers on the edges of their wings that let them fly silently.

2. Introduce the plan to write poems about raptors. If you or your children have favorite poems, this is a great time to share them. Point out that some poems rhyme and some do not. Some are long and some are short. Some are serious and some are funny. Anyone can be a poet! The only requirement is that the writing expresses the writer鈥檚 feelings about something with the hope of inspiring the feelings of the reader.

3. For starters, you might suggest kids write a variation of a five-line poetic form called a cinquain. It gives kids an easy framework they can use as a model for creating their poems. Here鈥檚 how it works:

Line 1: Two-word theme or description
Line 2: Three actions, feelings, or descriptions
Line 3: Four actions, feelings, or descriptions
Line 4: Five actions, feelings, or descriptions
Line 5: Two-word title or summary

Here鈥檚 an example using the above formula:

Flashing wings
Rising, soaring, catching the wind
High-pitched call, gleaming eyes, movement below, turning now
Diving, speeding, almost there. Mouse is running. Go, mouse, go!
Hello, hawk.

Make sure there鈥檚 no pressure of any kind, and no judgment. Writing poetry is only worthwhile if the writer is motivated, inspired, and feeling confident. Suggest kids illustrate their poems, too. Join in by writing and illustrating your own poem!

4. Share the poems with family members and friends by having in-person readings or by telephone, email, or social media. (Share with 探花精选 by emailing audubonmagazine@audubon.org.) Consider making one day a week 'Poetry Day,' and every week write on a different theme. For example, you could choose the weekly themes featured in 探花精选 For Kids, or any theme that feels right and that everyone will enjoy writing about.

Optional:

Here are two very different poems, one about an owl and one about an eagle. Depending on the children鈥檚 ages, you can read and talk about them together for inspiration before writing their own poems. The first is a humorous one about an owl, with a gentle message about noticing the world around us, talking less, and listening more. 鈥淭he Eagle鈥 will only be understood by older children鈥攁t least 8 years old and more likely 10 and up鈥攂ut you still may need to offer help with some of the imagery and vocabulary: 鈥渃rooked hands鈥 as the eagle鈥檚 feet; 鈥渁zure鈥 as another word for 鈥渂lue鈥; 鈥渢he wrinkled sea鈥 that 鈥渃rawls鈥 is a body of moving water; and when the eagle 鈥渇alls,鈥 it鈥檚 really diving after prey. (Eagles are very skilled at spotting and catching fish just below the water鈥檚 surface.)

The Eagle
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring鈥檇 with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

A Wise Old Owl
by Anonymous

A wise old owl lived in an oak
The more he saw the less he spoke
The less he spoke the more he heard
Why can鈥檛 we all be like that wise old bird?

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探花精选 Adventures is an environmental science curriculum, developed by professional educators, that presents standards-based science content about birds and their habitats. It includes four-page magazines (in PDF format) just for kids with lively content, illustrations, and photographs on a variety of topics. Explore more activities, games, and lessons about birds and nature at the .