Although in British Columbia, songbirds comprise only one of eighteen other orders of birds they make up over half of all species of birds found in our province. The variety of species within this group reflects the amazing diversity of animals on our planet. If we take a closer look at the different types of songbirds, we can see that although they share common features - bills, feet, wings, feathers, etc. These differences have developed to serve specific functions that make each bird better able to survive in its environment. For example, the shape of the bill of a finch is very different from that of a wren and this can be linked to differences in what they eat.
Finches have short, conical bills that are very strong.
They use their bills to crack open hard shells to get at seeds. Wrens have long, slender bills that are curved slightly downward. They use their bills to search for insects in crevices. The major purpose of this activity is for students to see the diversity among songbirds by looking at simple line drawings of five representative species listed below. Click on the line drawings above to open up the full-sized drawings.