When you see pigeons bopping around on the sidewalk, it’s hard to imagine a bird as big as the California condor. This bird’s wings span 10 feet, more than half the length of your car. And they fly faster than 50 MPH, which is twice as fast as cars on a neighborhood street. A condor can travel 160 miles in a single day hunting for food. Clearly the condor thinks it’s a car!
Wee ones: Flap your arms like a condor 5 times and count the flaps out loud!
Little kids: How big do you think your “wingspan” is? Spread your arms wide and have a grown-up measure the distance from fingertip to fingertip. Bonus: Condors live longer than most birds – up to 60 years! How much older is a 60-year-old condor than you?
Big kids: If a condor is flying at 12,000 feet, then swoops to 1/2 that height above the ground, and then dives again to cut the height in 1/2 again, at what new height is it flying? Bonus: If a condor flies 160 miles in 1 day, and it sleeps for 8 hours, how far did it travel on average in 1 awake hour?
Answers:
Wee ones: Count the flaps: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5!
Little kids: See how wide your wingspan is – we bet it’s less than 10 feet! Bonus: Different for everyone… subtract your age from 60.
Big kids: 3,000 feet, because it goes from 12,000 to 6,000 feet, then 1/2 of 6,000 is 3,000. Bonus: 10 miles, because it’s awake for 16 hours, and 160 miles / 16 = 10.
