Do Owls Migrate

Goal: Students classify movements and defend the “why.”

Owls

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Activity: Owl Movement Decision Map (Migration vs Dispersal vs Irruption)

Goal: Students classify movements and defend the “why.”

Steps

Teacher win: Students learn that good science includes uncertainty.

Where it comes from

Some owls migrate like clockwork. Most don’t. And a few do the owl version of “I’ll go wherever the food is” and make it everyone’s problem.

If you’ve ever wondered why you see one owl every winter and another owl seems to vanish after fall, you’re asking a real ecology question:

Are owls migrating, or are they just moving around?

Read the blog post ↗ Do Owls Migrate · 2026-03-18

Run it

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What you need

3 category cards: Migration, Dispersal, Irruption
Owl species cards (Great Horned, Barred, Barn, Short-eared, Saw-whet, Snowy)
Scenario cards (deep snow, vole boom, lemming crash, habitat loss, mild winter)

Steps

Groups choose an owl species card.
Draw a scenario card.
Decide stay put, migrate, disperse, or irrupt.
Write a mini CER Claim: “This owl would most likely ____.” Evidence: prey type + habitat + winter access Reasoning: energy budget logic (“staying costs more/less than moving”) Limitation: “This can vary by region and year.”

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Workspace

Run it with your class

Set up the class, count what needs counting, write down what happened, then save it and take it with you. Everything here stays in this browser until you download it.

The class

Class or group Date Students Students per group

Counters

Results table

Notes as you go

Step 1: Groups choose an owl species card. Step 2: Draw a scenario card. Decide: stay put, migrate, disperse, or irrupt. Write a mini CER: Claim: “This owl would most likely ____.” Evidence: prey type + habitat + winter access Re Anything else: what worked, what to change

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