Florida Ibis Scarlet Ibis

“The Scarlet Ibis” by James Hurst For the next nine slides, write down 10 interesting facts you learn about the ibis.

The scarlet ibis is a vivid scarlet bird. It is just over 1.5 ft. long. It has a curved bill. The sensitive bill is used to search for food, mainly small animals in the mud along the coast.

flying to their evening roost in the mangrove The scarlet ibises live in large groups and fly in V-formation from their roosts to their feeding grounds. They contrast splendidly with the normal green color of the landscape, the brown of the mud flats and the blue of the sky.

The ibises feed in shallow waters along the coast, in the mud flats and in the lagoons. They have to eat a lot of shrimp to retain their color.

They sleep in large groups in the mangrove trees along the coast, together with herons. In these trees they make their nests (a pile of sticks) and both parents take care of the young.

young bird changing from brown to red

The ibises breed in young mangroves and if not enough of these trees are found in Suriname, the birds fly away to breed on the coast of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana or Brazil. In Trinidad they are protected as the the national bird of that island, but they did not breed there for the last 30 years.

Each small square indicates the observation of at least 1 (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least 4 observations and the largest ones 10 or more.

Half page free write. SIX Minutes What are some expectations that people, including yourself, have of you? In as much detail as possible, describe these expectations. The following questions might help you start: Who expects things of me? What kinds of things do they expect? What do I expect of myself?

Pre-reading Choose ONE of the following topics Pre-reading Choose ONE of the following topics. Write the topic down then write one FULL page on the topic: 11 Minutes Have you ever looked forward to something and been disappointed because it did not turn out as you expected? Have you ever taken out your anger on someone else or been mean, even though you know you shouldn’t have? Have you ever done something you regret? Have you ever been given a responsibility you did not want and felt resentment? How did you act as a result.

Next week we will read “The Scarlet Ibis,” in which… the narrator's brother "Doodle" is born physically handicapped and is expected to die, yet lives. The narrator is forced to take Doodle everywhere in a cart. After much effort, he succeeds in making Doodle walk. Then, he is determined to teach Doodle more... and find out what the red bird has to do with it!

Quotations from “The Scarlet Ibis” Write the below quotes and then explain them in your own words. “There is within me (and with sadness I have watched it in others) a knot of cruelty borne by the stream of love, much as our blood sometimes bears the seed of our destruction, and sometimes I was mean to Doodle.” “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible, thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.”