Where Do Your Robins Go for the Winter?
Discussion Questions
(Interpreting Banding Data from Your Region)

Review the banding data you gathered and respond to these questions:

  • Make a robin map!

    Do the robins from your region all go to the same place?
  • How large is the region where robins from your state/province have been found in the wintertime? (Mark all locations on a map and measure the area.)
  • How does the winter climate of that region compare with yours? (You'll find maps on the National Weather Service's U.S. Climate Prediction Center site.)
  • How many miles did each robin travel?
  • What is the average distance a robin from your region might migrate?
  • Name the other states/provinces whose robins might spend the winter with your robins.
  • Which robin in your state/province lived the longest after being banded?
  • Before drawing conclusions, scientists always look at the methods of data collection. Can you identify any biases this method may have on the results?
  • These data were collected in the 1930s-1960s. How might this affect the conclusions you draw from the data?
  • Where might robins that spend the winter in Alabama or Georgia go to nest in the summer? (See Lesson: "Whose Robins Might These Be?")
  • Write a scientific paper based explaining what you discovered by analyzing the data. (Link to Lesson: "Scientist Says")

Try This!
Use this online mapping server to map where one of your robins was found. Mark the location with a stickpin:


National Science Education Standards

  • Use data to conduct a reasonable explanation.
  • Communicate investigations and explanations.
  • Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer.
  • Use math in all aspects of scientific inquiry.
  • The behavior of individual organisms is influenced by internal cues (such as hunger) and by external cues (such as a change in the environment).

National Geography Standards

  • How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information.