full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Washington Wachira: For the love of birds

Unscramble the Blue Letters

With me here today I brought something beautiful. This is a feather from one of the most beautiful birds we have in Kenya, the ceerstd guinea fowl. But this feather is more than just that. If you've taken time when you are outdoors to look at the feathers around you, you'll have noticed that there is this huge variety of different siezs, shapes and even colors. The feather is one of the most aoihnnitssg pieces of technology invented by the natural world, and for centuries, this faeehtr has helped birds to keep dry, to keep warm and even power flight. Only one section of the tree of life can actually make a feather. Among all the world's animals, birds are the only ones who can make something like what I'm holding today. I plslrnoaey have given them a nickname, and I like to call them the feathermakers. It is the major drefifcnee between birds and any other amanils we have on earth, and if you can't make a feather, you cannot call yourself a bird.

Open Cloze

With me here today I brought something beautiful. This is a feather from one of the most beautiful birds we have in Kenya, the _______ guinea fowl. But this feather is more than just that. If you've taken time when you are outdoors to look at the feathers around you, you'll have noticed that there is this huge variety of different _____, shapes and even colors. The feather is one of the most ___________ pieces of technology invented by the natural world, and for centuries, this _______ has helped birds to keep dry, to keep warm and even power flight. Only one section of the tree of life can actually make a feather. Among all the world's animals, birds are the only ones who can make something like what I'm holding today. I __________ have given them a nickname, and I like to call them the feathermakers. It is the major __________ between birds and any other _______ we have on earth, and if you can't make a feather, you cannot call yourself a bird.

Solution

  1. animals
  2. personally
  3. sizes
  4. crested
  5. difference
  6. feather
  7. astonishing

Original Text

With me here today I brought something beautiful. This is a feather from one of the most beautiful birds we have in Kenya, the crested guinea fowl. But this feather is more than just that. If you've taken time when you are outdoors to look at the feathers around you, you'll have noticed that there is this huge variety of different sizes, shapes and even colors. The feather is one of the most astonishing pieces of technology invented by the natural world, and for centuries, this feather has helped birds to keep dry, to keep warm and even power flight. Only one section of the tree of life can actually make a feather. Among all the world's animals, birds are the only ones who can make something like what I'm holding today. I personally have given them a nickname, and I like to call them the feathermakers. It is the major difference between birds and any other animals we have on earth, and if you can't make a feather, you cannot call yourself a bird.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
citizen science 4
beautiful birds 3
regained strength 2
high school 2
kenya bird 2
african raptor 2
huge gateway 2

Important Words

  1. animals
  2. astonishing
  3. beautiful
  4. bird
  5. birds
  6. brought
  7. call
  8. centuries
  9. colors
  10. crested
  11. difference
  12. dry
  13. earth
  14. feather
  15. feathermakers
  16. feathers
  17. flight
  18. fowl
  19. guinea
  20. helped
  21. holding
  22. huge
  23. invented
  24. kenya
  25. life
  26. major
  27. natural
  28. nickname
  29. noticed
  30. outdoors
  31. personally
  32. pieces
  33. power
  34. section
  35. shapes
  36. sizes
  37. technology
  38. time
  39. today
  40. tree
  41. variety
  42. warm
  43. world