Ornithology 1B Fall 2009 Calendar

If you miss a class, please check this page and study the listed topics in your field guide or in "The Birder's Handbook" by Ehrlich et al. ( Fireside, 1988). Many of the essays and species accounts from that book are available online. I also recommend visiting field trip sites on your own if you can't make the actual trips. The class calendar from last spring is available here.

Click here for field trip information.

Note: We have moved to room 139!

• A dead American Goldfinch illustrated various feather tracts and anatomical features of birds.
• World Diversity - Click here.
• Families: Waterfowl, guans and , grouse
• We discussed the possible reasons that male ducks are in bright plumage in the winter and drab in the summer.
• We discussed the evolution of leks using the Sage Grouse as an example. Advantages and disadvantages of this breeding strategy were discussed.  

• Discussed binoculars and optics.
• Some good sites that deal with optics for birding:
  • Better View Desired
  • Cornell
  • Optics for Birding
  • Eagle Optics
  • Laura's Optics Guide
• Click here for my brief review of new entry level binoculars from Bushnell.
• Click here for my tips on digiscoping.
• Breeding strategies - Altricial, Precocial. Energetic costs and benefits of each strategy. Herons are "Semi-altricial 1".

• We start at 7pm sharp with your observations and questions.
• Theme of class- What are the factors contributing to avian diversity in the face of Natural Selection?
• Definition of "bird" - Feathered vertebrate. Five major vertebrate classes.
• Naming Birds - Hierarchical categories, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, etc.
• The taxonomic implications of avian hybridization was outlined with special emphasis on "hybrid zones" and "zones of overlap and hybridization." See article by Short for full details.
• The biological species concept was discussed.
• Types of feathers - Vane, contour, down, semiplume, filoplume, aftershaft.
• Parts of a feather - Shaft or rachis, barbs, barbules.
• Earliest Bird - Archaeopteryx - Could it fly?
• Assignment - Memorize the parts of a bird on pages 10-12 of the National Geographic Guide (5th edition) and bring your questions to class.