Topics in Field Ornithology (Fall 2017)

If you miss a class, please check this page and study the listed topics in your field guide. Click here for last semester's calendar.

Note: Please park in the Hayes Street Parking lot. All spaces are available except disabled and reserved drop off for the child care center. If the lot is full and you park in the Grove Street lot you will likely get a parking ticket unless you display the temporary parking passes which are available to all registered students. These passes must be stamped by the John Adams office which closes at 7:30pm!

Note: We will be using the new 7th edition of the National Geographic Guide.
Class notes by Elisabeth Koster are here. (Plumage and molt terminology here. )
Please register at eBird and email me your eBird ID. I can then offer to share field trip lists with you.

Click here for a summary of bird name changes from the 58th AOS supplement.

"Subspecies for Birders" presented to Marin Audubon on 13 October. Audio Recording and PDF here
My article on Ridgway's Rail being imperiled by Spartina removal is here.

Click here for a photo of Rhinoceros Auklets in Alaska.
Atlantic Puffin off Canada with notes.
Horned Puffin photos are here, here, here, here and here.
My Tufted Puffin photos and notes are here and here. Click here for a Tufted Puffin from Alaska.
For the puffin poem, click here.

This was the last class of the semester. Information on Spring 2018 classes.

Photos of Least Auklet, Parakeet Auklet and Crested Auklets from Alaska.
My photos and notes on the Hermit Rock Parakeet Auklet. Additional Parakeet Auklets in California.

Tricolored Blackbird survey protocol and information here.

Long-billed Murrelets here, here and here.

Click here, here and here for my photos of Pigeon Guillemots with taxonomic notes.

My Common Murres photos fromn Alaska with taxonomic notes.
Click here for a photo of Common and Thick-billed murres in Alaska. Additional Thick-billed Murre photos are here and here.
My Razorbill photos in New Brunswick with notes.

Parasitic Jaeger is here. Note that Europeans call the Parasitic Jaeger, the Arctic Skua.
Comparison of South Polar Skua and Pomarine Jaeger is here.
Long-tailed Jaeger photos are here, here, and here. Details and photos of a controversial Long-tailed/Parasitic Jaeger are here.

South Polar Skua photos are here and here.
Steve Howell's article on possible Brown Skua off California.
Comparison of South Polar Skua and Pomarine Jaeger is here. David Sibley's essay on the subject.

My photo of an immature Elegant Tern is here. Additional Elegant Tern photos here and here (with notes).
Elegant Tern in direct comparison with Royal Tern here. Additional Royal Tern here, here and here.
Caspian Tern at Coyote Point Field Trip 27 March 2011 (© 2011 Linda Swanson); and 9 March 2013 my photo here.
My photo of a Texas Black Skimmer is here. Florida here. California Black Skimmer photos are here, here, here, here and here. From South America here and here.

My Gull-billed Tern photos from California are here (additional notes) and here. From Australia here and here.
My Large-billed Tern photos from brazil are here, here and here.
My Sandwich Tern and Royal Tern photo is here.
David Sibley's essay on bill color variation in Sandwich Terns.

A Common Tern photo with detailed ID discussion is here. My photos of Common Terns are here and here.
Click here for a photo and ID discussion of Arctic Tern. My Arctic Tern photos from Alaska are here and here (with notes). .
My photos of Forster's Terns from Bolsa Chica are here and here. Additional Forster's Terns are here and here. Photo of a chick here.

Brown Noddy at Dry Tortugas.
Sooty Tern at Dry Tortugas.
Click here for a photo of a Bridled Tern in California.
Sooty Terns in California are here and here.
My photos of Least Terns (with eggs & young) from Bolsa Chica are here and here. Additional Least Tern photo is here.
My account of the White-winged Tern at Moonglow Dairy (with photos) is here.