Field Bird Biology Lab, BIOS 337 (1 credit)
Pre-requisites: BIOS 211, 213, or permission of the instructor
Instructors:
- Dr. Cin-Ty Lee - ctlee (at) rice.edu, 324 Geology
- Dr. David Queller - queller (at) rice.edu, 209B Biology (Anderson Labs)
- Dr. Joan Strassmann - strassm (at) rice.edu, 209C Biology (Anderson Labs)
Course Description:
The Houston area and the Texas coast offer some of the greatest avian diversity in the world. This course will take advantage of this diversity by introducing students to birds, teaching them how to observe and monitor birds, with an introduction to avian ecology, behavior and conservation. The course will be centered on field trips and student projects.
Course Material:
- Bird book: Sibley’s on Eastern N. America is good, but others are all right too like the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America: Revised and Updated (Paperback), Jon L. Dunn
- Binoculars (you must buy good waterproof binoculars)more info
- Field Notebook and checklist (to be discussed at second class period)
- Much of the visual aids for the lectures will come from www.surfbirds.com, a grassroots website and photograph archive that Professor Lee helped to start and maintain
Some Good Websites:
- National Wildlife Federation www.enature.com
- United States Geological Survey http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/
- Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology http://www.birds.cornell.edu/
- Birding websites www.surfbirds.com www.americanbirding.org
Requirements and Grading:
Attendance at all 4 field trips is firmly required. Do not be late. We will leave without you and you will have to drop the course. Grades will be based on attitude and participation (15%), 3 blog style entries on 3 different birds (more information later) (45%) and four bird identification quizzes (40%)
We will meet 3 Fridays at 3:30 pm for an hour and a half in 130D:
We will have 4 field trips:
More information on the blog entries will be forthcoming.
Bird blog due dates are midnight 7 February, 23 March, and 6 April. No late work
Spring 2011 Course Schedule
| Date | |
|---|---|
| January 14 - 3:30PM | Lecture - Introduction to birds What is a bird? - Queller Form and function. Evolutionary history. Survey of bird orders around the world |
January 21 - 3:30PM | Lecture - Introduction to basic field identification skills. - Lee How to take field notes including identification, counts, behavior Identification of waterbirds (example of PowerPoint) |
| January 28 - 3:30PM | Lecture - Bird behavior - Strassmann Group interactions and vigilance on winter grounds Mating systems Parent offspring behavior |
| January 30 | Field Trip 1. Introduction to birds. Location: Brazos Bend State Park |
| March 18-20 | Field Trip 2 - Overnight Trip - Lost Maples State Park (bring your own tent, sleeping bag, flashlight and eating utensils- more detail to follow) |
| April 3 | Field Trip 3 - Water birds of the upper Texas coast. Location: Brazoria Wildlife Refuge | April 18 | Field Trip 4 - Spring migration , High Island, Anahuac NWR |