Ornithology - EBIO 420 - 720

Weather Forecasts
Species Seen on Recent Field Trips
Field Trip FAQ's - Grand Isle, Dauphin Island etc.
Photos From Field Trips

Lecture Syllabus Instructor: Dr. Bruce E. Fleury, Stern 4030 (x8290)

email: bfleury@tulane.edu
home page: http://www.tulane.edu/~bfleury/

Office Hours: Stern 4030 - MWF 8:30-9:30, TR 1:30-2:30, or by appointment.

Class Meets: MWF. from 11:00 to 11:50 in Gibson 126.

Labs and Field Trips: Labs meet on Wed. from 1:00 to 5:00 P.M. in Dinwiddie 214. Some field trips will be held on Saturdays (see lab syllabus for details). No lab will be held on Wednsdays if a weekend trip is planned for that week.

Textbooks: Frank B. Gill, Ornithology (latest ed.). W. H. Freeman.
Peterson, R. T. P., A Field Guide to the Birds, Eastern Birds (4th ed. or latest). Peterson Field Guides, Houghton Mifflin, 1980.

Course Philosophy: Birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs. They are among the most visible and active animals that we encounter in our daily lives, yet few people appreciate their marvelous adaptations or their complex behavior and life cycle. This class will introduce you to this fascinating group of animals, as well as familiarize you with the diverse habitats of southern Louisiana.

Equipment: Dissecting kit, usually available at the Tulane bookstore. Binoculars will be very useful, if you already have a pair. We will supply a limited number of binoculars.

Exams and Grading: There will be three hour exams (no final exam). Each lecture exam (including the final exam) will count 100 points. Exams will consist of objective and short essay questions. The first lab exam, worth 50 points, covers identification and anatomy. The second lab exam will be a 50 point test of your bird identification skills in the field. Your final combined lab/lecture grade will be based on a percentage of 460 points:

Hour Exams 300     Lab Notebook     20
Lab Exam       50    Field ID Exam      50
Lab Reports   40 (2 @ 20 each)

Final grades will be calculated as a percentage of 460 points as shown below:

A	93-100	A-	90-92
B+	87-89	B	83-86	B-	80-82
C+	77-79	C	73-76	C-	70-72
D+	67-69	D	60-66	D-	55-59

Lectures -- Readings

Suggested readings from your text are listed below. Additional readings will be announced in class and made available online through Blackboard.

I. Origin and Evolution of Birds

January

14 Introduction
16 Origin of Ornithology, White, Gill 1
18 Dinosaurs and Birds, Gill 2
21 Martin Luther King Holiday
23 Dinosaurs and Birds, Feduccia, Dino-Aves Clades (BB)
25 Origin of Birds, Sloane (BB), Prum
28 Origin of Birds
30 Evolution of Flight, Padian and Chiappe (BB), Prum &Brush (BB)

February

1 Modern Birds
4 Mardi Gras Holiday
6 Modern Birds, Salzman (BB)

II. Flight and Energetics

February

8     Modern Birds, Salzman (BB)
11   Adaptations for Flight, Gill 4
13 Adaptations for Flight, Gill 5
15 Physiology, Gill 6
18 Physiology
20 Physiology
22   First Lecture Exam

III. Brain and Behavior

February

25 Bird Brains, Gill 7
27 Sensory Physiology, Gill 7
29   Annual Cycles, Migration, Gill 9,10, Molt Sequence (BB)

March

3 Orientation, Navigation, Gill 10
5     Vocal Communication, Gill 8
7 Vocal Communication
10   Territoriality, Gill 11
12 Territoriality
14 Foraging Behavior Gill 20
17 Spring Break
19   Spring Break
21   Spring Break
24 Spring Break
26   Flocking, Coloniality, Gill 11
28    Second Lecture Exam

IV. Mating and Reproduction

March

31 Mating Systems, Gill 12, Emlen & Oring (BB)

April

2     Mating Systems, Bowerbirds, Gill 13, Borgia (BB)
4   Reproduction - Nests and Eggs, Gill 14, 15
7   Reproduction - Development
9 Reproduction - Parental Care, Gill 16
11 Reproduction - Parental Care
14 Reproduction - Parental Care
16   Brood Parasites, Helpers
18   Brood Reduction, Cainism , Stenning, Mock (BB)
21   Life Histories, Gill 17, Martin (two papers on BB)
23 Life Histories
25 Birds and Man
28 Third Lecture Exam

Final exams? - we don't need no stinkin' final exams...

Ornithology Lab

Lab Instructor: Stefan Woltman

Contact Info: 4060 Stern, swoltman@tulane.edu

Lab Meets: 1:00-5:00 PM Wednesday in Dinwiddie 214; field trips meet in front of Reilly at the shuttle bus stop, departing at 1:00 PM unless otherwise specified. Labs are scheduled until 5 PM, and will often go the full period. Because of the vagaries of suburban traffic etc. we may occasionally return from the field shortly after 5 PM.

Equipment: Dissection kits must be purchased from the bookstore for the labs on avian anatomy. Dissections will be done in pairs. Work carefully, and be sure each lab partner gets an equal opportunity to dissect. You should subscribe to the Louisiana birding listserve at LSU. Go to http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/LABIRDintro.html for details. This email listserve often contains useful information on who is seeing what in and around the state, as well as alerting you to rare or unusual species in our vicointy.

Field Trips

There will be several field trips during the semester. Three of these field trips will be held on Saturday: the North Shore, Grand Isle, and Dauphin Island. Please mark your calendars well in advance. No lab will be held on Thursday if a weekend trip is scheduled for the following Saturday. I hate getting up early on Saturday as much as you do, but by mid-afternoon, birds are quieter, higher up in the trees, and much harder to observe. These trips are an essential part of the class, and will introduce you to a wide variety of local habitats. During the Grand Isle field trip, you will be tested on your ability to identify birds in the field.

Field trips will meet in the bus shelter near the front of Reilly Center, unless otherwise notified. All field trips will depart on time. You should plan to arrive at least 15 minutes before departure for attendance etc... Please dress appropriately. Short pants, sandals, or open-toed shoes are a very bad idea, due to the primitive trails, mud, poison ivy, and biting bugs we may encounter. You may wish to pack a lunch or snack, and bring a thermos of coffee or cold water. Attendance at labs and field trips is mandatory. Each unexcused absence from labs or field trips will result in ten points being deducted from your final grade. If you miss three labs or more, you will be dropped from the course.

You will be required to keep a detailed lab notebook of your observations, including birds seen on field trips (when/where/habitat etc..). Composition style notebooks are available in the bookstore. These notebooks will be handed in at mid-semester for preliminary review. Lab reports will take the form of a short scientific paper. Further details on format and length of reports, and instructions on organizing and maintaining your lab notebook, will be supplied in lab.

Lab Schedule

January

30   50 common birds of Louisiana

February

6     Avian Anatomy - External
13 Avian Anatomy - Internal
20 Lab Exam -- Anatomy and Identification
27   Urban birds (Spillway or City Park)

March

5 CBC Data Lab** (meets in Howard Tilton ILC computer classroom on the 3d floor)
12 Coloniality and Social Behavior of Wading Birds** - Audubon Zoo (meet in front of Dinwiddie)
19 Spring Break
26 Northshore - Bird Banding (Sat. 29th 7 AM - 5 PM)

April

2 TBA
9 Dauphin Island (Sat. April 12th - 7 AM - 7 PM)
16 Grand Isle (Sat. April 19th - 7 AM - 7 PM)
23 Makeup for bad weather

** You must do a lab report on these two labs. Lab writeups for the CBC lab will be by Wed. March 26th. Lab report for the Coloniality lab will be due by Sat. April 12th.

Field notebooks will be no later than the last day of class. Reports or notebooks submitted after that day will be penalized 5 points per day late.

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Ornithology on the Internet

UC Berkeley Flight exhibit
Recent Ornithological Literature
Birds - the Tree of Life
BIRDNET: Ornithological Societies Home Pages
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
GORP - Bird Watching and Related Information on Birds
Optics for Birding Home Page
Peterson Online
The Colonial Waterbird Society Birding on the Net
The Sibley-Monroe List of the Worlds Birds

All About Birds, Birdwatching, and Birding
Types of Birds - Birding Net Links
Wild birds - attracting, feeding and watching
North American Bird Songs
Shorebirds
UGA Southeastern Birds Photo Archive
Birding.com
BirdSource- Birding
American Birding Association
Alphabetical List of Birds of the World
Animal Pictures Archive
Patuxent Bird Population Studies

Resources for CBC Data Lab

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Info for Wild Bird Rehabilitation

International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council
www.iwrc-online.org
(magazine on rehabilitation, information on training, publications)

National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association
www.nwrawildlife.org/home.asp

Louisiana Wildlife Rehabilitators Association
www.louisianawildliferehabilitators.com
(training workshop information is sometimes posted here, find local rehabilitators)

In order to become a wildlife rehabilitator of mammals and/or reptiles in Louisiana, you must obtain a wildlife rehabilitator’s permit from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF). In order to rehabilitate native wild birds, you must first obtain a federal permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and then a state permit from the LDWF.

For an application to become a federally permitted wild bird rehabilitator write to:
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P. O. Box 49208, Atlanta, GA 30359
(404) 679-7070

For an application to become a licensed wild animal rehabilitator in the State of Louisiana, write to:
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Natural Heritage Program, P. O. Box 9800, Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000

Falconry Information

In order to become a falconer you must obtain a joint state and federal falconry permit, a Game Breeder’s permit from the LDWF and must possess a valid hunting license from LDWF. In order to obtain a license you must pass the falconry exam, build facilities and have them inspected by a wildlife officer, and obtain a sponsor (licensed falconer).

Stephen Sorensen, Falconry Coordinator, Wildlife Division
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries
E-mail: Sorensen_SG@wlf.state.la.us
Office: (225) 765-2374
(Mr. Sorensen will send a copy of the state and federal falconry regulations.)

For a federal falconry permit application write to:
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P. O. Box 49208, Atlanta, GA 30359
(404) 679-7070

North American Falconers Association www.n-a-f-a.org

Thanks to Jennifer Coulson for this info!!

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This page was last updated on 1/12/08

Ornithology - EBIO 420 - 720

Birds and Birding in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast

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