Ornithology - EBIO 420 - 720

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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 10:00-10:45, 12:15-1:00, TR 1:30-2:30, or by appointment.

Class Meets: MWF from 11:00 to 11:50 - SELAB 206.

Labs and Field Trips: Labs meet on Wed. from 1:00 to 5:00 P.M. in SELAB 212. 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

Outcomes and Assessment: This class and lab will encourage departmental majors and minors in both EEB and ENVS to become familiar with the diversity of birds, their ecological importance, and their evolutionary relationships. Lab reports will require students in both programs to demonstrate written communication skills in their lab reports and field notebooks. Conservation of birds and their habitats will be an important emphasis in both lecture and field work. Specific aims for both programs will include the following: knowledge and evaluation of the competing theories concerning the origin and early evolution of birds, particularly with regards to their relationship with dinosaurs; knowledge of the modern phylogenetic schema of birds in relation to other vertebrates; evaluation of the competing theories for the origin of avian fight; analysis and appreciation of the physics of avian flight; thorough introduction to the nature of avian behavior, including neuroanatomy and mechanisms of neurophysiology; understanding and appreciation of the complexities of avian behavior and social behavior in the context of reproduction, growth, foraging, flocking, and avian coloniality; an appreciation of the life histories of birds in relation to general life history theory; the nature and importance of avian habitat, and its preservation; and field experience that will introduce students to every important habitat type common to southern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

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

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

February

2 Modern Birds, Salzman, Harris (BB)
4 Modern Birds, Salzman (BB)

II. Flight and Energetics

February

6 Adaptations for Flight, Gill 4
9 Adaptations for Flight, Gill 5
11 Physiology, Gill 6
13 Physiology
16 Physiology

III. Brain and Behavior

February

18 Bird Brains, Gill 7
20 First Lecture Exam
23 Mardi Gras Holiday
25 Sensory Physiology, Gill 7
27 Annual Cycles, Migration, Gill 9,10, Molt Sequence (BB)

March

2 Orientation, Navigation, Gill 10
4 Vocal Communication, Gill 8
6 Vocal Communication
9 Territoriality, Gill 11
11 Territoriality
13 Foraging Behavior Gill 20
16 Flocking, Coloniality, Gill 11
18 Second Lecture Exam

IV. Mating and Reproduction

March

20 Mating Systems, Gill 12, Emlen & Oring (BB)
23 Spring Break
25 Spring Break
27 Spring Break
30 Mating Systems, Bowerbirds, Gill 13, Borgia (BB)

April

1 Reproduction - Nests and Eggs, Gill 14, 15
3   Reproduction - Development
6   Reproduction - Parental Care, Gill 16
8   Reproduction - Parental Care
10   Easter Holiday
13   Easter Holiday
15 Reproduction - Parental Care
17 Brood Parasites, Helpers
20 Brood Reduction, Cainism , Stenning, Mock (BB)
22 Life Histories, Gill 17, Martin (two papers on BB)
24 Life Histories
27 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 SELAB 212; 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

28 50 common birds of Louisiana

February

4 Avian Anatomy - External
11 Avian Anatomy - Internal
18 Lab Exam -- Anatomy and Identification
25 Urban birds (Spillway or City Park)

March

4 CBC Data Lab** (meets in Howard Tilton ILC computer classroom on the 3d floor)
11 Northshore (Sat. 14th - 7 AM - 2 PM)
18 Coloniality and Social Behavior of Wading Birds** - Audubon Zoo (meet in front of Dinwiddie)
25 Spring Break

April

1 Bird Banding (Saturday April 4th, time & place TBA)
8 Dauphin Island (Sat. April 18th - 6:30 AM - 7 PM)
15 Grand Isle (Sat. April 25th - 6:30 AM - 7 PM)
22 Makeup for bad weather

** You must do a lab report on these two labs. Lab writeups for the CBC lab will be due in class before Spring Break. Lab report for the Coloniality lab will be due in lab by Sat. April 11th.

Field notebooks will be due 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 1/12/09

Ornithology - EBIO 420 - 720

Birds and Birding in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast

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