Introduction

This term we will complete an avian (bird)

project that will substitute for the final
examination. In the process, we’ll gather and
analyze avian census data, read and study a
birding book, and view several videos
featuring avian fauna.
Birds are ideal subjects for ecological study.
Populations of common birds are ideal for the
purposes of producing conservation
indicators; they are thought to be a good
indicator of the state of the environment as
they occupy a wide range of habitats, tend to
be near the top of the food chain and long-
term data are readily available to assess
population changes.
It is worth knowing that your efforts are part
of a larger project. The data gathered will
contribute to a long term campus biodiversity
study which has already revealed some
interesting ecological data. One of the
benefits of our study is that we will have a
better understanding of conservation biology

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which can help us to better manage the
campus.
In addition, we’ll learn much concerning
biodiversity, behavior, vertebrate
morphology, and biogeography.

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 Avian Project
Assignments

1. Select one of the books below to read and study. You will compile a detailed
report project.

a. Compose one page summaries of each chapter (12 point, double spaced,
about 200 words).

b. For each chapter prepare a map of the travel route(s) presented in the
chapter (one map per chapter). Tip: Insert a picture such as the one on a
following page, and then use Word’s “shapes” option to draw the lines.
Provide a route legend for each map as demonstrated below.

c. Write a one page description of a “hot” birding site refuge found in an

area visited by the author (one per chapter, about 20 total). These will
usually be parks, conservation areas, or wildlife refuges found in an area
visited by the author (one per chapter, about 20 total).

d. Prepare a detailed avian data sheet for each of the 25 required birds (from
the campus study list).

e. Prepare two (2) avian data sheets for birds mentioned in each chapter
(about 40). Note: When you have finished you should have a total of about
65 unique species described in your data sheets.

f. Compile your report project by chapters. Each chapter should have a

summary, travel map, “hot” birding site description(s), and two bird
species profiled on the Avian Data Sheets.

g. Your 25 profiles of local birds should be in an appendix.

h. For each avian themed film, take class notes (at least one page), and type
them with the appropriate title. Each of these will be included in an
appendix (about 10 films).

i. Number your pages sequentially and create a table of contents listing

each summary, map, hot birding site, and the profiled birds.

2. Participate in our long term campus avian diversity field study.

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 a. Form cooperative groups and take several bird censuses on campus
during assigned field trips.
b. Record the number of birds by species and by campus sector.
c. Share your data with others in the class.
d. Prepare an ecological analysis of campus avian species diversity.

3. Learn to ID 25 common campus birds and prepare an identification key for

them.

Booklist
Kingbird Highway: The Biggest Year in the Life of an Extreme Birder
(Paperback)
by Kenn Kaufman (Author)

Amazon.com
“As ornithologist Kenn Kaufman recounts in his lively memoir Kingbird Highway, he's
managed to do what other birders only dream of doing: take a year and chase winged
creatures from one end of the country to another. The year in question was 1973, when
Kaufman was 19 years old, and a few dollars and an outstretched thumb could go a long
way. Armed with binoculars, notebook, and the blessing of birder patron saint Roger Tory
Peterson, Kaufman set out to capture the record for most species spotted in a single year.
He came close, closing with 666 species sighted from Alaska to Florida and back again. More
important, he racked up a lifetime's worth of adventures on the road. These stories form the
heart of his book, a narrative in which spotted redshanks, white-eared hummingbirds,
marbled murrelets, and black-capped gnatcatchers are among the chief supporting players.”

Wild America: The Record of a 30,000 Mile Journey Around the

Continent by a Distinguished Naturalist and His British Colleague
(Paperback)
by Roger Tory Peterson (Author), James Fisher (Author)

Amazon.com
“In 1953 renowned American ornithologist and painter Roger Tory Peterson and British
seabird specialist James Fisher undertook a whirlwind, 100-day tour of America's great
wildlife refuges and corridors. This wonderful book recounts that sometimes madcap
voyage, which took them to familiar places such as Long Island and the Smoky Mountains,
but also to less traveled venues such as Big Bend and the then-remote Everglades. Along
the way the authors document such things as the courting behavior of dragonflies and the
arrival of the first cattle egrets in North America. This is a classic of nature writing and a
great pleasure to read.”

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Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural
Soul (Paperback)
by Scott Weidensaul (Author)

From Publishers Weekly

“Starred Review. In the midst of environmental-policy gloom and global-warming doom,
Weidensaul's poetic account of his travels to several scattered wilderness oases of North
America is an unexpected tonic. The naturalist and author (Living on the Wind) certainly
waxes caustic about the current administration's ecological evils; bemoans the impact of
Earth's warming trend on northern ice packs and southern wetlands; decries the near
(sometimes total) extinction of a multitude of fauna and flora; and laments the incursion of
"invasive exotics"—foreign plants, insects, animals and fish that are crowding out native
species. But in retracing the steps of American birding guru Roger Tory Peterson and British
naturalist James Fisher's legendary 1953 trek—from Newfoundland's craggy coastline, down
the East Coast, into Mexico and up the West Coast to Alaska—Weidensaul time and again
celebrates pockets of species survival, optimistically hailing "the resiliency of wild America."
His brief excerpts from and steady references to Wild America, the classic wilderness
account penned by his predecessors, ought to renew deserved interest in the original book.
But this engrossing state-of-nature memoir, making a vibrant case for preserving America's
wild past for future Americans, promises to become a classic in its own right. 8 pages of
illus., 6 maps not seen by PW. “
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession (Paperback)
by Mark Obmascik (Author)

From Publishers Weekly

“In one of the wackiest competitions around, every year hundreds of obsessed bird watchers
participate in a contest known as the North American Big Year. Hoping to be the one to spot
the most species during the course of the year, each birder spends 365 days racing around
the continental U.S. and Canada compiling lists of birds, all for the glory of being recognized
by the American Birding Association as the Big Year birding champion of North America. In
this entertaining book, Obmascik, a journalist with the Denver Post, tells the stories of the
three top contenders in the 1998 American Big Year: a wisecracking industrial roofing
contractor from New Jersey who aims to break his previous record and win for a second
time; a suave corporate chief executive from Colorado; and a 225-pound nuclear power

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plant software engineer from Maryland. Obmascik bases his story on post-competition
interviews but writes so well that it sounds as if he had been there every step of the way. In
a freewheeling style that moves around as fast as his subjects, the author follows each of
the three birding fanatics as they travel thousands of miles in search of such hard-to-find
species as the crested myna, the pink-footed goose and the fork-tailed flycatcher, spending
thousands of dollars and braving rain, sleet, snowstorms, swamps, deserts, mosquitoes and
garbage dumps in their attempts to outdo each other. By not revealing the outcome until
the end of the book, Obmascik keeps the reader guessing in this fun account of a whirlwind
pursuit of birding fame.”
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All
(Hardcover) *
by Luke Dempsey (Author)

“A gentle, contemplative memoir punctuated by frequent bursts of hilarity and weirdness. At

some points, the book reads like a cross between Bill Bryson and Dave Barry (or perhaps
Patrick McManus), and that’s a very good thing, indeed.” —Booklist

Product Description
“It was an epiphany: The moment two friends showed Luke Dempsey a small bird flitting
around the bushes of his country garden, he fell madly in love. But did he really want to be
a birder? Didn’t that mean he’d be forced to eat granola? And wear a man-pouch? Before he
knew it, though, he was lost to birding mania. Early mornings in Central Park gave way to
weekend mornings wandering around Pennsylvania, which morphed into weeklong trips to
Texas, Arizona, Michigan, Florida—anywhere the birds were.
A Supremely Bad Idea is one man’s account of an epic journey around America, all in search
of the rarest and most beautiful birds the country has to offer. But the birds are only part of
it. There are also his crazy companions, Don and Donna Graffiti, who obsess over
Dempsey’s culinary limitations and watch in horror as an innocent comment in a store in
Arizona almost turns into an international incident; as a trip through wild Florida turns into a
series of (sometimes poetic) fisticuffs; and as he teeters at the summit of the Rocky
Mountains, a displaced Brit falling in love all over again, this time with his adopted country.
Both a paean to avian beauty and a memoir of the back roads of America, A Supremely Bad
Idea is a supremely fun comic romp: an environmentally sound This Is Spinal Tap with
binoculars.”

*If you choose this book, here are the requirements (the book has only 7
chapters).

For each chapter: Chapter summary, map, six (6) “hot birding” sites, and seven
(7) bird species profiles.
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 Book: Total Birding Chapter: ten Example

Route Legend:

St. Mary’s, Newfoundland to Boston, MA

Boston, MA to Asheville, NC

Source: The CIA FactBook at

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/reference_maps/north_ameri
ca.html

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 Example
Birding Hot Spot for Chapter Ten

Name: Aransas National Wildlife Refuge

Location: Texas gulf coast east of Corpus Christi, TX

Type: National Wildlife Refuge

Stewards: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Habitat(s): Lakes, marshes, maritime forests, and estuaries

Birds of note: Endangered whooping cranes, roseate spoonbills, migratory birds

Other wildlife: American alligator, javelina, white-tailed deer, and armadillo

Activities: Wildlife viewing and fishing; interpretive van tours January

through April

Special Events: Aransas Lecture Series Program; Environmental Education

Programs

Photo:

Endangered Whooping Crane

(http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/aransas/wildlifesee.html).

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 Example: Avian Data Sheet

Species number:26 Book: Birding Travels Chapter: 1

Page: 5

Common name: Indigo bunting

Scientific name: Passerina cyanea (Note: Cut and paste is OK, but be
sure to list your source)

Order: PASSERIFORMES

Family: CARDINALIDAE

Description: Small songbird. Short, thick bill. Size: 12-13 cm (5-5 in), Wingspan: 19-22 cm (7-9
in),
Weight: 12-18 g (0.42-0.64 ounces)

Conservation Status: Abundant. May be declining slightly in Southeast.

Male: Male brilliant dark blue all over.

Female: Female dull brown.

Young: Similar to adult female, with brighter buff wingbars. First-year male
shows variable amount of blue and brown, may have distinct wingbars.

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Nest: Open cup of soft leaves, coarse grasses, stems, and strips of bark,
held in place with spider web, lined with fine grasses or deer hair. Placed in
shrub or herbaceous plant close to ground.

Eggs: Unmarked white; a few have brownish spots.

Habitat: Breeds in brushy and weedy areas along edges of cultivated land,
woods, roads, power line rights-of-way, and in open deciduous woods and old
fields. Winters in weedy fields, citrus orchards, and weedy cropland.
Food: Small insects, spiders, seeds, buds, and berries.
Breeding range: Most US (not NW U.S)

Non-breeding range: Cuba, Southern Mexico, and Central America

Call: Song a musical series of warbling notes, each phrase given in twos. Call
a sharp, thin "spit." Flight call a high buzz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aocfy4LY8DE

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aocfy4LY8DE

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Source(s): http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Indigo_Bunting.html

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