Field Ornithology

Birds are considered important indicators of habitat quality and are often the focus of conservation-oriented research, restoration, and monitoring. This program is intended to foster the development of strong bird identification and natural history skills, and to expose students to a variety of field and analytical methods commonly used in bird monitoring and avian research. We will link theory to practice in via a series of paired lectures, seminars, and field exercises.

Students can expect to spend all or part of most class periods in the field. Field work in the campus forest and beach will be supplemented with several day trips to field sites in the Puget Sound region. Students will implement their knowledge during a 10-day field trip to the Mississippi Flyway and the US Gulf Coast during the peak of spring migration. On this trip, we will visit some of important stopover sites along the coast. We will also conduct an intensive survey of bottomland hardwood forests, cypress swamps and wetlands from in Louisiana. These habitats host some of the highest densities of breeding and migrating birds in North America. We will have the opportunity to learn about Louisiana natural history and ecology from a series of local and nationally recognized researchers and naturalists along the way.

Students will demonstrate their learning through active participation in all class activities; a detailed field journal; in-class, take-home, and field assignments; exams, and a research project.