BIOEE 4750 - Ornithology

(PBS)

Spring. 4 credits. Letter grades only. (S-U grades by permission of instructor)

Recommended prerequisite: BIOEE 2740 or BIOSM 2740. Course fee: $15. Offered alternate years. Permission of instructor required. Pre-register in E141 Corson Hall. Enrollment limited to: 35 students. Occasional field trips and special projects. Carpooling to Lab of Ornithology necessary.

D. Winkler.

Lectures cover various aspects of the biology of birds, including anatomy, physiology, systematics, evolution, behavior, ecology, and biogeography. Laboratory includes dissection of dead material, studies of skeletons and plumages, and specimen identification of avian families of the world and species of New York.

Outcome 1: To be able to identify and describe the key components of all avian organ systems and compare them with those of mammals

Outcome 2: To understand in general how each of the organ systems functions

Outcome 3: To understand how avian organ systems condition avian performance

Outcome 4: To be able to identify birds from any of the 220+ Families of birds and give summary of distribution, number of species, larger group membership, and life history of each

Outcome 5: To be able to recognize 150 local common bird species, with common and Latin names, and Family membership

Outcome 6: To learn the pros and cons of different theories for the timing and pattern of avian diversification relative to the K-T extinctions

Outcome 7: To synthesize the biogeographic evidence for dispersal and endemism

Outcome 8: To develop a mind’s eye scenario for diversification and spread of birds across Earth that accounts for all current knowledge about distributions

Outcome 9: To learn about research methods such as mist-netting, banding, censusing, molts, digital databases, etc.

Outcome 10: Research and write life history accounts for two poorly known neotropical birds on the Neotropical Birds Online web-site