Ornithology Lecture

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Carmine Bee tree2-F.Gallo.jpg

Carmine Bee eaters; Photo copyright Frank Gallo


Basic Course Information

Spring 2009

Meets: Monday & Wednesdays, 11:00 - 11:50, BPB 130

Instructor: Dr. Margaret Rubega Office: PharmBio 500

Office Phone: 486-4502 Office Hours: By appointment

Email: margaret.rubega@uconn.edu Your emails to me MUST contain the phrase "EEB 4260” in the subject line; email received without that phrase, and especially those with a blank subject line, will be DELETED without being read.


Teaching Assistant: Brian Hiller Office: PharmBio 404

Office Phone: 486-3005 Office Hours: MW 10 - 11 a.m.

email: brian.hiller@uconn.edu

Required text

ORNITHOLOGY, 3rd Edition (Freeman) by Frank B. Gill

See also online materials at: http://www.whfreeman.com/gill3e

Optional texts

MANUAL OF ORNITHOLOGY (Yale Univ.), by N.S. Proctor and P.J. Lynch

BIRDS OF STORRS (Natchaug Ornithological Society) by G.A. Clark, Jr.

SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRD LIFE AND BEHAVIOR (Knopf), ed. by C. Elphick, J.B. Dunning and D.A. Sibley.


Class Schedule

Lecture # Date Subject (click for lecture notes) Required Reading in Gill Optional reading from Proctor & Lynch [in brackets], and other resources
1 Jan 21 What are birds and why would we study them? Pgs. xxi- xxvi and Chapter 1 [1–6]
2 Jan 26 Birds of the World Chapter 1 & online at: www.whfreeman.com/gill3e
3 Jan 28 Avian evolution Chapter 2 [13 – 21]
4 Feb 2 Feathers Chapter 4 [81–115]
5 Feb 4 Climate Change & Birds Pgs. 269 - 271 US Forest Service Climate Change Bird (& Tree) Atlas showing how bird distributions will change with changes in climate.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's web page.

The Arbor Day Foundation's maps showing changes in hardiness zones since 1990.

NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's sea ice projections.

6 Feb 9 Flight Chapter 5 [117,136–139, 148–151, 156–163] Article and videos of wing-assisted incline-running!
7 Feb 11 Physiology: Endothermy and Thermoregulation Chapter 6 (pgs. 150-164)
8 Feb 16 Feeding, feeding structures and feeding behavior Chapter 1 (pgs. 13-15) [122–130, 152-154]
9 Feb 18 Physiology: Digestion and Excretion; Water Balance Chapter 6 (pp. 164-179) [175-187, 219-239]
10 Feb 23 Physiology: Respiration and Circulation Chapter 6 (141-150) [189-217]
11 Feb 25 Sensory Biology and Intelligence Chapter 7 [241-262] See Evidence that birds are smarter than you!
12 Mar 2 Communication: Visual Pgs. 344-359
Mar 4 Mid-term exam Lectures 1-12; all associated readings Click here to view a Sample Test
March 9-13 SPRING BREAK NO CLASS
13 Mar 16 Communication: Vocal Chapter 8
14 Mar 18 Annual Cycles Chapter 9
15 Mar 23 Migration Chapter 10 (pgs. 273-295)
16 Mar 25 Navigation Chapter 10 (pgs. 273-295)
17 Mar 30 Social Behavior Chapter 11
18 Apr 1 Reproduction: Mating Behavior Pg. 359 through Chapter 13
19 Apr 6 Reproduction: Physiology Chapter 14 [219-239]
20 Apr 8 Reproduction: Nests and Nesting Chapter 15
21 Apr 13 Reproduction: Growth and Development of Young Chapter 16 (pgs. 467-482)
22 Apr 15 Reproduction: Parental Care Chapter 16 (pgs. 482-502)
23 Apr 20 Avian Conservation I: Rare and Endangered Species Chapter 21
24 Apr 22 Avian Conservation II: Population Monitoring pgs.558-569
25 Apr 27 Lecture overruns, review?
26 Apr 29 Documentary Day!
May 8 FINAL EXAM ALL MATERIAL TO DATE 1:00 to 3:00 pm

Grading

Grading in this course is done on a straight percentage-of-points basis, i.e., to obtain an A, you need to earn 90% or more of the available points on tests, minute papers, and other assigned activities (e.g., Twitters). The grades will not be "curved", and there will be no opportunities for "make-up" or "extra-credit" points. If you miss a test or minute paper, you will receive a score of zero. If you have a legitimate reason (click here for a sample of legitimate vs. lame excuses) to miss a test or minute paper, you may be excused (at the discretion of the instructors) IF AND ONLY IF you provide written documentation (for example, a doctor's note documenting illness; an obituary documenting a death in your family). In cases where the instructors determine you have a legitimate excuse, there still will be no make-ups administered: you will be graded only on the basis of the points contained in the tests and minute papers you did complete. NOTE that this method reduces the number of points you can afford to lose and still do well in the course.

Attendance is not taken, and is not required; however, if you miss class you may miss in-class minute papers (see below). As noted above, there are no opportunities for making-up missed minute papers.

These policies have been developed over years of teaching this and other courses, and are designed to ensure fair treatment of everyone by eliminating discrepancies in testing and evaluation, and by eliminating differences in the amount of study time available to students. I am very willing to discuss my reasoning for these policies, but if you try to talk me into making an exception to them for you, you will fail, and probably make me grumpy to boot.


Tests/Minute Papers

COURSE POINT TOTAL 310 POINTS

Test 1: 75 points, Feb. 25 (Covers material from Lectures 1-9)

Final: 150 points, May 7 (75 points are dedicated to material from Lectures 19-27, 75 points are dedicated to material from the WHOLE COURSE)

Click here to view a Sample Test

TEST TOTAL 300 points

Minute papers: are short (it takes a minute!), UNGRADED (if you write something relevant, you're good -- there are no "right" answers) responses to questions we will pose in class. They are worth 1 point each, and there will be 10 of them over the whole semester. Ten points may seem trivial, but it's worth remembering that it's the equivalent of 3 percentage points, enough in borderline cases to make the difference between a B+ and an A. The questions on the minute papers are designed to provide us with feedback on your background preparation for certain material, to assess whether you understood what we just tried to teach you, and to prompt you to assess your own understanding of the material.

MINUTE PAPER TOTAL 10 Points


Academic Rules/Conduct

All students should be aware of the guidelines on academic integrity contained in the Student Conduct Code. Click here to see the Conduct Code.

Questions

If you have questions, by all means collar me or email me and ask. I will post both the questions (questioners will be anonymous) and answers here.

Can I reschedule my final in this class because: a)I have more than one other exam on the same day as the final for this course; b)I am leaving town before the exam; c) I got sick the night before the exam; d) I overslept and missed the exam? Believe it or not, this is not up to me. There is a university-wide policy on rescheduling exams here. READ IT CAREFULLY NOW, and save yourself some trouble later. If you have an allowable reason to reschedule, see the registrar first, b/c I cannot help you without the registrar's permission slip.


I am/have been/might be sick, and it's difficult/inconvenient/impossible for me to get a doctor's note. Are you really going to refuse to excuse me if I don't show up for a minute paper/test/other credit-bearing exercise? The short answer to this is yes, I AM going to refuse to excuse you. The policy laid out above (in Grading) is simple --- some form of documentation is required before I will even consider excusing you. The policy exists to ensure fair treatment of everyone, to reduce the temptation to use feigned illness as a way to, for example, gain time before taking a test, and to avoid the need for me to have the discernment of Solomon in determining whether to excuse someone or not. It is simple because simple is unambiguous. You get documentation, or you cannot be excused. I am NOT encouraging you to come to class when you are sick. On the contrary, I urge you to eat right, get enough sleep, protect your health, and keep your germs to yourself. However, if you do get sick, and while sick find that getting some documentation is more burden than you can face, you are then faced with a choice --- is it worth a point? 10 points? 75 points? of your grade to do what has to be done to get some documentation of your condition? The choice is really yours --- I don't take your absences personally -- and the outcome of the choice is really your responsibility.

Bird News

A link to a page set up and maintained by Dr. Elphick.

Useful and Amusing Links

Jobs in Ornithology, the job board for the Ornithological Societies of North America. THE central clearing house for field research internships and jobs.

UConn Ornithology Collections Donation Page -- where to go if you find a dead bird!

University of Connecticut Biological Collections, including the Bird Collection.

Feather Identification Resource Online! The Feather Atlas of North American Birds provided high-resolution scans of flight feathers of the major groups of birds; useful for comparison with found feathers whose origin you aren't sure of.

Images of Bird Wings Online. The Slater Museum, at the University of Puget Sound, provides high-resolution images of their entire collection of spread (open) bird wings. Useful for studying flight style as a function of wing morphology.