Ornithology 484

Suggested additional activities

The list is not comprehensive.  We encourage you to pursue outside-of-class bird-related activities that interest you.  Please discuss those ideas with your instructors to make sure they are appropriate.  You must complete at least 4 activities during the semester, at least 2 of which must be outdoor activities, and at least 1 of which must be an indoor activity.

Outdoor:

• Compile a yardlist—a list of all the birds seen on or above where you live during the whole semester.
• Spend a full morning volunteering at a local banding station for a morning.  Nearby banding stations include Florida Wash, Tumacacori (contact Wade Leitner) and the San Pedro river (contact Heather Swanson).
• Volunteer during the semester at a raptor rehab center.
• Participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count this Feb.  http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc
• If you are confident in your ID skill for local birds, sign up to participate in the Tucson Bird Count (http://www.tucsonbirds.org/)
• Go on your own “Big Day”:  How many species can you see in a single 24-hr period? Consider doing a big day with a couple of friends as part of the annual Audubon society fundraiser (a bird-a-thon).
• Birding day trip to see Sandhill Cranes wintering at White Water Draw.  What movements do they make throughout the day?  What other birds can you find in the area?
• Participate in a Tucson Audubon Society field trip.
• Read the Tucson Rare Bird Alert and go to find a special vagrant bird.  Whether or not you are successful, find out why it is on the rare bird alert and what the history of records in the area for that species. 
• Take advantage of a trip away from town during spring break to do some birding in a new area.  Compile a list of all the birds you found.
• Spend a morning observing Burrowing Owl behavior at the artificial burrows at Grant & Silverbell.  Describe the activities of the owls, and provide some hypotheses for why they are doing what they do.
• Compile a list of all birds you observe on the U of A campus during the semester
• Set up a seed feeder +/or hummingbird feeder at your home and describe at least five types of behaviors you see. 
• Spend a morning in the hummingbird house or the aviary at the desert museum.  Catalogue all the inter-specific interactions that you see.  Divide them into passive, evasive, aggressive, and cooperative behaviors.  What patterns do you observer?  What explanations can you come up with to explain those patterns?
• Go on a birding day-trip up Mt. Lemmon with a friend in the class.  Start early and stop at several different elevations along the way (some suggestions: the desert at the base, Molino Basin, General Hitchcock area in Bear Canyon, Rose Canyon lake, the Bear Wallow picnic area, above the ski area).  Spend at least a half hour at each stop and explore the surrounding vegetation Make separate bird lists for each stop.  At the end of the day summarize how the avifauna changes along this elevational gradient.
• Go on birding trips to alternate locations.  Contact us for ideas of good places to go.  A fun theme is to focus on a particular group—say thrashers, or raptors, or sparrows—and then design a trip to try to find as many of the species in that group as possible.
• Conduct a moon watch! Here are some official protocols--follow as many of the guidelines as are feasible for you.
  

Indoor:

• Find the latest edition of the Auk and summarize an article in it.
• Keep a record of the first dates you spot birds that do not spend the winter in Tucson (White-Wing Dove, Ash-Throated Flycatcher, Summer Tanager, Lucy’s Warbler, etc.).  Research historical records of arrival times. How do your dates compare to the historical data? 
• Have trouble telling a Common from a Chihauhaun Raven?  Summer and Hepatic Tanagers?  Pick a difficult pair of birds and explain how to separate them in the field.  Make drawing to illustrate field marks.
• Make a detailed drawing of your favorite species.  Pay attention to feather the feather.  Labeling relevant field marks.
• Write a short essay (1-page) on the influence that birds have had in any one of the fine arts in general (e.g., popular music, opera, painting, architecture…) or a devote your piece to a single, bird-inspired piece.
• Write a 1-page report on the role of birds in a native Arizonan culture (Navajo, Apache, Pima, Tohono O’odam)
• Write a 1-page review of “Winged Migration” or “March of the Penguins”.  What were the greatest strengths of the movie?  What didn’t you like (be critical!)? Was anything misrepresented? 
• Attend a meeting of the local chapter of the Audubon society.  Write a short summary of the your experiences at the meeting and the content of the speaker’s presentation.
• Make a presentation on birds to an elementary school class.
• Make a photographic guide to the common birds of your neighborhood and distribute it in a neighborhood society newsletter or block party.