Table of Contents

This ornithology course originated from lecture notes that I developed over the years. I have retired from teaching and see little reason to have this resouce, such as it is, gather dust in some drawer. In this blog format, I offer it to you as a free, non-credit, self-study exercise.  As such, you many expect little or no interaction from me (although I will be glad to hear about possible editorial improvements).
  • Introduction
  • What is a Bird?
  • Ornithology (Ornithology and birding)
  • Flight (Advantanges and adaptations for flight)
  • Origin and Evolution of Birds (The evolution of flight)
  • Taxonomy and Systematics (Species and evolution)
  • Ethology (Behavior, innate vs. learning, personal behaviors)
  • Social Behavior (Communication, Territory, Flocking, Courtship and Breeding, Nesting, Incubating, and more)
  • Migration (The whys and hows of migration, What about birds that don't migrate?)
  • Feathers (Kinds, molt, color)
  • Ecology (Extinction, Geographical Ecology, Population Ecology)
  • History of Ornithology (Very brief, mostly American)
  • Concluding Remarks (You could well start here--feeding birds, binoculars, birding organizations)
Barred Owl

Comments

  1. UnknownDecember 18, 2012 at 7:43 PM

    How interesting! I saw a barred owl on my walk a few weeks ago, very bold and unconcerned about the many people on the trail under its perching branch. I was able to stand under it and take as many pictures as I wished. Today at the Audobon I saw its doppleganger, a spotted owl. Now that I have seen one of each, I can see a resemblance, but they are very distinct! The spotted owl had a much less regular pattern of markings and more white feathers in its back plumes. I came across this page because I was searching for pine siskins. There was one walking around under the feeder today, and I took her to the bird center. I hope she is ok......
    Thank you for sharing your avid love of birds,
    Katherine

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dan TallmanOctober 9, 2013 at 7:31 PM

    You can ask me questions through this blog if anything is unclear.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownJanuary 30, 2017 at 9:24 AM

    thank you for all the hard work. this is very interesting and useful.
    --chhanda bewtra

    ReplyDelete

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