We will leave from the Vivarium (606 E. Healey) at 6:45am unless otherwise specified; returning at 10:50am.

Please try to arrive five minutes early!
 
Field Trips
Students are required to attend all of the scheduled field trips. Only one excused absence will be allowed.  You can make up a missed trip by attending optional trips (dates and times to be announced--we expect to conduct one or two in the early spring).
      The Shawnee field trip (April 25-27) is considered mandatory and is highly beneficial for the field practical. We will see most of our birds during this trip, and you can expect to encounter many of these on the field practical held the following week. There is a $30 food fee due by April 14/16th. We will leave for the Shawnee around 10am on Friday and return at 6pm on Sunday.
      In general, for field trips:
  • Eat before and bring extra food if necessary. Some of these field trips last five hours.
  • Dress appropriately for the weather (boots, warm jackets, hats, gloves, and rain gear).
  • Always bring your binoculars, field guide, journal notebook, pen or pencil, and any other personal necessities (see below for info on binoculars and journal notebook)
 
Binoculars
We have access to one or two pairs of binoculars that can be loaned out for the duration of each field trip. In order to ensure that you have binoculars at your disposal throughout the semester, we strongly recommend buying or borrowing your own. For the uninitiated, 7x35 or 8x40 (magnification power x objective lens diameter) are best because they have the widest field of view and are generally easiest to use. You can purchase cheap binoculars at Best Buy, but try Eagle Optics for a higher quality and more expensive pair. For a good discussion on buying binoculars look here.
 
Journals
The journal is worth 50 points, and will be collected at end of the semester. Please purchase a small notebook to bring on the field trips, and record in it the following information:
  • Date, locations and time of day.
  • Habitats visited.
  • List of birds seen and heard in each habitat.
  • Other notes on identification.
  • Behavioral observations
  • Keys to difficult identifications
Keeping good notes will help you to identify specimens in the lab and on the practicals.
 
Mist Netting
Mist netting will be conducted on a few of the later field trips.  Students will learn techniques associated with handling the birds, setting up mist nets, aging, and sexing birds. Standard measurements taken by most bird banders include:
  • Wing length
  • Tail length
  • Culmen length
  • Tarsus length