Ornithology B/C

[duckiegirl2]

As Deeisenberg said, the test will not have a lot of calls. If you are at an invitational, it depends on the teacher. At our invte, there was 5 q's on the test. I would think that at state, there would be at least 5 q's on vocalization.

On the topic of different types of calls for one bird, i.e. distress or mating, they will probably chose the most common call or call they use most often. They won't try to trick you by using different types of calls.

[amerikestrel]

Last year, there were about 5 frog calls at the A+R regional competition. So I agree, it's not the most important thing to study, but you should still study them. 5 points could make the difference between getting a medal and not getting one.

On the topic of different types of calls for one bird, i.e. distress or mating, they will probably chose the most common call or call they use most often. They won't try to trick you by using different types of calls.

I'm going to study all the calls, but focus on the ones that are most common. They probably won't give us the more obscure calls, but you never know.

I'm heading off to Barns and Noble to get some bird books, yay!

[Celeste]

Celeste, when you went to your invitational, how much of the test was about bird calls?

There were supposed to be 5 calls that we had to identify from, but the speakers weren't working, so we didn't do them.

[sewforlife]

Last year, there were about 5 frog calls at the A+R regional competition. So I agree, it's not the most important thing to study, but you should still study them.

we only had one. 0.o
and it was fairly distinct too.

[duckiegirl2]

What was it?

[crazy77]

For those who took a test, did they give pictures of birds with winter plumage instead of or in addition to their regular or breeding plumage? I just kinda wanna get an insight as to how well I have to know birds' winter plumage for the event (though i know every region/state will be different)

[Celeste]

For those who took a test, did they give pictures of birds with winter plumage instead of or in addition to their regular or breeding plumage? I just kinda wanna get an insight as to how well I have to know birds' winter plumage for the event (though i know every region/state will be different)

None of the pictures we had included winter plumage. But it would still be a good idea to study winter plumage because every test is different. Some field guides will show/describe plumage for different times of the year, so if you're really worried about it, you could look at one of those.

[amerikestrel]

For those who took a test, did they give pictures of birds with winter plumage instead of or in addition to their regular or breeding plumage? I just kinda wanna get an insight as to how well I have to know birds' winter plumage for the event (though i know every region/state will be different)

None of the pictures we had included winter plumage. But it would still be a good idea to study winter plumage because every test is different. Some field guides will show/describe plumage for different times of the year, so if you're really worried about it, you could look at one of those.

I agree. The test would probably give you the most common type of plumage, and not give you winter plumage, but you never know. It's still a good thing to study. As far as field guides go, I'd recommend the Sibley, which has several different plumages for each bird.

[Celeste]

I agree. The test would probably give you the most common type of plumage, and not give you winter plumage, but you never know. It's still a good thing to study. As far as field guides go, I'd recommend the Sibley, which has several different plumages for each bird.

Speaking of field guides, which ones are people using? I'm using the Sibley one right now and I'm pretty happy with it.

[amerikestrel]

I agree. The test would probably give you the most common type of plumage, and not give you winter plumage, but you never know. It's still a good thing to study. As far as field guides go, I'd recommend the Sibley, which has several different plumages for each bird.

Speaking of field guides, which ones are people using? I'm using the Sibley one right now and I'm pretty happy with it.

I agree, I love the Sibley. Another pretty good option seems to be the Peterson, which I skimmed in a bookstore a few days ago. LIke the Sibley, it has good illustrations, but the thing I can't stand about it is the layout. The Sibley has each species in a neat column, while the Peterson has several species on one page, with the opposite page containing information. I just can't use it because of that, for some reason.

Another problem with both the SIbley and Peterson is that they do not contain that much information about each bird. Personally I'm okay with that, but someone who has trouble remembering more specific information might want to look in the a guide such as the National Geographic, which (I think) is better for information.

Also, I think that a guide with drawings is much easier to use than a guide with photographs, though this may seem slightly counter-intuitive.

The ornithology wiki has a new section on field guides, if anyone is interested.