Ornithology B/C

[amerikestrel]

thank you

You're welcome.

I'm having a hard time identifying passerines. They all look alike, and it would be impossible to tell them apart if it wasn't for the colors!

[amerikestrel]

Here's a good example of the bristles around the beak of an eastern phoebe:



According to my book, the reason that scientists assumed birds used bristles to catch insects was because many birds that catch insects have bristles.

Edit: Sorry, I didn't realize that this is a double post.

[sewforlife]

Here's a good example of the bristles around the beak of an eastern phoebe:



According to my book, the reason that scientists assumed birds used bristles to catch insects was because many birds that catch insects have bristles.

that's not a good reason to say that they use them to catch insects. that's assuming that they actually use those to catch their prey, which might not be true, unless we see a video that shows a bird using them for that purpose.
if you use allaboutbirds.org
amerikestrel, it might help because on the bottom of some of the species info, it says "looks like" or "looks similar to"
and then it gives different features about them.

[xxwintercandyxx]

any good websites for behaviors?

[amerikestrel]

that's not a good reason to say that they use them to catch insects. that's assuming that they actually use those to catch their prey, which might not be true, unless we see a video that shows a bird using them for that purpose.
if you use allaboutbirds.org
amerikestrel, it might help because on the bottom of some of the species info, it says "looks like" or "looks similar to"
and then it gives different features about them.

I know, that's why I have been doubting the fact than birds catch insects with bristles all along. I just provided the picture to show what bristles look like on a bird.

Cornell has a lot of videos, I'll try to see if I can find one of a bird with bristles catching prey.

any good websites for behaviors?

The main website I use for behavior is http://www.allaboutbirds.org. Just search for the name of the bird, and you get a lot of info about it. But if you really want in-depth information, I'd recommend buying the Sibly Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. (http://www.amazon.com/Sibley-Guide-Bird ... 0679451234) It's somewhat expensive, but I think it's worth it because the book has several pages of information about each family, and it's very readable.

[sewforlife]

We're mainly using Peterson for the organization/pictures, because we can add the in-depth stuff on our notes sheet.
those bristles look too small.
I doubt the Cornell website will have any of those videos, it would seem to be rare.

[Am I Smart]

this question is for the people who have done this before.
What does it mean by skeletal material?
Recorded songs?/ I dont get it

[amerikestrel]

this question is for the people who have done this before.
What does it mean by skeletal material?
Recorded songs?/ I dont get it

Unless you're a grad, you haven't done this event before, as the last time this was an event was (I think) 2002 or 2003.

By skeletal material, it most likely means that there will be a piece of a bird's skeleton and you have to either identify it or answer questions about it. But I'm not sure what kinds of questions there would be... does anyone else have an idea?

And recordings of songs is just as it says; there will be recordings of bird songs/calls and you will have to identify the bird.

[AlphaTauri]

First of all, Ornithology hasn't been an event in either division for at least 5 years (or maybe it's completely new), so I doubt that many people on here have participated in it before. But anyways, skeletal material means they give you the skeleton of a bird (like this) and you have to figure out what bird it is or what family. Recorded songs means, well, exactly that. They play a recording of a bird's song/call and ask you to ID the bird or maybe the type of call (mating, warning, etc.).

Edit: Didn't see amerikestrel's post. I must type really slowly...

[amerikestrel]

But anyways, skeletal material means they give you the skeleton of a bird (like this) and you have to figure out what bird it is or what family.

I doubt that they would have that complete of a skeleton... they'd probably just give you a smallish piece and then ask you more general questions about it. At least, that's how I interpreted the rules.