Ornithology B/C

[soobsession]

facial disk is like... you know the heart shaped thing a barn owl has surrounding its face... yeah, that's a facial disk.

zygodactyl is a form of toe arrangement for birds. two toes in the front, two in the back.

[Glacial_Overfreeze]

aw man, i don't really know where we messed up on this event. i actually thought we were going to medal... D8
the night before states we were cramming for all of our events as a team in the lobby of our hotel room, and i copied all of the info from this chart i made of my birds (i did the passerines and the other birds on that page, kjhsscioly the waterbirds and such), which included behavior, habitat, food, nest, etc. SO helpful - there was so much on it.
what did we fail on, let's see let's see... the test asked a few vocab words we didn't know exactly -or at all- (creche -which by the way we got wrong, kjhsscioly... i think you were refering to caches, but whatever- , facial disk -which we kind of knew- , zygodactyl, nidifugous)... it asked us to identify the family of the bird which some bird skulls belonged to ... oh yeah it asked us some questions about the digestive/nervous/reproductive system based on a diagram but we had no idea... and i couldn't quite tell one of the calls
there's probably more i just can't remember right now.

That sounds pretty intense ...
Just checking - a creche is a group of young birds (like hatchlings) that feed together
But what's nidifugous?

[sciencegeek100]

i took the state south california and got 5th, and since the question about what r the function of these birds legs didnt make since we probably would have got a medal otherwise... does that mean feet? legs aren't really for anything...

Well, legs are obviously for something. I mean, if you didn't have legs, you'd probably have some issues. And so would a bird! Can you tell us what bird was it asking about? There might be something specific to that species that's unique about the legs, feet, or locomotion using them.

i realize now they probably meant feet since as far as i know, the legs dont do much besides connect the feet to the body in a way that allows the feet to move the body, nothing special, thats all legged animals...

[fossilgirl4ever]

I am getting stressed out because I'm not understanding the whole tabbing situation! I've tabbed all the birds by numbering them on the list and then putting that number on a small tab that sticks out of the book. This is helpful, but for states my partner and I decided to write out information for each bird on sticky notes (like behavior, food, nesting- stuff not right in the book) and then stick that just on the page that bird is on. So when we go to find a bird, we have that extra info. Is this allowed? Because the sticky notes aren't sticking out, so I mean is that even tabbing? And I'm really screwed since States are in a week, if this isn't ok. Got a lot of memorizing to do. PLEASE HELP

2010 Regionals: (in two events)
Fossils- 2nd
Ornithology- 2nd

States next week!!!!
First year of SO, in 9th grade. LOVE IT!!!!!

[sciencegeek100]

[quote="fossilgirl4ever"]I am getting stressed out because I'm not understanding the whole tabbing situation! I've tabbed all the birds by numbering them on the list and then putting that number on a small tab that sticks out of the book. This is helpful, but for states my partner and I decided to write out information for each bird on sticky notes (like behavior, food, nesting- stuff not right in the book) and then stick that just on the page that bird is on. So when we go to find a bird, we have that extra info. Is this allowed? Because the sticky notes aren't sticking out, so I mean is that even tabbing? And I'm really screwed since States are in a week, if this isn't ok. Got a lot of memorizing to do. PLEASE HELP

Well no, but u can write directly in it...

my state bird test sucked... 10 ID bird/call then like 10 stupid essay questions
we got 5th :X
but over-all we won
way too easy besides the question about the birds legs...

[sciencegeek100]

aw man, i don't really know where we messed up on this event. i actually thought we were going to medal... D8
the night before states we were cramming for all of our events as a team in the lobby of our hotel room, and i copied all of the info from this chart i made of my birds (i did the passerines and the other birds on that page, kjhsscioly the waterbirds and such), which included behavior, habitat, food, nest, etc. SO helpful - there was so much on it.
what did we fail on, let's see let's see... the test asked a few vocab words we didn't know exactly -or at all- (creche -which by the way we got wrong, kjhsscioly... i think you were refering to caches, but whatever- , facial disk -which we kind of knew- , zygodactyl, nidifugous)... it asked us to identify the family of the bird which some bird skulls belonged to ... oh yeah it asked us some questions about the digestive/nervous/reproductive system based on a diagram but we had no idea... and i couldn't quite tell one of the calls
there's probably more i just can't remember right now.

That sounds pretty intense ...
Just checking - a creche is a group of young birds (like hatchlings) that feed together
But what's nidifugous?

Nidifugous organisms are those that leave the nest shortly after hatching or birth. It is derived from Latin nidus for "nest" and fugere meaning "to flee"

[sciencegeek100]

lol this is rly off topic but for all NY birds people, i emailed the guy like 20 times and he asked the nationals event supervisor and she apparently said that we could write on the list and tab the guide and write on that (given that theyre small tabs? idk how they define small so idk...) but idk if i would write on the back of the list but maybe like jotting random notes on the sides and highlighting stuff should be fine

on tabs (small, thats wat a tab is) OK
in field guide OK
on front of list OK
back of list NOT OK, unless thats half of your separate double sided notes...

[sciencegeek100]

I know that just being allowed a field guide was nice because you didn't have to go to the trouble to make a binder, but sometimes you didn't have enough information. Another problem i found with the field guide was that the rules for putting things in it were kind of vague. Depending on how you thought about the rules, you could see totally different limits on what you could add to your guide. I think that if for some reason they don't go back to the binder, they should make the field guide rules more clear.

I agree with everything you said. While I agree with you, I would just like to use something you said to build upon my point. Using a field guide and being able to edit it (Though I too was annoyed at the vagueness of the rules, however submitted clarifications, you always should if something isn't clear.) really didn't encourage people to put as much effort into improving their resources as a binder. Allowing binders encourages people to work on their binders, and generally (Though not always, especially for exceptionally competitive teams of individuals.), it results in a better end product. While doing the greater amount of work which making a binder entails, you usually learn far more from it than you would have modifying a field guide. I just disagree with the policy on, as well as other points I've mentioned, based on the fact that it, from what I have observed and predicted (short term observations though they may be) has seemed to lead people to put slightly less work into the event(s). Really I actually would say the same thing about binder and a field guide, however the field guide is alright as an extra, because it does give a greater chance to those teams that don't spend quite as much time, while still giving an advantage to those who took the time to make a good binder. A lot of that is also because if you make a good binder, it really should contain all of the useful information from any and all field guides you may have otherwise used.

did u think the fossil national test last year waz WAY TOO long... 4-7 samples plus 15-20 questions in 4 minute intervals...

[sciencegeek100]

This is my first year and I've been trying to figure things out....

Baised on my own research of Ornithology and what I have learned from just reading what others have posted, you need to know about your bird calls. So I say to get yourself ready for an Audio style test. I have visited some websites that some others have been kind enough to share with me and so far it apears that the test will be mainly focused on "Birds of Prey" -- how to identify them by looks/markings/calls/etc.

If you have any information you have to share that can back this up or get me on the right page, please message me.
Thank You.

My mom is a science teacher and we bought this electronic thingy. You stick these cards that have pictures of birds on them in it, and press a button next to the picture of the bird you want. Then it will make the bird call of that bird. You can buy lots of different cards e.g. Yard Birds 2

or get an iPhone & buy the iBird app

[fossilgirl4ever]

I am getting stressed out because I'm not understanding the whole tabbing situation! I've tabbed all the birds by numbering them on the list and then putting that number on a small tab that sticks out of the book. This is helpful, but for states my partner and I decided to write out information for each bird on sticky notes (like behavior, food, nesting- stuff not right in the book) and then stick that just on the page that bird is on. So when we go to find a bird, we have that extra info. Is this allowed? Because the sticky notes aren't sticking out, so I mean is that even tabbing? And I'm really screwed since States are in a week, if this isn't ok. Got a lot of memorizing to do. PLEASE HELP

Well no, but u can write directly in it...

my state bird test sucked... 10 ID bird/call then like 10 stupid essay questions
we got 5th :X
but over-all we won
way too easy besides the question about the birds legs...

Ok so I can just write on any black space in the book? Wow, these rules are so vague and I'm getting really annoyed and stressed. Essay questions? What were those like?