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I'm curious as to how other Ornithology tests were structured. Ours were around 20 stations, two minutes each with either two picture identifications or one bird call, plus three accompanying questions. There was one station which had a box with three bird nests, but otherwise it was entirely printed paper.

FueL wrote:I'm curious as to how other Ornithology tests were structured. Ours were around 20 stations, two minutes each with either two picture identifications or one bird call, plus three accompanying questions. There was one station which had a box with three bird nests, but otherwise it was entirely printed paper.

Ours had about the same number of stations, but all the birds were models/stuffed, and there were five calls at the end. There was a station where we had to label parts of the feather, and another where we had to label several bones.

amerikestrel wrote:

FueL wrote:I'm curious as to how other Ornithology tests were structured. Ours were around 20 stations, two minutes each with either two picture identifications or one bird call, plus three accompanying questions. There was one station which had a box with three bird nests, but otherwise it was entirely printed paper.

Ours had about the same number of stations, but all the birds were models/stuffed, and there were five calls at the end. There was a station where we had to label parts of the feather, and another where we had to label several bones.

i think we had 22 stations.we also had a station where there were some statistics according to information gathered last year about bird population. there was also a station where we had to match different shaped feet to what they were called, such as anisodactyl

junexia wrote:

amerikestrel wrote:

FueL wrote:I'm curious as to how other Ornithology tests were structured. Ours were around 20 stations, two minutes each with either two picture identifications or one bird call, plus three accompanying questions. There was one station which had a box with three bird nests, but otherwise it was entirely printed paper.

Ours had about the same number of stations, but all the birds were models/stuffed, and there were five calls at the end. There was a station where we had to label parts of the feather, and another where we had to label several bones.

i think we had 22 stations.we also had a station where there were some statistics according to information gathered last year about bird population. there was also a station where we had to match different shaped feet to what they were called, such as anisodactyl

Right. I didn't get the statistics questions. Which state had the highest endangered bird population?

we had 3 minutes per station and 18 stations, but our stations were more varied, for ex., skeleton ID, anatomy, specimens, eggs, conservation info, etc

on question dealt with zygodactyl feet on ours, and it also asked us to match pics of feet to their uses

lol... on one of the stations, we had to ID what bird a particular wing came from (it was an actual wing that had been cut off of a bird and preserved ), and it had a patch of greenish purple on the wing, so we said it was a teal... turn out that they just tucked the label on the specimen in the back, so you could see what it was from the next station... It was very oddly colored mallard wing, according to the label .

on another note, my partner and I were walking along a river in a park, and among all the ducks and geese was the cutest little adult male wood duck .... we looked like such nerds pointing it out...

I think we said Florida for that one but it was a complete guess. I think we screwed up that station. I was really surprised that we had one ID and 1-2 questions per station. I expected way more than that. Amerikestrel, what did you say for the calls in order? I think we said "(I actually forget the first one, help me out junexia?), Northern Bobwhite, Western Meadowlark, Great Horned Owl, Bald Eagle"

kjhsscioly wrote:we had 3 minutes per station and 18 stations, but our stations were more varied, for ex., skeleton ID, anatomy, specimens, eggs, conservation info, etc

on question dealt with zygodactyl feet on ours, and it also asked us to match pics of feet to their uses

on another note, my partner and I were walking along a river in a park, and among all the ducks and geese was the cutest little adult male wood duck .... we looked like such nerds pointing it out...

our test was very similar to yours. it was much more varied than i thought, the only thing they didnt ask about at all was eggs, which i was really surprised about. we also had the thing about the feet, but it was just what they were called. at regionals though, we did have to match feet to what they did for some stations.

googlyfrog, we couldnt have screwed up too badly at that station, otherwise we wouldnt have gotten first. but yeah, thats definitely something we need to look at for nationals. the topic's so broad though its hard to know where to start. I think the order of the bird calls were belted kingfisher, great horned owl, western meadowlark, northern bobwhite, and bald eagle.

@kjhsscioly: Heh, you're not the only one. We went on a nature walk the day before states, and my partner and I tried to identify all the birds that were there by sound. And on the bus, I tested my meteorology partner on the clouds we were passing by. (Ironic, because not a single question on the test had to do with cloud types)

The main thing with our test was the time limit. The questions themselves weren't too painful but whether you could figure out everything within two minutes was the make-or-break for medals. You had to work with your partner really well and look up things quickly.

googlyfrog wrote:I think we said Florida for that one but it was a complete guess. I think we screwed up that station. I was really surprised that we had one ID and 1-2 questions per station. I expected way more than that. Amerikestrel, what did you say for the calls in order? I think we said "(I actually forget the first one, help me out junexia?), Northern Bobwhite, Western Meadowlark, Great Horned Owl, Bald Eagle"

Ha, we really failed at the calls. The only one that I'm sure we got right was the northern bobwhite, because that was pretty obvious.

Edit: and we put down CA for having the highest endangered bird population, but its probably wrong.

amerikestrel wrote:

googlyfrog wrote:I think we said Florida for that one but it was a complete guess. I think we screwed up that station. I was really surprised that we had one ID and 1-2 questions per station. I expected way more than that. Amerikestrel, what did you say for the calls in order? I think we said "(I actually forget the first one, help me out junexia?), Northern Bobwhite, Western Meadowlark, Great Horned Owl, Bald Eagle"

Ha, we really failed at the calls. The only one that I'm sure we got right was the northern bobwhite, because that was pretty obvious.

Edit: and we put down CA for having the highest endangered bird population, but its probably wrong.

i was thinking california at first too, just because its such a big state so you would think the species there would be diverse, but then i thought of florida and the everglades and how florida is right by the coast and whatever, so i thought that florida would have a lot of endangered species, therefore my partner and i chose that one.