Ornithology/Bird List Guidelines

This page will contain help and guidelines pertaining to the page 2010 Bird List. Please read (or at least skim) this page if you plan to contribute to the list. In addition, if you feel that something should be included in this page, feel free to edit it at any time.

Purpose of the bird list page

The purpose of having a 'bird list page' is to compile taxonomy, images, and other information about the birds on the 2010 National Bird List for Science Olympiad. This will serve as a quick reference guide for the event, and be helpful when studying identification and taxonomy.

The fields

There are currently 6 fields for the bird list: Order on list, order and family, common name, genus and species, image, and comments.

Order on list

This field contains a number which indicates what position the bird is in on the National Bird List. Its main purpose is that it adds the ability to sort the table in the order on the list (or in reverse). Though it is this way be default, if you happen to sort the table by something else (such as name), it's easy to go back to the list order.

Order and family

This field contains the order and family of each bird, separated by a comma. This is useful when memorizing taxonomy. If there are controversies regarding taxonomy, the information on the National List should be used.

Common name

This field contains the common name of each bird. If a bird has more than one widely used common name, or if there are controversies regarding taxonomy of different species, the name used should be the one on the National List. In addition, names should be capitalized as on the National List.

Genus and species

This field contains the genus and species (scientific name) of each bird. The first word in the scientific name should be capitalized, but the second should not. In addition, both words should be in italics.

Image

This field contains an image of each bird. See below for information regarding images.

Comments

This field will contain comments about each bird. These comments will most likely be about identification, although information such as diet and behavior may also be included.