Adapted from: “Assessing Urban Biodiversity With the eBird Citizen Science Project: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) Model”
Karin R. Gastriech via CourseSource.org
Getting Familiar with Binoculars
Using the figures provided by your instructor, identify the following parts of binoculars:
ocular lenses
objective lenses
focus wheels
diopter
eyecups
Finding Birds with Your Binoculars:
Spotting: Look at the bird and lift binoculars to eyes without moving your head or changing the direction of your vision. Turn the focus wheel until the image is clear.
Scanning: Focus on a point in the distance and scan across the landscape with your binoculars.
Focusing on birds in the field takes practice, so don’t get frustrated if it’s hard at first. To get comfortable with binoculars, start by practicing on still objects. Then try spotting things in motion that are easy for you to see, for example squirrels or large and visible birds, like robins or geese. The more you practice, the easier it will become.
Body Parts of a Bird
Using the figures provided by your instructor, identify the following body parts of a bird:
Head
Nape
Back
Rump
Tail
Beak
Throat
Breast
Thigh
Leg
Wing
Primaries
Identify the following parts of the head:
Crown
Crest
Supercilium
Eye ring
Eyeline
Lores
Auricular
Malar stripe
Throat
Nape
Exercise
Lab Activity: Use Merlin Bird ID to identify bird models or pictures presented by your instructor in class.
Field Activity: Go to a site on campus pre-determined by your instructor. Using your binoculars and Merlin Bird ID, identify at least 3 birds at the site. List the birds identified in the table below.
Field Activity
At your designated field site, work with a partner to try to identify 3 birds in the field. One partner, the Spotter, should manage the binoculars and describe the bird while the other partner, the Identifier, should work with the Merlin app to report bird characteristics and help narrow down options for identification.
Make sure your app settings allow Merlin to access your location while the app is in use.
Adjust the binocular barrels, eyecups, and diopter as needed before you start the exercise.
When the Spotter has a bird in sight, he or she should describe the characteristics of that bird to the Identifier as completely as possible. Depending on the size, visibility, and location of the bird, the Identifier may be able to help with this process.
For each bird, the Identifier will report the following characteristics through the app:
Size - relative to sparrow, robin, crow or goose
Main colors - up to three simultaneous colors can be chosen
Behavior – the app will provide 6 options for behavior, choose from one of these.
Once you enter the size, colors, and behavior of the bird, Merlin will provide a list of possible matches for the area you are in. Record the first three birds on this list in the data table provided. Then, scroll through the list of matches provided by Merlin and choose the bird that most closely matches the bird the Spotter saw. In the final column of your data sheet, indicate how certain you are of this match on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being very certain and 1 being not certain at all.
Note that when Merlin offers a list of possible bird matches, each match includes links that allow you to hear what the bird sounds like, report a correct ID, and/or find out more details about the bird. Use the “Details…” link to answer the end-of-lab questions.
End-of-Lab Questions
For each bird you identified today, describe that bird’s basic natural history based on the information found via the “Details…” link in Merlin.
Note that the Details page also includes a link to a map of bird ranges. Based on these maps, describe the breeding, migration, and non-breeding ranges of the three birds you identified.