IDENTIFYING BIRDS BY SIGHT AND SOUND

One day workshop to be held on May 17 and May 18, 2007

The focus of this workshop is identification, by sight and sound, of birds in New Hampshire. This workshop will teach you the basics of how to recognize songbirds, raptors, and water birds and you will learn how to identify some of the most common species in each category.

  This workshop will include a combination of classroom and field instruction.  In the classroom we’ll use pictures, sounds, and demonstrations to learn observation techniques. We will then head out into the field to put those techniques to practice! We will also have a brief discussion about the most common methods for surveying birds in the field, such as point-counts and Breeding Bird Survey routes.

  To learn how to identify birds by sight, we will discuss the most important field marks to look at, including size, shape, relative proportions, behavior and habitat. To learn how to identify birds by song, we will listen to commercial recordings, and use mnemonics, and sonagrams both to analyze and help recognize bird songs.

  Tentative Workshop agenda

We will begin promptly at 7:45

  7:30am             Registration and Coffee/Juice

7:45 – 8:30           Outside – Intro to birding in the field

8:30- 8:45             Break

8:45 – 10:15          Inside- Intro to bird Identification (ID by sight, sound, behavior)

10:15-10:30           Break

10:30-12:30           Outside – Outdoors observation to apply ID skill

12:30-1:00             Lunch (Provided)

1:00- 2:00              Inside – role of habitat, season, life cycle

2:00-2:15               Break

2:15-3:30               Outdoors Outdoor observation to apply skills

    3:30                   Adjourn

Instructor: Mark Suomala, experienced birder and naturalist who organizes and leads nature tours throughout the U.S. and abroad. He has worked as a field biologist for New Hampshire Audubon, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, has volunteered extensively as a bird-banding assistant on the Isles of Shoals and has conducted bird surveys in the White Mountain National Forest. He has a graduate degree in Environmental Studies from Antioch University.

Cosponsored by: UNH Cooperative Extension, Society for the Protection of NH Forests

Questions about the program?

Call Karen Bennett 862-4861

Email Karen.Bennett@unh.edu

Call Matt Tarr 679-5616

Email matt.tarr@unh.edu

Questions about registration?

Call Debbie Anderson 862-1028

Email debra.Anderson@unh.edu