Birding with
Kevin Cook
Sponsored by
Fort Collins Audubon Society
A class presented in five sessions with two supporting
field trips.
May 2005
Each class session presents a two-part program of instruction. The
first part addresses a specific aspect of cultivating personal interest in
birds and birding, and the second part explains how to find and identify
specific birds associated with a particular kind of landscape.
Thursday, May 5 – Developing Personal Birding Knowledge
How to acquire then apply relevant information first to find birds, then
to identify them, and ultimately to understand them. Explains what you
need to know, and why, to get good at birding. Focus Group: Wetland
Birds
Tuesday, May 10 – Developing Personal Birding Skills
How to find birds on purpose, how to observe birds productively, and how
to identify them with certainty. Explains what you need to do to get good
at birding. Focus Group: Grassland Birds
Tuesday, May 17 – Developing Personal Birding Accomplishment
Not all little green birds are related because color is not a criterion of
relatedness, and not all people who enjoy birds are the same because
birding interests differ. Explains how to assess your own connection to
birds as a necessary condition for experiencing optimum life-time
satisfaction with birds. Focus Group: Shrubland Birds
Tuesday, May 24 – Birding Equipment: Matching Need with Ambition
What to buy and not buy; what to upgrade and what to replace, and when;
what to carry afield and what to leave in your car or at home. Explains
the difference between what equipment you need and what you think you
need. Focus Group: Treeland Birds
Tuesday, May 31 – The Connection between Birds and Place
Birds associate with certain landscapes for reasons of food and nesting,
which explains why not all birds occur in all places. Explains how to use
natural history and geography information to find birds deliberately with
high success. Focus Group: Colorado Specialties
Field Trip Dates are planned for the first two weekends
in May, and will be announced at the first class session.
Field Trip Details
The first field trip will be either to the Denver Zoo or to the Denver
Museum of Nature and Science: nice weather we go outdoors to the zoo;
harsh weather we go inside to the museum. This will be a work session of
intensive directed study. Participants will be guided in observing
specific details of bird anatomy plus size and shape of vital features.
The museum dioramas and the zoo flight cages offer unexcelled opportunity
for bird enthusiasts to see aspects of birds that can be very difficult to
comprehend in a field setting without prior experience. The second field
trip will be to a setting where participants will be challenged to find
and identify wild birds.
Class Meeting Time and Place
