1. 2020 ORNITHOLOGY (B/C) KAREN LANCOUR National Bio Rules
Committee Chairman

2. Event Rules – 2020 DISCLAIMER
This presentation was prepared using draft rules.  There may be some changes in the final copy of the rules.  The rules which will be in your Coaches Manual and Student Manuals will be the official rules.

3. Event Rules – 2020
BE SURE TO CHECK THE 2020 EVENT RULES FOR EVENT PARAMETERS AND TOPICS FOR EACH COMPETITION LEVEL
The National Bird List is at
under Event
Information (states may modify for state & regional competitions)

4. The Competition Content:
Taxonomic Scheme of the 2020 Science Olympiad Science National Bird List is used in competition
States may use a modified state bird list for Regional and State Tournaments – It must be posted on their website by Nov. 1
Identification, anatomy & physiology, reproduction, habitat characteristics, ecology, diet, behavior, ID calls, conservation, biogeography
Process Skills: observation, inferences, data and diagram analysis
Event Parameters: check 2020 rules for what is allowed

5. Taxonomy Official National List Order Family
Genus specie (Scientific name)
and Common name
Note: The American Ornithological Society (AOS) updates bird taxonomy and has standardized common names of NA birds

6. SOSI TRAINING MATERIALS
Training Power Point – content overview
Training Handouts – ornithology, binder, field guide
Sample Tournament – sample problems with key
Event Supervisor Guide – prep tips, event needs, and scoring tips
State of NA Birds – report on bird status
Orders of Birds – links to order characteristics
Families of Birds – links to family characteristics

7. SO WEBSITE TRAINING MATERIALS
EVENT RESOURCES – the Science Olympiad website
under Event Information-will be posted throughout the fall
Training Power Point – content overview
Internet Resource – links to good resources for learning content
Training Handouts – overview, general principles
Sample Tournament – sample problems with key
Event Supervisor Guide – prep tips, event needs, and scoring tips
Training CD’s – the Science Olympiad Store at
Biology-Earth Science CD (BECD) – current year topics for all bio events
with training materials and extra resources
Taxonomy CD (TXCD) 2020 – all content, extra resources, exams for Heredity and Designer Genes
Division B and Division C Test Packets – national exams from the previous year

8. State Resources
Many states have Bird identification resources and/or state lists plus guides.
Check the web for state resources.
Many commercial field guides are available.
State DNR websites may also have resources.

9. Class Aves 3 billion birds 9000 species
vertebrates with feathers, modified for flight and for active metabolism.
horny beak, no teeth
large muscular stomach
feathers
large yolked, hard-shelled eggs. The parent bird provides extensive care of the young until it is grown, or gets some other bird to look after the young.
strong skeleton

10. ORDERS AND FAMILIES OF BIRDS
Learn the Order and Family characteristics and then species!!
General arrangement of guides
The families reflect how birds have evolved and have many distinctive features and behaviors.
Ocean, shore, game and predatory birds appear first, they are generally large birds.
Next are hole-nesting birds without true songs, they are smaller.
Last come the song birds which are still smaller.

11. Bird Modifications
Generally the feeding habits go from eating fish and small mammals to eating seeds and insects.
Special modifications in morphology allow birds to succeed in their environment.
These modifications are very helpful in identifying families, species, and their unique behaviors.

12. Body Regions

13. Identification Features
Special features
Adaptations
Sexual differences

14. Head Markings
Many have distinctive stripes or colored patches on their head.
Crown = tip of the head and Cap = a distinctively colored crown as black-capped chickadees.
Crest = a projection or tuft on the head often brightly colored as cardinals.
Lores = space between eye and bill and spectacles = distinctive eye rings or eye stripe.
Size of eye – large eyes are hints that the bird is nocturnal or feeds at night.
Color of eye – they may be red, yellow, brown, black, etc.
Ear tufts = projections near ear region as horned owls (birds do not have visible ears).
Auricle region = feathers covering the opening of the ears.
Chin = the area around the bill
Throat = the area between the bill and the breast. It may be highly brightly colored as the ruby throated humming birds.

15. Bill Adaptations for Feeding
The two parts are the upper and lower mandibles. Often mistakenly called a beak.
Beak = the hooked bill of a hawk or parrot.
The bill is modified for eating a specific type of food.

16. Bill adaptations A. probing flowers for nectar
B. drilling into trees for insects
C. scooping fish
D. catching fish
E. straining food from the water
F. capturing prey and tearing flesh
G. cracking seeds
H. capturing worms and insects
I. opening seeds from pine cones

17. NECK and BODY
Most birds have short necks but some such as the crane are long.
Some birds are stout while others are slender bodied.
Back = upper surface and rump = area closest to the tail.
Breast (chest) = underside near head and belly = underside around legs.
Sides = belly under wings.
Many birds have distinctive plumage patterns but remember that stripes are head to head or lengthwise while bars are wing to wing or crosswise.

18. PLUMAGE
The color pattern of the feathers along the body varies. It is often unique for a species.
It is usually brighter in males than females with young of both sexes resembling the female.
It is usually brightest during the mating season (spring and summer for most birds).

19. Wing Feathers
WINGS: used for true flight as well as gliding, balance during hovering and perching, and during courtship. Many have distinctive white or colored patches.
Wings can be long or short, pointed or rounded.
Shoulder = part of wing nearest to the body. There are two sets of flight feathers.
Primaries = from bend outward to tip and Secondaries = from bend toward shoulder.

20. TAIL
The tail is used for steering and breaking during flight. It can also be used in courting displays.
The shape and color pattern is useful in identification.
The tail can be long or short and its shape can be square, rounded, pointed, elongated, forked or notched.

21. LEGS and FEET
The length and thickness of the legs as well as the shape of the foot are clues to the way the bird lives.
Some birds extend their legs during flight while others hold them under their body.
The feet are modified for perching, clinging, walking or swimming.

22. Foot adaptations A. perching B. wading C. climbing or clinging
D. swimming
E. preying

23. ADAPTATIONS FOR FLIGHT
Entire anatomy is designed around flight
Small compact body, reduced weight with all heavy organs close to center of gravity
Center of gravity and propulsion systems are properly balanced
Body is light yet strong enough for flight
The skeletal system is exceptionally light and delicate yet sturdy
Many bones are fused together to make the light but strong
Strong flight muscles to move wings that can make up to 50% of body weight
Active metabolism which provides energy for muscles and large lung capacity
The eyes are perhaps the most important sense organ – they are disproportionately larger than in other vertebrates. Birds of prey have very large eyes

24. BIRD ANATOMY

25. VOCALIZATION
Many birds have distinctive calls and songs. They can help to identify birds not visible.
Calls are short and simple to signal alarm or distress while songs are more complex and are used for ownership of feeding territory and courtship. In most species only males sing.

26. LEARNING BIRD SONGS
Books and field guides attempt to put sounds into words. Many have slightly different word translations so be careful about these.
Listen to the actual sounds or recordings to learn them.

27. BEHAVIOR
What a bird is doing can tell a lot about its identity and role in its ecosystem.
Is it alone or in a flock? Is it shy or social or aggressive? Where is it most of its time?
How does it fly? Is it soaring, gliding, flapping or fluttering? Is there a flock flight pattern ?

28. BEHAVIOR
Is it swimming, dappling, diving, perching, walking, and/or hopping?
How does it feed and what does it eat? Where does it nest? How do the young act?
How does it react to other birds of its specie, other species or other animals?
Does it have any unique behaviors?

29. BIRD NEST TYPES

30. BIRD NEST TYPES

31. BIRD NEST TYPES

32. RANGE MAP BIRD RESIDENCE

33. Bird Ecology – Roles of birds in the ecosystem
Indicators of environmental health
Food source for humans and animals
Flower pollinators
Insect control – they eat insects and reduce many pests
Disseminate seeds
Scavengers and Cleaning Carcasses of Dead Animals
Clean parasites off animals

34. Challenges to Bird Population
Habitat loss
Residential and commercial development
Agriculture
Energy production and mining
Natural resource use
Pollution
Climate change

35. Game Plan Use the POWERPOINT for an overview
Study the HANDOUTS – for background information and as a guide to making a binder and learning the competition
Use the INTERNET RESOURCES and CD’S for more help – see the Science Olympiad National website at under event information and the Science Olympiad store
Prepare a RESOURCE BINDER and use OTHER TOOLS to LEARN THE BIRDS and then MODIFY THE BINDER AND/OR TAB THE FIELD GUIDE for effective use in competition
Do the SAMPLE TOURNAMENT under timed conditions to experience being timed in competition.
Prepare and do PRACTICE STATIONS, OLD TESTS, and INVITATIONALS –to master knowledge, teamwork, and using your binder effectively under timed conditions.

36. LEARNING THE BIRDS
Make your own resource binder to assist you – see the handout on binders with a sample bird fact sheet.
Learn the characteristics of the Class, the Orders and then the Families.
Finally become familiar with the characteristics of the Genera within each Family

37. Binder Tips – See handout on making a binder
The most effective resources are the ones produced by the students.
The process of producing the resources is a major learning tool.
Have a copy of the rules in your binder
Have a copy of the Official Bird List in your binder (National or State)
Prepare and organize materials by major topic divisions.
Place materials from many different sources into your topic divisions
Reduce the size of pictures where possible to get more information on a page.
Color code information to help you locate or emphasize key items.
Put pages in sheet protectors – two per protector to save space.
Use tabs to separate sections.
Label tabs so items can be located with ease.

38. Field Guides
See the handout on Selecting and Using a Field Guide – they are organized differently
Choose the field guide that is easiest for you to use -there may be a state guide for the regional and state if your state has a state bird list.
Tab your field guide
Practice using the field guide
Practice under timed conditions

39. Power Point Slides
Make power point slides for Order, Family, and/or Species
Make them like sample stations with pictures and questions
Prepare them so they can be reorganized to make practice competitions for study

40. Flash Cards
Make flash cards with pictures on one side and information on the back
Use the flash cards to make up sample competitions
Use the flash cards to learn the BIRDS

41. Doing the Competition
Place information in appropriate place on answer sheet
Print legibly so information is understandable
Work as a team – use time effectively
Use Binder and/or Field Guide effectively
Identify to Order and then to Family and Genus
Be sure to spell names correctly
Carefully read all questions and use common sense in answering
Relax, Do your best, and Have Fun!!