Taking Field Notes -- bonus point exercise

The purpose of this exercise is to give you some experience in taking what are known as "field notes" in field biology. See the following publication for an overview of the importance of good field notes and "how to;" click on "pdf" to get pdf file copy.

Remsen, J. V., Jr. 1977. On taking field notes. Amer. Birds 31: 946-953. [pdf]

Here's what you do for your bonus points (maximum of 10 points, depending on the quality of your notes, our perception of your effort*, and attention to details below). Take any morning from during Spring Break and spend 4 hours surveying the birds of an area of your choice. Go anywhere that interests you, preferably some place away from Baton Rouge. The key ingredient of good field notes is that they allow someone else to replicate your survey (exact location; description of what you did and how much area you covered during your 4 hours, e.g., walking, sitting, stop-and-go birding by car; habitat description; weather conditions, i.e., temperature estimate, cloud-cover, wind-speed estimate). Besides a description of what you did and the weather conditions, your field notes record the species seen and the estimated number of individuals of each species; provide a single list, as in the example in my paper. Try to be as thorough as possible, to the best of your abilities.

Electronic submission of field notes is encouraged. PC users -- do not send .docx files -- convert to .doc or another format that I can read.

Field notes are due at class time on Monday after Spring Break

* Lack thereof would include notes taken while playing golf, swimming, or other strictly activities during which bird-watching is only secondary. Also, try to do your survey in the morning, when bird activity greatest.