Rosemont College Fall 2011 Diversity of LIfe Course

This semester I'm teaching a Diversity of Life course for nontraditional students at Rosemont College in Philadelphia. Highlights so far include learning to identify trees with a key (see the Arbor Day Foundation online key--great tool) as well as SPASMATIC bird identification.

On Saturday we attended the Cradle of Birding wildlife festival at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge in Philadelphia--including a bird and plant walk. We had Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks soar directly overhead, and had a flyby young Bald Eagle. Later an adult Bald Eagle flew in and landed on a distant power pole. We also got great looks at Caspian Terns diving for fish in front of us. I was hoping for more warblers, but only got a quick look at an Ovenbird running through the woods.

For part of an exam this weekend they had to use the Kaufman Guide to identify bird slides.

Great group of students, I'm enjoying exploring the diverse world of plants, animals, and other organisms together.