Courtship and Rivalry going strong - openings for next week's class

The summer is winding down and birds are starting to think about molting and migrating. Hardly any birds around Ithaca are still singing or in good plumage like this Scarlet Tanager I photographed in my back yard in May. Most of the male tanagers around here are starting to lose this bright red and are kind of ugly, splotchy, red-and-yellow.

Ever wondered what that's about? Why be brilliant for just a small portion of the year?

It probably has to do with sex.

This is the kind of stuff we talk about in the Cornell Lab's new online course in bird behavior that I instruct, Investigating Behavior: Courtship and Rivalry in Birds. We look at why birds do the things they do, and some of the possible explanations for bizarre plumage and even stranger behavior. We get into some pretty interesting discussions!

So far we've been lucky enough to have at least one student in each class from outside of North America. It's great to be able to hear the perspective of someone who is looking at completely different birds than you are.

The next 5-week session begins on Wednesday, 4 August and ends Tuesday, 7 September. The number of students is limited to 32 in each class, but there are still a few spaces available for this one.

The course is full of videos, photographs, interactive exercises, self-tests, and more. We try to help you discover a completely new way of looking at and thinking about birds.

You can see an introductory video and get more information at www.birds.cornell.edu/courses.