Birds play major roles in many significant ecosystem functions and provide rich opportunities for sharpening the observation skills of undergraduate students exploring ecology, behavior, and general biology. In this investigation, students collect data on displacements at bird feeders, using natural field sites, live web cams, or both, to model dominance hierarchies using the Clutton-Brock Index (CBI) modified to apply to interspecific interactions. Students then analyze data to explore a variety of questions about bird behavior and interspecific interactions that may include student generated hypotheses. Examples of questions included in this exercise are whether dominance hierarchies are transient or consistent across sites, how species composition may vary among locations, and comparisons of behaviors that may derive from either bird or site-specific characteristics.
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