<p>
	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}FEB_5.png" style="float: right;" />With every return of spring, no animals are more visible, more vocal or more demonstrative than birds. Yet their very abundance and complexity can make their identification and observation seem an overwhelmingly complex task. But a well-trained observer can not only distinguish birds by sight, but also by song, as well as relate the presence of different birds to different habitats, vegetation types and key natural resources. Such skills open a world of wonder and pleasure to nature that many people have never known &ndash; until they take Field Ecology of Birds with Ken Petersen of Bethel University. A widely respected ornithologist, Ken&rsquo;s research has been published in the leading bird journals in science, including <em>Auk</em>, <em>Condor</em>, <em>Journal of Field Ornithology</em> and <em>Wilson Bulletin</em>, and he is one of the nation&rsquo;s leading experts on the ecology of Brewer&rsquo;s sparrow, a sagebrush-dependent species that has suffered declines in some parts of the US intermountain west under programs converting sagebrush to grassland or other habitats. This depth and combination of skill, scholarship and scientific expertise is deeply valued by his students. As one member of Ken&rsquo;s 2013 class noted at the end of the course, &ldquo;I loved learning about birds, I have always been interested in them and to learn at the extent that I did was fantastic. [Ken Petersen was] by far the best instructor I have ever had.&rdquo;</p>
