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	<strong><img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Ken-Petersen.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 219px; float: left;" />Ken Petersen, Bethel University, Professor of Biology &amp; Director of Environmental Studies Program</strong></p>
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	<strong>Au Sable Course: Field Ecology of Birds</strong></p>
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	May in Michigan is the best time of the year for birdwatching. A time of rich variety and animated behavior for birds in northern Michigan, birds of all stripes are moving into the peak of their breeding season. &nbsp;For Ken Petersen, Au Sable&#39;s <a href="/courses/course_information/may_term/#ornithology">Field Ecology of Birds</a> professor, it means his course is perfectly timed.</p>
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	Petersen explains, &ldquo;I find the allure of spring-time birds in the woods, fields, and wetlands of northern Michigan irresistible. I can think of few other creatures that so vividly display the glory of the Creator.&rdquo;</p>
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	When ornithology (the study of birds) is a passion, it runs deep. For Petersen, it is more than that.</p>
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	A man with many talents, multiple roles, and multitudes of duties, Petersen (PhD, Animal Ecology; Iowa State University) serves as Professor of Biology and Director of the Environmental Studies Program at Bethel University (Minnesota), and each summer, he brings everything he is and has to his Au Sable course.&nbsp;</p>
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	Being around Petersen, one quickly understands that teaching is a passion too.</p>
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	As one of his students, Deborah Cushman of Cornerstone University, recalls vividly, &ldquo;Professor Petersen did not leave any room for a dull moment in class. During our breaks in between lectures someone in the group might bring up something fun or funny and everyone including Professor Petersen would be laughing. Professor Petersen knew what he was teaching well and had a strong love for the subject. That was very evident as we worked through class material or were out birding&hellip;He did very well and had great patience with some of us who were slow at finding the birds that had been sighted.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>
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	It takes a combination of great eyes and ears to teach a field ornithology course well, and Petersen makes a good guide.</p>
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	Says Petersen, &quot;[H]elping young men and women to see [birds], hear them, and understand them is icing on the cake.&quot;</p>
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	Perhaps cake is an appropriate visual for Petersen, since his teach efforts have been rewarded with an award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching from Monmouth College (Illinois), where he used to teach.&nbsp;</p>
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	But Petersen passion also goes beyond teaching. A widely respected ornithologist, his research has been published in the leading bird journals in science, including&nbsp;<em>Auk</em>,&nbsp;<em>Condor</em>,&nbsp;<em>Journal of Field Ornithology,</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Wilson Bulletin</em>. He has also developed into 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.</p>
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	Under the tutelege of Petersen, <a href="/courses/course_information/may_term/#ornithology">Field Ecology of Birds</a> is one of Au Sable&rsquo;s best courses to see animal behavior and its complex ecologies at their best in the life of spring birds, and with one of the best instructors to bring meaning and understanding to the sometimes overwhelming variety of bird songs, activities and displays that accompany this time of year. Spring time will never look the same again.</p>
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	Read a blog post by Ken about a <a href="/news_and_resources/blog/close_encounters_with_the_avian_kind#.UV3LURw3uSo">close encounter he and the students had with sandhill cranes</a> in &#39;Field Ecology of Birds.&#39;&nbsp;</p>
