Spring 2027

Ornithology

An introduction to ornithology covering bird biology, ecology, and behavior, including evolution, flight mechanics, migration, communication, and conservation.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Anna Pidgeon

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.35 GPA, 60.9% A/AB (n=69 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 72.9% A/AB (n=70 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.14 GPA, 56.9% A/AB (n=58 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Articulate how birds differ from other vertebrate taxa and trace birds' basic evolutionary history.

  • Characterize the adaptations (morphological, physiological, behavioral) that are associated with birds’ great evolutionary success.

  • Analyze the mechanics of flight, and relate different modes of flight to species’ life history strategies.

  • Compare and contrast the annual cycle of bird groups that have distinct life history strategies.

  • Explain different modes of learning in birds, and what conditions favor the different modes.

  • Synthesize modes of communication in birds.

  • Distinguish between factors shaped by natural versus sexual selection, and discuss the role of sexual selection, habitat selection, and foraging mode in shaping avian behavior and ornamentation.

  • Identify and discuss contemporary issues in bird conservation, and predict how various avian attributes are associated with risk of extinction.

  • Assess and integrate primary scientific literature to evaluate evolutionary and ecological theories in ornithology and apply these insights to address a contemporary issue in avian biology or conservation.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

ZOOLOGY/​BIOLOGY 101 and 102,ZOOLOGY/​BIOLOGY/​BOTANY 152, (BIOCORE 381 and 382), or graduate/professional standing

F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 520

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.35 GPA, 60.9% A/AB (n=69 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 72.9% A/AB (n=70 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.14 GPA, 56.9% A/AB (n=58 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ANNA PIDGEON is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 660
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 750

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.35 GPA, 60.9% A/AB (n=69 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.41 GPA, 72.9% A/AB (n=70 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.14 GPA, 56.9% A/AB (n=58 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Evolutionary origin of birds and flight
  • Avian anatomy, physiology, and functional morphology
  • Migration, communication, and reproductive strategies
  • Ecological adaptations, roles, and biogeographical patterns

Skills

  • Assessing and integrating primary scientific literature to evaluate evolutionary and ecological theories in ornithology.
  • Identifying contemporary issues in bird conservation and predicting extinction risk based on avian attributes.

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.22 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 520 · Spring 2027

Ornithology

Recorded 2026-10-14
F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 520 · Spring 2027

Ornithology

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:396:019337",
    "course_id": "F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 520",
    "course_uid": "course_cfec47f683fd872550e01f1b",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "019337",
    "source_subject_id": "396",
    "title": "Ornithology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  },
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:970:019337",
    "course_id": "F&WECOL/ZOOLOGY 520",
    "course_uid": "course_cfec47f683fd872550e01f1b",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "019337",
    "source_subject_id": "970",
    "title": "Ornithology",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Not Applicable"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews

No records available.

Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "5517b739411920f1153f8c5e36bffeb2fcaf08f076e64cb5b684a7cbf4810a80",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}