Ornithology QLS Level 3

This course will allow you to study when and where you want, at your own pace. All coursework can be submitted by post or email making it simple and hassle-free. All of the materials will be delivered to you by post or email, so it couldn’t be easier. Our experienced and friendly tutors are always a click away by email, giving you advice and helping you through your course.

Course Content

Unit 1 The Gift of Flight

• Types of feathers found in birds
• Implications and benefits of feather damage and moulting
• Physics and biology of avian flight
• Why some birds have adapted in a way that means they have lost the ability to fly

Unit 2 Migration

• Evaluate why some species of bird choose to migrate
• Impact of migration on genetics
• How birds are physiologically equipped for migration
• Methods of navigation employed by migratory birds

Unit 3 Eggs and Nests

• Reproductive system of male and female birds
• General structure and production of the egg
• Reasons for specific egg shell patterns
• Variety of nesting strategies and their importance in incubation

Unit 4 Mating and Courtship

• Four main mating systems witnessed in birds
• Selection of courtship strategies in birds
• Importance and functions of birdsong
• Family dynamics of a typical bird nest

Unit 5 Feeding and Predation

• Diets found in different bird species
• Species of bird and predation
• Feeding territories and other methods that optimise foraging
• Variety of methods utilised by birds to avoid predators

Unit 6 Populations and Conservation

• Factors affecting the size of bird populations
• Ecological concept of community
• Variety of methods by which communities diversify
• Conservation with respect to bird populations and species