The educational generosity of the Lahontan Audubon Society brought a Western Nevada College biology class project into better focus for students earlier this semester.
Students in Ms. Eppards General Biology for Non-Majors class developed informational posters for several different orders of birds commonly found in The Great Basin. However, a better understanding of the Avian Taxonomy of the Birds of The Great Basin project came from information from field guides and mounted specimens on loan from the Lahontan Audubon Society.
The LAS loaned us representative bird specimens from several of the different taxonomic groups, Eppard said. These specimens were used to demonstrate the importance and usefulness of taxonomy. The end product is a series of posters that the students created to illustrate the different taxonomic groups.
Each compelling poster created by students illustrated a bird representative of a taxonomic order, along with its natural history, home range and migratory route.
The posters are on display outside of the Liberal Arts Office in the Bristlecone Building on the Carson City campus.
Western Nevada College partners with the Lahontan Audubon Society for the use of their taxidermy bird mounts and the partnership is facilitated by LASs Alan Gubanich, Ph.D. LAS is a nonprofit organization created in 1963 and serves all of northwestern Nevada, and represents a membership of conservation-minded individuals and families. Many of LASs chapters members are dedicated bird watchers.