Duration: 2004-present
The course is teaching how to identify different bird species and how to observe them in nature. The course is aimed at all levels starting from a beginner and consists of PowerPoint presentations teaching basics of identification of various bird groups and families, plumage variations by age and seasons. It also includes several field trips, with provided optical equipment. At the end of the course, the best students get an Armenian book “A Field Guide to Birds of Armenia”.
Course for Beginners
This course consists of 30 lessons where the students learn identification of more than 100 bird species in breeding plumages. The duration of each lesson is 1 hour from Sep to May with meetings scheduled once per week. During the course we have 3 field trips to Lake Sevan, Lori district and Aragats mountain where we can observe bird species, studied during the lectures.
Description of the course
| Each lesson consists of the description of several species by painting and training part, when students try to identify known birds by photos, which are following each other after 15 sec. During the course, students learn Identification of different Ducks, Raptors, Woodpeckers, Passerines etc. (see below) |   |
After passing the test students receive appropriate certificates.
Advanced Course
The advanced course consisted of 30 lessons where students learn how to identify more bird species as well as the known birds in different plumages. In total, they learned to identify more than 200 species. The duration of each lesson was 1 hour from Sep 18 to May 30 with meetings scheduled once per week. During the course, we had 3 field trips to Armash fish-farming ponds, Noravank gorge and Dilijan forest where we could observe such bird species, as Herons, Falcons, Finches, etc.
History
2004
Bird Identification Training Course was initiated in 2004 with 1 group of students that consisted of 15 people. The experiment was very successful and we decided to continue it in autumn of 2005. We posted announcements in different high schools and universities of Yerevan.
2005
 | In 2005, over 90 people joined the Beginning Course as first-year students. They were divided into 4 different groups, where the classes were held in three languages: Armenian, English and Russian.
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 | In total, we had 3 field excursions to the Sevan, Aragats mountain, and Lori regions. We had three field excursions to SevanLake where we observed some water birds. | |
2006-2009
Over 160 students
All courses were carried out in three languages (Armenian, English, Russian) and conducted for local as well as foreign students. The courses were held in a friendly and enthusiastic atmosphere irrespectively of the students’ age, which varies from 12 to 68 y.o.