The following is an adaptation of a lab exe
Some fun for the holidays.

The following is an adaptation of a lab exercise I developed for 
my ornithology students first at Ohio Unversity and then
at Heidelberg College. So fair warning, you may actually
learn something.

I assume here some familiarity with Pictionary the commercial
game whereby one draws a subject and gamers guess your
intentions.

In ornithological pictionary, everyone is a player at once, and
can involve both team and individual scoring. Three or more
participants are required.

In the classroom we'd use a chalkboard but a satisfactorily
large drawing pad may suffice. 

Each player takes a turn as The ILLUSTRATOR. As Illustrator, 
you are required to draw USING a PHOTOGRAPHIC
FIELD GUIDE a species of bird as near to the appearance
in the guide as possible. How you choose the particular
species is optional and I leave it to you but it works
best if the selection is randomized. You have 90 secs
to complete the rendering. I use a simple kitchen timer.

From the start of the illustration, PLAYERS may offer
an answer. But purely guessing is not the point, and
and so to make your answers count, 3 strikes and 
your out of the running for that round. Keep in mind too
that a close but wrong guess may clue in you competitors.
PLAYERS have as an aid ANY ILLUSTRATED/DRAWN FIELD 
GUIDE  ... but ONLY ONE per team ... so choose wisely. 
PLAYERS may be as individuals or in team. 

Once the bird illustration is rendered (90 secs are up), 
PLAYERS have additional 90 secs to name the species.

SCORING: 
The ILLUSTRATOR scores only if their bird
is identified correctly ... 20 points if before the 
rendering is complete, 10 points if before 3 minutes
have elapsed, 0 if no correct answer is given in the 
allotted time.

PLAYERS (Team or Individual) score for a correct ID.
A correct ID within 90 secs wins 20 points, or within
the 3 minutes 10 points. Only the first correct answer
wins. 

Individual Play: Imagine 5 players. Pre-determine the 
number of rounds, I suggest 10 (two species per
person) which makes for about a 60 minute game.
A maximum score would be 200pts.

Team Play: Imagine 5 players. Given that teams
(I like to think of them as bird records committees :-)
should be even, in this case 2 & 2, the 5th player
can either ...
1) alternate between teams, sitting in for the 
player stepping up to illustrate ... or ...
2) act as sole Illustrator 

The game lends itself to other nuances. For example,
in Team Play, you may allow more than one 
ILLUSTRATED guide ... one to a person but a different
author from that of your team mate. Find the 
exercise too easy ... don't use color, allow only
one guess per round, or restrict species selection
to a specific group e.g. birds-of-prey, shorebirds, etc.

Briefly, the function in lab was to test one's ability to
render field marks within a limited time frame, while 
simultaneously teaching something of the nature of
interpreting those field marks. Of course, I simply hope 
you may find this a fun ornithological exercise.

cheers

Vic Fazio
Lawton, OK
BTW, what I did not expect to discover was clear
distinctions between guides and their usefulness,
at least with beginners. The clear winner among 
teams that chose it was Peterson. Keep in mind
this was the early 1990's and there are MANY more 
field guide options available today.

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