Ornithology is the study of birds. Herpetology, Entomology, Mammology, Ichthyology and Ornithology (these five will be referred to as the 5Live) are the five organismal branches of zoology. The 5Live, along with Comparative anatomy, Genetics, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Ethology, Ecology, Evolutionary biology, Systematics, Conservation Biology and Palaeontology make up the field of Zoology.

The study of birds is usually offered as a three part course; the classroom, lab and field. Topics such as origin & evolution, anatomy, feathers, flight, feeding, physiology, nervous systems/senses, communication, taxonomy & diversity, annual cycles, migration, navigation, behavior, breeding biology and life history are discussed in the classroom. The laboratory part is usually reserved for dissection, general anatomy, looking at bird study skins and vocals. Birding can be a lifetime hobby; the field portion of the course is designed to introduce students to this wonderful activity. Students are usually taught how to use a field guide, adjust binoculars, identify birds and find birds. Depending on where you are in the United States, the field portion of the course will usually take you to a birding hotspot. For example, in Texas Ornithology courses usually take birding field trips to places such as the Gulf Coast, South Texas or West Texas. These courses are often taught in the spring, so students will get a chance to see a broad range of birds.

Frank Gill's Ornithology and Cornell Lab of Ornithology Handbook of Bird Biology are the two textbooks that are commonly used in Ornithology courses, the former being the most used. The lab part of the course will use some sort of a lab book, such as Manual of Ornithology by Noble S. Proctor and Patrick J. Lynch. The field part will require a set of binoculars and a bird field guide. Good field guides such as National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, National Audubon Society's The Sibley Guide to Birds and A Field Guide to Birds by Roger Tory Peterson are often used. Field Guides with drawings rather than photographs are usually better because they tend to show the markings of the birds clearer.

As we move to the 21st century, Molecular Biology and Microbiology have taken the forefront, engulfing many college zoology departments around the country and squeezing some of the 5Live out. One of the reason is, everybody wants to be a medical doctor, yet some of pre-meds that make it to med school are students that practiced their fine cuts during anatomy lab in a 5Live course. Throughout history, there has always been the divide between experimentalists and naturalists. Edward O. Wilson sums up the conflict nicely by saying "the evolutionary biologists were not about to step aside for a group of test-tube jockeys who could not tell a red-eyed vireo from a mole cricket" (Wilson 1995). C. Hart Merriam said harsher words than that. We must constantly demand that 5Live courses be offered on a regular basis.