Coinciding with the spring migration of birds through the Finger Lakes region, the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology's "Spring Field Ornithology" course is scheduled for April 3 through May 22.

The non-credit course for beginning birders will be taught -- as it has been for the past 19 years -- by Stephen W. Kress, the National Audubon Society biologist and author. More than 1,200 people have taken the course since it began in 1977. It is based at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and includes field trips throughout New York and New Jersey.

The fee for the eight-week course is $185, or $95 for Wednesday evening lectures only or Saturday field trips only. Discounts are available for members of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and for early registrants.

Information on registration is available by calling (607) 254-2440 or writing to: Spring Field Ornithology, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, N.Y. 14850.

Wednesday evening multimedia lectures cover the identification, life histories and behavior of spring migrants and resident birds of the Cayuga Lake area. Saturday field trips, led by Kress and other experienced birders, visit local habitats from Sapsucker Woods and Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge to Derby Hill on Lake Ontario. An overnight field trip to Arnot Forest and a daylong excursion to Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in southern New Jersey are available at additional cost.

Kress, a visiting fellow at the Laboratory of Ornithology, is best-known for his research into habitat restoration of puffins and other threatened seabirds. He is the author, most recently, of The Bird Garden, (Dorling Kindersley, 1995) about attracting birds to backyards throughout the year.