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online registrations for classes. If you would
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of each seminar description. Just click
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You can also call us to register for classes at 415.663.1200 ext. 373 or download and print a registration form that you can mail or fax to us.
In visits to Olema Marsh, Five Brooks, the Giacomini wetlands and other sites, this class focuses on observing and identifying a variety of land birds including flycatchers, warblers, grosbeaks, woodpeckers, thrushes, and finches. Identification using field marks, voice, and habitat selection will be reinforced throughout the day. Spent entirely in the field at a variety of habitats, participants will take several easy short walks with little to no elevation gain.
This class is full, please call 415-663-1200 x373 to be added to the waitlist.
This class will focus on the water birds and raptors that breed in Point Reyes National Seashore. Most of the shorebirds will have migrated north to breeding zones, but a variety of herons, cormorants, murres, and guillemots remain to breed here. Additionally an impressive variety of raptors including hawks, falcons, kites and Osprey will be a subject of this outing as we explore aquatic zones from Tomales Bay to Drake’s Estero to the Chimney Rock headlands. Of course a variety of other birds will be viewed, identified, and discussed as well.
Peter Bergen
There is a constant conversation going on in the wilds of Point Reyes. Those who have the skills and understanding to join the conversation can interpret the behavior and natural language of birds. Come learn about this lost art, and expand your knowledge of what’s happening in the natural world. The class will explore the basic core routines of bird language, the “shapes of alarm”, the sound & motion-based alarm signature that each animal generates as it moves across the landscape. Come walk the trails with esteemed naturalist Peter Bergen, and learn how to diminish your ring of disturbance and expand your ring of awareness while in the field, so you will be able to see more wildlife on your own journeys. We will also touch on ‘backyard bird’ language practices and routines so you can join in on the conversation at home.
Open to youth (age 15-17) with attending adult.
Sunday, June 9 • 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM • $50 ($40 Members)
Sunday, July 7 • 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM • $50 ($40 Members)
Harry Fuller
June 27 – 30 • 4:30PM Thursday– 10:00AM Sunday • $370 ($350 Members)
Great birding in the Great Basin! Enjoy a spectacular long weekend with renowned birding expert Harry Fuller in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR) in southeastern Oregon. We will venture out to see and photograph birds that rarely show up on the Pacific Coast. Nesting species in June include Wilson’s Phalarope, Franklin’s Gull, Black Tern, Long-billed Curlew, Wilson’s Snipe, Burrowing, Long-eared and Short-eared Owls, Prairie Falcon, Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawk, Common Nighthawk, Sage Thrasher and Sage Sparrow, Brewer’s Sparrow. We should encounter young Great Horned Owls, fledged Sora and Virginia Rail.
We will stay at Malheur Field Station on the National Wildlife refuge established over a hundred years ago by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Comfortable dormitory-style lodging and delicious house-made meals are included.
This class is currently full, please call (415) 663-1200 x 373 to be added to the waitlist.
Come spend the day looking for and observing migrant shorebirds that have traversed thousands of miles from their Arctic breeding areas. Some may stay within the rich habitats well into the winter. Others will pause only briefly before traveling south. Join David for a hike on Limantour Spit or around Abbott’s Lagoon, depending on where the birds are. Both are wonderful places to learn the difference between a plover and a phalarope or how to tell sanderling from other sandpipers. We will focus on identification and behaviors of shorebirds and other avian residents. Expect to hike on trail, but also sandy areas and damp salt marsh during the day.
Bodega Bay is one of the most popular birding sites in the Bay Area and with good reason. The tidal mudflats here are habitat for an excellent variety of godwits, sandpipers, plovers and other species. Sandy beaches often provide good snowy plover and sanderling habitat while the rocky coast is preferred feeding area for turnstones, oystercatcher and wandering tattler. Shorebirds will be the main focus of the day, but we will also enjoy the great variety of loons, grebes, ducks, raptors and other birds as well.
This tidal marsh just north of San Francisco Bay is an especially good habitat for viewing large numbers of migrant and resident shorebirds. Nesting avocets and stilts share the area with migratory godwits, peeps, plovers and phalaropes. Some species here are different form the coastal areas visited previously. Although the focus will be on the identification of shorebirds, we will not ignore the herons, terns, raptors and other birds here. Other nearby sites may be visited.
The Klamath Basin is renowned for its wide diversity and abundance of bird life due to its diverse habitats as over 350 species of birds call this major Pacific Flyway layover home. This class will be staying at the Running Y resort on the shore of Klamath Lake the largest natural lake in Oregon. We will bird the various habitats found in the Klamath Basin including the Klamath and Link Rivers, open lake, marshy margins, high elevation evergreen forest, dry and wet grasslands and sagebrush steppe. Some target species we hope to see include Bald and Golden Eagles, Prairie Falcon, Chukar, Mountain Quail, White-headed Woodpecker, Yellow-headed Blackbird, Short-eared Owl, Townsend’s Solitaire. There will be flocks of migrating shorebirds and waterfowl moving through the Basin at this time as well. Don’t miss this perfectly timed trip with expert birder Harry Fuller. Accommodations and some meals included at the Running Y Resort.
This migration immersion class will take place on the Point Reyes headlands giving participants a unique opportunity to study and appreciate this special area and its avian inhabitants. On Saturday, a series of short walks may take us to the Lighthouse, Chimney Rock, and Drakes Beach. Depending on weather patterns, many migrant warblers, sparrows, and other passerines concentrate in the surrounding cypress groves and willow thickets. Ranch ponds and marsh habitat hold shorebirds while scoter, loons, and other water birds rest on Drakes Bay… there is almost always a surprise. We will spend the night in this dramatic setting and watch a digital presentation on the birds of Point Reyes. Sunday morning may find us visiting some of the same locations. We may also take a walk at Abbott’s Lagoon. The variety of sandpipers, ducks, terns, and other water birds can be dramatic. Many raptors migrate through this rich area. Expect to take several hikes throughout the weekend. Accommodations included at the historic Lifeboat Station.
The coastal headlands, open rolling grasslands, and forest edges found around Point Reyes provide ideal conditions for a variety of our most dramatic birds of prey. In this class we will venture forth to explore the many habitats in search of dramatic birds such as red-tailed hawks, northern harriers, peregrine falcons, great horned owls, barn owls and more. We will take time to study the behaviors of these birds and discuss how to identify them whether they are perched or flying in the distance.
Not only is Point Reyes one of the foremost locations in North America for finding birds, it also offers the most dynamic mix of coastal habitats on the California coast. In this class we will take advantage of this fortuitous confluence by spending a day exploring this dramatic landscape in search of a wide variety of birds. Our goal will be to learn about the lives of the birds we see, including their seasonal patterns, distribution, behaviors, and utilization of different habitats.
We offer gift certificates for specific classes or the dollar amount of your choice. Email or call 415.663.1200 ext. 373 and we can create a certificate for you to give as a gift.
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This page last modified May 22, 2013.
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