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of each seminar description. Just click
on it to register. A minimal processing
fee will be charged.
You can also call us to register for classes at (415) 663.1200, extension 373 or click here to print a registration form that you can mail or fax to us.
Please Note:
Our birding seminars usually sell out.
Don't be left out of the fun! Register
early to secure spots in the seminars
of your choice.
David Wimpfheimer
Saturday, February 13 • 8:30 AM - 5 PM • $140 ($125 members)
OR
Sunday, February 14 • 8:30 AM - 5 PM • $140 ($125 members)
Come aboard for a wonderful day exploring the rich habitat of the California Delta system. Our trip will begin in Antioch and we’ll cruise the meandering channels in comfort aboard the Delphinus with its high viewing platform. We’ll search for raptors and thousands of waterfowl, such as Tundra swan, Snow goose, White-fronted goose, numerous ducks and even stately Sandhill cranes that spend the winter in the Delta. In previous years, participants have sighted six or more species of raptors in the first hour, including a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons. Enjoy a specialized look at the rich natural and human history of the California Delta at a time of the year when bird life is abundant.
The Saturday, February 13 trip is full. Please call (415) 663-1200 ext. 373 to add your name to the waitlist.
Click here for the Sunday, February 14 trip
Lisa Hug
Sunday, February 21 • 9 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Learn how to identify ducks, grebes, and any other waterbirds we happen to find in this fun-filled workshop. We’ll spend much of the morning in the classroom with a waterfowl PowerPoint presentation that will whet your appetite for observing the real critters! Then, we’ll explore the Point Reyes area to observe the myriad of duck species spending the winter in the rich California coastal wetland areas.
John Klobas & Sarah Klobas
Saturday, March 27 • 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM • $75 ($65 members)
Join us for a spectacular early spring day of birding near the Bay Area! Similar to the varied habitats of the Point Reyes Peninsula, Yolo County affords us the opportunity to view riparian habitat, creekside, lowlands and marshes. During this car-based excursion, we’ll visit a variety of habitats in the first week of Spring and just after the time change to look for species still on their wintering grounds, as well as early migrants returning to their favored breeding areas. We’ll begin the day in Winters, birding Lake Solano and Putah Creek, and we’ll finish the day at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, which is located just outside Davis and is one of the state’s largest wetlands. In between, we’ll visit hot spots throughout the county for resident birds, early migrants, and winter visitors. Although this is a car-based excursion (carpooling encouraged), stops will be myriad, and may include Capay Valley, Rumsey Canyon, Dunnigan Hills, and a rural cemetery or two. Photographers will want to bring a camera, as the light in March can be amazing!
Eddie Bartley
Saturday, April 3 • 9 AM - 4 PM • $60 ($50 members)
From spring song to food selection, molting to migration, nearly all aspects of the lives of adult birds culminate annually into their one primary goal: reproduction. This fast-paced class on breeding behavior will introduce you to many of the fascinating mating strategies and unique reproductive adaptations of birds. Eddie will intersperse presentations using colorful imagery and discussions on pair bonding, nesting and parenting with local field trips to see a variety of birds (many in brilliant spring plumage) that are situating their nesting territories here in the Point Reyes area, migrating, or completing preparations for their journey to distant breeding grounds.
David Wimpfheimer
Friday, April 9 • 9 AM - 5 PM • $125 ($110 members)
Take advantage of a spring low tide during this land and water birding trip! We will begin our explorations with a walk around the marshes, wetlands and ponds of Schollenberger Park, which are rich in breeding-plumage avocets, dowitchers and other sandpipers at this time of year. Raptors fly overhead while many ducks feed in this important wetland. In the afternoon, we’ll cruise down the Petaluma River and out into San Pablo Bay aboard the Delphinus. By following the river as it meanders past sloughs, oxbows and marshes, we’ll gain a better understanding of this vital link to our natural world. On San Pablo Bay, we are likely to see large rafts of ducks
and many feeding godwits and willets as overwintering birds will still be present. Other highlights include a heron rookery and perhaps a curious muskrat, river otter or sea lion. For many decades, the Petaluma River was the third busiest river in California and contains much cultural, as well as natural history. You will hear about some of this history, as well as learn more about sloughs, wetlands, estuaries and rivers during this adventure.
Josiah Clark
Saturday, April 10 • 9 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Though a prominent feature in the landscape of West Marin, the Bolinas Ridge is rarely visited by birders and naturalists. The remote middle portions of this trail are among the least frequented, as they are isolated and time-consuming to reach. Our 8-10 miles of hiking will begin with a steep, sustained uphill hike to the top of the ridge, with elevation gains of around 1,000 feet. We’ll traverse this portion as quickly as possible to save time for the treasures ahead. Once up on the ridge, we’ll be treated to mile upon mile of redwoods, chaparral, oak woodland and grassland. These ecosystems serve as a buffer that keeps the wildness tucked within and the influences of the busy human world at bay. We will have our eyes peeled for anything that crosses our path, keeping a special eye out for the grassland specialists, which are some of the most vulnerable and rare breeding birds in the county. Birding will be our focus, but Josiah will also teach us about the abundant and diverse life forms of the area—trees, wildflowers, reptiles, and more.
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David Wimpfheimer
Wednesday, April 14• 8:45 AM - 5 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Drakes and Limantour Esteros are incredibly rich estuaries that we’ll explore on this exciting, eight-mile walk along the Estero Trail to Drakes Head. Pausing to view the diversity of poppies, lupine, mallow and other plants will give us an opportunity to rest along the way. Of course, we’ll also stop to view the many brant, grebes, scoters, shorebirds and other waterbirds that are migrating and feeding in the rich zones we’ll visit. Flycatchers, warblers and other landbirds will be initiating nesting activity and we will identify them by voice and sight. Join us for a full day of exploration in a part of the seashore that many are not familiar with.
Lisa Hug
Sunday, April 18• 8:30 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Spring is an exciting time to go birding in California. Our year-round resident birds are singing to declare their breeding territories. Many species of songbirds are returning from Central America to join our resident birds in territorial song. The multitude of singing bird species forms a beautiful chorus. Learn to distinguish Orange-crowned warblers from juncos, American robins from Black-headed grosbeaks, purple finches from Warbling vireos, and more. We will start with a classroom introduction before heading out into the field to see what we can find and identify.
Harry Fuller
Saturday, May 1 • 8 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Are you baffled by how to sort out the birdsongs you hear? Join us and learn to separate the songs of Purple and House finch, American and Lesser goldfinch, American robin, Black-headed grosbeak, and more. We’ll use recorded sounds and listen to singing birds in the field as we practice sorting out the songs of common nesting birds. Soon you’ll amaze your friends when you say, “That’s a Brown creeper you just heard. Let’s see if we can find it!”
Harry Fuller
Sunday, May 2 • 10 AM - 4 PM • $140 ($125 members)
Join us aboard the Delphinus, with its high viewing platform, for a unique birding excursion accessible only by boat. Starting at the juncture of San Pablo Bay and the Napa River, this trip offers the opportunity to view an abundance of bird life as the boat makes its way from bay to marsh, and then riparian habitat. Along the way, we’ll have the opportunity to view both the overwintering and nesting birds of Solano and Napa counties. Lingering winter ducks and shorebirds are present in breeding plumage, while osprey, herons, swallows and hawks busy themselves with nesting activities. We may see up to seven species of diurnal raptors, including a resident pair of peregrine falcons. This trip begins at the historic Vallejo and Mare Island waterfronts and continues into a different world, one of vineyards, backwater homes, and some of the largest continuous marshes in the Bay Area.
Josiah Clark
Saturday, May 8 • 8 AM - 2 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Birds are often heard before they are seen, especially during the onset of spring, as they work hard to conceal themselves and their nests. Learning the bird sounds of an area is one of the biggest leaps in skill a birder can make. By spending time in several habitats, listening for bird sounds and watching singing birds, our group will have the chance to study common and not-so-common species—from year-round residents to lingering winter species and arriving north-bound migrants. We’ll primarily use our ears, but the spring bounty will stimulate all our senses as we experience and learn about wildflowers, butterflies and other life we encounter along the way.
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David Wimpfheimer
Friday, May 14 • 8 AM - 12:30 PM • $42 ($38 members)
This half-day outing will concentrate on learning the songs and calls of the flycatchers, vireos, warblers, finches and other songbirds of the area. We’ll pause often during our four-mile hike, as we walk from the deep bay-fir forest of Inverness Ridge through oak woodland and coastal scrub to the freshwater marsh and riparian habitat of Olema Marsh. In a relatively small area, we can expect to see over fifty species of birds, including raptors, waterbirds and swallows, in addition to the songbirds that will be the main focus of the class.
David Wimpfheimer
Saturday, May 15 • 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Explore the varied habitats of Point Reyes at the peak of the breeding season. Around Five Brooks and Bear Valley, we’ll look for residents and neotropical breeding species, including flycatchers, vireos, and warblers. Lingering shorebirds such as plovers and sandpipers, most in their breeding plumage, may still be on the Drakes Estero mudflats. At the headlands, breeding seabirds such as murres, guillemots and cormorants cram cliff perches while migrant loons and scoters are on the move. We will focus on bird behavior and identification in a series of short walks.
Eddie Bartley
Sunday, June 6 • 9 AM - 4 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Early summer is an ideal time to observe and study the life and behavior of the approximately 125 species of birds that have historically chosen the Point Reyes Peninsula to raise their families. Many of these breeding birds coordinate their greatest parenting efforts with the increased photoperiods leading up to the summer solstice, when food production in local ecosystems typically peaks. Others, particularly year-round resident birds, may be well into raising a second clutch by this time. This class will introduce you to many of the resident and summer locals and where to find them while helping you to recognize young birds in their first plumage. Presentations on parenting behaviors, chick development and survival strategies will be interspersed with local field sessions in hopes of viewing some of these new families from vantage points that will ensure their safety.
Lisa Hug
Saturday, June 12 • 8:30 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Late spring into early summer is an exciting time of year to look at birds in the Bay Area. While birds may not be singing as frequently as they were earlier in the spring, and migration has slowed considerably, juvenile birds are popping up everywhere. Sometimes they look and sound very different from the adults that we recognize. Watching these young birds is fun, and studying their behavior and appearance is one of the best ways to become intimately familiar with local breeding birds. We’ll begin with a short classroom presentation about how to locate and identify juvenile birds. Then, we’ll explore different areas of Point Reyes in search of many different species of juvenile birds.
Josiah Clark
Saturday, June 26 • 9 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Birders who can “read the landscape” seem to predict the future when it comes to their sightings. In this birding and ecology class, we’ll explore many habitats and the components that determine bird composition, population density and levels of activity. Learn to match associated bird communities with specific landscapes and signature plant compositions. Josiah will discuss adaptations that make certain species especially suited to given habitats and share information on the limiting factors of vulnerable groups such as cup-nesting songbirds, precocial young and birds of open habitats. This class will not only make you a better birder, but a better-educated conservationist as we take birding a step beyond the every day and unravel what allows bird populations to persist and thrive.
Josiah Clark
Saturday, August 14 • 9 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Bird migration is like a tide that washes over us twice per year, bringing both abundance and diversity. Unlike the ephemeral movements of spring when the birds are racing to be the first to set up territories on newly-leafed and thawed habitats, in fall, with the breeding season behind them, birds are content to move south more slowly. We will visit several habitats and study numerous bird guilds, discussing when, why and where each group may be coming from and going to. Josiah will also teach us about general weather patterns and how they affect bird migration in our area. We will also study plumages of immature sparrows and other breeding songbirds and listen for the late summer and fall begging calls that can confuse even experienced birders. We will be looking to find and acquaint ourselves with the first passing fall migrants as they come into basic plumage.
Lisa Hug
Sunday, August 15 • 9 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
Are you confused and frustrated with trying to learn about the process of feather molt in birds? Are you intimidated by the words used to describe different molts and plumages? Come to this class and get the help you need! This is an intermediate-to-advanced birding class that focuses on learning how to use the modified Humphrey-Parkes molt and plumage terminology correctly. We will spend a few hours in the classroom viewing a PowerPoint presentation on “Feather-Watching” and studying museum specimens. Then, we’ll head out to various areas of Point Reyes National Seashore, where we’ll apply this knowledge directly to the birds we find.
David Wimpfheimer
Saturday, August 21 • 8:30 AM - 3 PM • $60 ($50 members)
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 out Limantour Spit or around Abbotts Lagoon, based on where the birds are. Both are wonderful places to learn the difference between a plover and a phalarope, or how to tell sanderlings from other sandpipers. We will focus on identification and behaviors of shorebirds and other avian residents.
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February 8, 2010
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