Birding For Beginners Spring 2024

Nurture your love and knowledge of birds with a beginner’s birding class designed to connect you with the birding community and improve your skills in bird identification. We will spend quality time observing and discussing birds and their behavior, to build your understanding of the sights, sounds, behaviors, and natural history of a selection of our feathered friends.

This is a five-week class which will be divided into two sections: online on Thursday evenings from 6:30 pm to 8 pm and in-person field trips on Sundays from 8 am to 10 am. 

Each online class will include lectures and discussions with a panel of local birders. We’ll talk about why we bird, and we'll get into the tools and skills birders use to collect observations. We’ll talk about the places we’ll go, the species we’ll see, and why birds want to be there. Each participant will receive an optional “ID assignment” to perform in the field. In field trips, we’ll employ all of our senses to experience and record the birds in our midst. In the end, you'll have about 100 new birds in your brain!

We hope that in this class you’ll connect with nature and birds, with yourself, and with other birders. We welcome a diverse learning community. Let us know if you have access challenges and need assistance.

Binoculars are a must. You should definitely have a notebook and a smartphone if you use one. Carpooling will be encouraged, especially when the trips are not bike/transit-friendly.

Young people (ages 10-18) are encouraged to participate with adult family memeber(s). This course is designed for adult participants, so we rely upon you to assess the maturity level of your young birders before signing up.

Recording of each Zoom session will be available to class participants for a limited period of time.

This course is offered twice per year. 

Spring Course- signup begins April 1, 2024 The timeframe published on this event listing is not completely accurate. Please note:
Thursday zoom sessions begin April 11 and end  May 16, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm
Sunday field trips begin April 21 and end May 19 8 am to 10 am

Registration Required. There are three different rates to choose from: Individual, Pair registration (2 people registering at the same time) and Family registration (up to 4 people registering at the same time) If the registration fee is a barrier to participation, please contact us. Scholarships are available.