Birds of Southern California

An Introductory Birding Skills Workshop

presented by Sylvia R. Gallagher

Sea and Sage Audubon Society is again offering a ten-week workshop on bird identification for beginning birders or those with a small amount of knowledge, which is most likely disorganized.  Professional biologists, whose expertise is not in ornithology or whose studies have been confined to just a few species or places, will find this workshop helpful, too.  

Each session will feature about 15 common birds of a particular local habitat on the coastal side of the mountains. With the use of printed worksheets and photos from the Sea and Sage Library, Sylvia Gallagher will help you to learn to identify those birds. In the process, you’ll also be introduced to a variety of other topics, such as bird families, plumages and molts, bird topography, distribution and habitat preferences, behavior, vocalizations, the birding literature, birding ethics and etiquette, etc.

The topics to be covered in the series are:

1. Birds of neighborhoods.
2. Birds of playing fields and parking lots.
3. Birds of mudflats and shallow water.
4. Birds of the ocean shore.
5. Birds of the open country.
6. Birds of prey.
7. Birds of the streamside woodland (in 2 parts).
8. Birds of bays, lakes, and marshes.

Each person will attend ten weekly meetings via Zoom.  For these, you’ll need a computer and good internet access.  Although sharing computers is possible, for best results, each person should have his/her own computer in a separate room.

You will choose one of these three sections to attend:

Tues. mornings: 9:00 a.m. – ca. noon,  Sept. 30 – Dec. 9 except Nov. 25

Wed. evenings: 7:00 – ca.10:00 pm,     Oct 1 – Dec. 10 except Nov. 26

Thurs.  evenings: 7:00 – ca.10:00 pm,  Oct. 2 – Dec. 11 except Nov. 27

Four half-day field trips to Orange County locations will be scheduled, and each time you may choose Saturday or Monday.  They are on the weekends following the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th workshop sessions. Participants will be divided into small groups of 5 -10 people with an experienced leader. The places will be Huntington Central Park (Oct. 18, 20), Crescent Bay Point & Upper Newport Bay (Nov. 1, 3), Irvine Regional Park (Nov. 16,18), and Yorba Regional Park (Dec. 7, 9), all Orange County locations. Except for FT #2, which depends on the tides, the trips will run from 8:00 AM till around noon. The workshop is presented remotely using Zoom to accommodate people who don’t live close by and also meet popular demand.

Mail your reservation (Click to Download) for this workshop, postmarked no earlier than Sept. 3 (2-day penalty for early reservations), to “Introductory Workshop, Sylvia Gallagher, 21562 Kaneohe Ln, Huntington Beach CA 92646.” Priority for placement in sections will be based on postmark date. Enclose a LONG (4” x 9½”) self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE). If you can afford it, also please enclose a workshop donation of $130, (check, cashier’s check, or money order) made out to Sea and Sage Audubon Society. Confirmations will be mailed Sept. 22, including further information. The donation may be paid in 2 installments, half with your reservation and the other half by Nov.1.

The maximum enrollment for each section is 21.  If any section does not have at least 12 people enrolled by Sept. 21, it will be canceled.  Reserve early though, because some sections may fill quickly. 

The required book for the workshop is the 7th edition (no other!) of the National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America by Dunn and Alderfer.  Recommended, but not required, is Birds of Southern California by Garrett, Dunn, and Small. These books are available in the book section of the Sea and Sage Audubon House Nature Store, open daily from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Shortly after the confirmations are mailed, you will also receive, this time via email, an access code to a portion of Sea and Sage’s Dropbox, where you will find the workshop’s introductory pictures plus the printed material in .pdf form. 

YOU WILL HAVE TO PRINT OUT THE TEXTUAL MATERIAL.  Read first the document entitled “READ FIRST” for further information.  If you have questions, contact Sylvia at sjrgallagher@yahoo.com (preferred) or 714-962-8990.  If you phone and get no answer, don’t leave a message; write an email instead.