Birding for Beginners & Avian Identification

A Thursday lecture, a weekend field trip, and roughly a hundred birds you will never fail to recognise again.

Booking now
Each session1 hr 45 min a session
How oftenTwice a week
Cohort20–40 per cohort
SeasonTwo cohorts a year — Spring and Fall

What you leave with

Around 100 local and migratory species you can recognise on sight and by ear

Modelled with the San Diego Bird Alliance. A weekly evening lecture online and a weekend morning field trip, paired: the theory on Thursday is what you go looking for on Saturday.

The cohort splits into Saturday and Sunday field groups to keep the leader-to-student ratio workable. Zoom recordings are provided for the lectures, and loaner binoculars for anybody who needs them.

What makes this one worth it

  • Introduction to Birding & The Observer's Toolkit
  • Shapes, Silhouettes, Sizes & Field Marks
  • Bird Songs, Calls & Audio Identification
  • Habitats, Ecosystems & Why Birds Choose Them
  • Raptors, Predators & Aerial Dynamics
  • Migration Ecology, Pacific Flyway & The 100-Bird Capstone

What is included

  • All 12 sessions of the 6-week cohort — 21 hours of instruction
  • A place held for you for the whole run, in a cohort of 20–40
  • Every piece of equipment listed below, provided on the day
  • Your instructor, and their attention in a group this size

What to bring

  • Water, and something to eat if you want it
  • Nothing else — the kit is provided

How it runs

Twice a week · 1 hr 45 min a session

Frequency
Hybrid — Thursday evening lecture online, plus a Saturday or Sunday morning field trip
Session length
1 hr 45 min
Each month
8 sessions, about 14 hours
Cohort size
20 – 40 participants
Where
Online via Zoom, plus rotating regional field hotspots
Level
Beginner / All Levels (no prior birding experience required)
Commitment
Monthly — stay as long as it is worth it

What you cover, in rotation

The group works through these in order and then begins again on fresh ground. Join at whatever stage it is on — nothing here assumes you were there for the last one, and nothing runs out — or drop in for a single session if that is all you can manage.

  1. Stage 1Introduction to Birding & The Observer's Toolkit

    Session 1 · Online lecture

    • Why we bird: mindful observation, natural history and community science.
    • Optics fundamentals: selecting, adjusting and focusing binoculars.
    • Field notebooks, field guides, and Merlin Bird ID and eBird.

    Session 2 · Field trip

    • Staging and binocular calibration; practising rapid subject acquisition.
    • Baseline checklists with common park residents.
  2. Stage 2Shapes, Silhouettes, Sizes & Field Marks

    Session 1 · Online lecture

    • Bird topography: bill shapes, tail structures, wing ratios and crests.
    • Relative sizing and posture clues across families.
    • Target species preview and habitat context.

    Session 2 · Field trip

    • Spotting distinct silhouettes and diagnostic plumage across brush and canopy.
  3. Stage 3Bird Songs, Calls & Audio Identification

    Session 1 · Online lecture

    • Territorial songs, alarm calls, contact notes and flight calls.
    • Spectrograms, audio pattern recognition, and ethical digital tools.
    • A panel on the confusing coastal songbirds.

    Session 2 · Field trip

    • A sound-mapping walk along riparian willow corridors and creek trails.
    • Associating California Towhee, Wrentit and Spotted Towhee calls with sightings.
  4. Stage 4Habitats, Ecosystems & Why Birds Choose Them

    Session 1 · Online lecture

    • Coastal sage scrub, chaparral canyons, freshwater marshes and lagoons.
    • Food sources, nesting dynamics, foraging niches and microclimates.

    Session 2 · Field trip

    • Wetland and lagoon edge exploration: egrets, herons, waterfowl and rails.
  5. Stage 5Raptors, Predators & Aerial Dynamics

    Session 1 · Online lecture

    • Flight silhouettes of buteos, accipiters, falcons, harriers and kites.
    • Thermal soaring mechanics, hunting behaviour and perching habits.

    Session 2 · Field trip

    • Ridge-top and open-meadow vantage watch for soaring and hovering flight.
  6. Stage 6Migration Ecology, Pacific Flyway & The 100-Bird Capstone

    Session 1 · Online lecture

    • San Diego on the Pacific Flyway: stopovers, breeding ranges and conservation.
    • Logging observations into citizen-science databases.

    Session 2 · Field trip & capstone

    • A comprehensive field survey across coastal estuary and canyon grounds.
    • The 100-birds milestone and the collective species tally.
    • Coffee, field journal sharing, and community next steps.

12 sessions in the cycle, then it begins again on new ground.

Who leads it, and what is provided

Led by San Diego Bird Alliance leaders and docents.

Curriculum delivery, Zoom hosting, small field groups, site permits, and species interpretation.

On the table when you arrive

  • Loaner waterproof binoculars
  • Field notebooks and checklist handouts
  • Zoom lecture recordings

And then?

Take it again, on a new theme

Going round once does not mean you are done with it. The same journey rotates through these subjects, so staying on is fresh ground rather than a repeat — no prerequisites, and nothing to re-learn.

  • Spring Migration Cohort — breeding plumage, nesting behaviour, spring warblers
  • Fall Migration Cohort — wintering waterfowl, shorebird migration, juvenile plumage

When it runs

August 2026

M
T
W
T
F
S
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Runs Not running

Friday 7 August

  • 8:30amup to 40 guests

Usually runs Friday and Sunday.

This is the operator’s schedule, not live seat availability. We check the date with them and come back to you — nothing is booked or paid for here.

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