Workshops with Alvaro Jaramillo for the Birder and Naturalist

Put your birding into an ecological context! These workshops incorporate ecology, evolutionary biology, behavioral ecology, and natural history to complement bird identification information taught in class. We are offering many workshops throughout 2010, so check back regularly.

Fall Shorebirds
Sparrows - Little Brown Jobs

2010 Workshops

Shorebird migration is one of the most marvelous of all animal migrations. Some of these birds migrate from the southern hemisphere to the high Arctic in a very short and rapid migration. We are fortunate to live by San Francisco Bay, one of the world's most important migration stop-over areas for shorebirds. Shorebirds can be difficult to identify, especially in fall, when duller juvenile and non-breeding plumages are seen. In order to identify these fall shorebirds, we will dig deep into bird behavior, physiology, ecology, and everything else that is relevant to this season and your enjoyment of migrating shorebirds. This is an opportunity for you to create depth to your shorebird identification skills, have a great time, and view many shorebird species. We may visit both bayside and coastal sites on the fieldtrip to maximize what we see.

Birding Level: Intermediate and up.

Physical Requirements (for fieldtrip): Light to moderate depending how much we need to walk. All sites will be on flat terrain.

Well-camouflaged and perfectly adapted birds to living low and near the ground, sparrows are often categorized as “little brown jobs” by birders. Seldom are sparrows boldly marked or colorful, however, sparrows are distinctive once you concentrate on more obvious differences such as shape, behavior, voice, and habitat. Also, learning how to see browns, beige, cream as individuals colors will make sparrows a vividly different as warblers! Armed with this knowledge, you will find that sparrows are not nearly as difficult to identify as you have been lead to believe. Often on the ground, sparrows are especially easy to observe - in fact an advantage of sparrow watching is that you do not get “warbler neck." In addition, sparrows have afforded scientists important opportunities to learn about bird song, dialects, territoriality, and migration patterns. Come and learn how to simplify the identification of sparrows, gain an appreciation for this largely North American group of birds, and get a summary of their natural history and influence on ornithology.

Birding Level: Beginner on up.

Physical Requirements (for fieldtrip): Light to moderate depending how much we need to walk. Most sites are on flat terrain, although we may visit at least one site that has trails on a slope; we will take it easy though – you will not need mountain climbing gear for this workshop.

Registration & Payment

Each workshop is $150 per person for members, $160 for nonmembers. Please register for a workshop using one of the three registration methods below.

1. Write a check, payable to the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. Print out and complete this registration form, and mail your check and registration form to 524 Valley Way Milpitas, CA 95035.

2. Pay online using our secure website (Under the “Program” tab please select Adult Birding Workshop), then email email Administrative Assistant Kathi Kendrick at kkendrick@sfbbo.org with the following:
Name of the workshop
Your name
Your email
Phone number

3. Call us with your credit card number. Please call Administrative Assistant Kathi Kendrick at 408-946-6548 x 10.

Once you have followed these steps, we will confirm your reservation via email. Please follow the instructions above or the process may be delayed.

Each workshop limited to 15-20 students; workshops that are full will be marked as [full].

Other Information

Location: All workshops are held at the Sobrato Center for Non-profits in Milpitas (Home of the Bird Observatory!).
The Sobrato Center for Nonprofits is located on 600 Valley Way, Milpitas. Directions

Times: Instruction evenings are from 6:30 - 9:00 p.m.; field trip times and location TBA.