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. Alvaro always offers up fresh materials gleaned from his extensive travels and research. Please join him for these fun and informative workshops!

The classroom portion of the workshops will be held at the Sobrato Center for Non-profits in Redwood City. Directions

Bird Sound Shorebirds
Seabirds

2013 Workshops

Birders are attracted to birds for many reasons; aesthetics, the thrill of the chase, their behavior, amazing flying powers and migration… but one aspect of birds that transcends all is their ability to sing. Everyone can just sit back and enjoy bird song, but it is also interesting to dig a little deeper and understand a little more about it, and learn how to differentiate songs. SFBBO has developed a workshop that does just that. We will learn how to identify song, in particular the trickier songs we hear in the Bay Area. This workshop also focuses on understanding the ecology and behavior of bird vocalization. For example, we will cover topics on the development of song, song variations, and the purpose of song as well as how to visualize and learn bird sounds. This is not a workshop just for experts, but for any birder interested in obtaining a richer understanding of bird voice. Did you ever wonder why there are bird dialects or why they exist in some species and not others? Ever wonder why some songs are high pitched, and others low pitched? These are the types of questions we will ask, and answer, in this workshop, as we learn some of the local bird sounds! During the field trip, we will listen to bird sounds in nature and also do some simple experiments to see what we learned in the class room.

Birding Level: Beginner and up.

Physical Requirements (for fieldtrip): Moderate, we may do some walking in grassy fields, and on sloped trails. We will seek to maximize the number of aural experiences for the day rather than the number of birds sighted. As singing behavior is at its height in the morning, this will be an early morning field trip. The field trip will likely be on the coast, where a mix of grassland, shrub-land and forest can be found and songbird diversity is high!

Shorebirds
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Tuesday, July 30th, Thursday, Aug. 1st (instruction), 6:30 – 9:00 pm,
Sunday, Aug. 4th (fieldtrip), TBA

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 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 are likely to remain in bayside locations to study shorebirds. If there is something unusual or interesting on the coast, we may head there as well.

Birding Level: Intermediate and up.

Physical Requirements (for fieldtrip): Light. We will bird from various parking lots, bayside trails, and flat surfaces. Don’t expect to walk too much, but do expect to stand around a lot, often in cool winter weather, so bring the layers.

Seabirds
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Tuesday, Aug. 27th, Thursday, Aug. 29th (instruction), 6:30 – 9:00 pm,
TBA (fieldtrip)

Pulitzer Prize nominated nature book writer Scott Weidensaul has written that in North American birding, the ocean is the final frontier! It is a vast environment and access is difficult. Birds move due to migration, food concentrations, and changing habitat conditions. But the rewards of heading out on the ocean are huge! Seabirds are gorgeous with their graceful lines, shapes, and flight styles. They include some of the most amazing of migrant species, birds that use the entire ocean as part of their annual distribution. The ocean off the coast of California is one of the richest places on earth, with opportunities to observe iconic species such as albatrosses, puffins, shearwaters, auklets, and storm-petrels. Rarities, odd fish, and whales may also be viewed! The classroom portion of this workshop will focus on the identification, and ecology, and distribution of seabirds. This workshop can be taken as just a class or include a discounted pelagic trip. Class is $90, pelagic will be offered at discounted rate of $110. Please contact Kristni Butler at 408-946-6548 x10 or kbutler@sfbbo.org to sign up for the class portion; you will need to contact Alvaro at 650-504-7779 or ajaramillo@sfbbo.org to sign up for discounted pelagic. Other pelagic dates are available; check http://alvarosadventures.com/boat-trips/pelagics/ for other dates.

Birding Level: Beginner on up.

Physical Requirements (for fieldtrip): Moderate. Comfort level will depend on current weather and your personal tolerance for sea conditions. Fortunately, late August to early September seas average the mildest conditions of the year. The boat will depart from Pillar Point Harbor, just north of Half Moon Bay. Strategies for preventing seasickness will be discussed in the workshop. The boat is coast guard certified with all of the required safety equipment, and experienced captains.

Registration & Payment

Each workshop is $150 per person. We have changed our membership benefits! You must have an active membership to register for a workshop. To check your membership status please call 408-946-6548 and we will be happy to assist you. You can also make a membership payment online by visiting our secure website.

You can 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 Donation menu, there is a drop-down menu titled “Program-Designation;" please select "Adult Birding Workshop." In the "Dedication" line, please be sure to include any other pertinent information, such as the class name or the number of participants.
Then email Outreach and Membership Coordinator Kristin Butler at kbutler@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 our office at 408-946-6548.

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

You must be a minimum of 16 years of age to participate in a workshop.

Other Information

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