Classes
Improve your birding skills — or get started in birdwatching with some friendly, expert help! Golden Gate Audubon offers classes for all levels of birding experience. Please register for our classes online (easy and fast). If you don’t have access to a computer, call our office at (510) 843-2222 and we will return your call as soon as possible.
CANCELLATION POLICY: As a small organization with limited office staff, it is challenging for us to handle last-minute cancellations. If you need to cancel, we will refund your registration fee if :
(1) You withdraw more than two weeks before the start of the class, AND (2) We can fill your spot with someone from the class waiting list.Please note that there will be a $5 cancellation fee to cover the credit card transaction costs for your sign-up and cancellation.
Winter Birding Classes
Beginning Birdwatching Full
Register to be on the waitlist
January 7 through February 11
Learn about birds that spend the winter with us, both migrants and seasonal visitors and year-
round residents. Instructor Anne Hoff will familiarize you with the tools of the trade −
binoculars, field guides, and the best local places to watch birds. In Monday evening classroom
sessions, she’ll introduce you to birds and their habitats. Then on the following Saturday, she’ll
help you spot them in the field! No prior birding experience required. Note: You will need to
own a pair of binoculars or borrow them from a friend for this class, but they are not necessary
until the first field trip.
- Five Monday evening classes, Jan 7, 14, (no class Jan 21), 28; Feb 4, 11 – 7 to 8:30 p.m.
- Five Saturday morning field trips, 9 to 11:30 a.m., Jan 12, 19, 26; Feb 2, 9.
- Instructor: Anne Hoff
- Limited to 16 participants
- $100 for GGAS members, $120 for non-members
- Location: Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline Street, directly across the street from Ashby
BART in Berkeley. Free parking in the lot behind the center. ERC strives to maintain a fragrance-free
environment. Please refrain from using scented products.
Register HERE . Once the class is full, you may register to be on a waiting list.
Advanced Beginning Birdwatching
January 9 through February 10
The Advanced Beginning class is geared to people who have already taken our Beginning
Birdwatching class, OR who have birded once a month (on average) for at least a year.
Participants must have and use binoculars confidently. Field trips will be to woodland, wetland,
and shore locations. This class will help you with some of the more challenging IDs and further
develop your skills using resources and references. In addition, conservation issues and citizen
science programs to address them will be presented.
- Five Wednesday evening classes, Jan 9, 16, 23, 30; Feb 6 − 7 to 8:30 p.m.
- Five three-hour field trips on the Sunday following each class, 9 a.m. to noon
- Instructor: Anne Hoff
- Limited to 16 participants
- $100 for GGAS members, $120 for non-members
- Location: Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline Street, directly across the street from Ashby
BART in Berkeley. Free parking in the lot behind the center. ERC strives to maintain a fragrance-free
environment. Please refrain from using scented products.
The registration HERE. Once the class is full, you may
register to be on a waiting list.
A Deep Dive into Diving Birds
January 8 through 26
California and the Bay Area provide winter homes for many species of pelagic birds, birds that
are adapted to life in a deep water environment. This is a short course on the natural history
and identification of commonly found members of the families Alcidae (puffins, murres,
murrelets, guillemots), Gaviidae (loons), Podicipedidae (grebes) and Anatidae (ducks, geese,
and swans). This grouping allows a close study of adaptive strategies that are commonly
engaged by those species (so many of which are typically bichromatic in winter: dark above and
white below), such as salt glands and waterproofing, as well as divergent characteristics that
will help us better differentiate them in the field. The class offers illustrated explanations of
these strategies as well as dietary practices and cycles of breeding, molt, and migration.
Presentations will be supported by the California Academy of Sciences’s specimen collections as
well as by photographs from the archives of International Bird Rescue.
- Three Tuesday evening classes, Jan 8, 15, and 22; 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
- Two three-hour field trips, Saturday Jan 19 and 26
- Instructor: Megan Prelinger
- Limited to 20 participants
- $100 for GGAS members, $120 for non-members
- Location: California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, SF (Detailed directions will
be provided.) - Register HERE . Once the class is full, you may
register to be on a waiting list.
Birding by Ear Full
Register to be on the waitlist
January 10 through February 16
Birds communicate by making a variety of sounds all year long, even in the middle of winter.
This class focuses on bird sounds heard at this time of year in our area. We will learn to locate
and identify birds by chirps and calls as well as songs of some species that are now starting to
sing.Field trip locations can be found on the instructor’s website, http://www.denisewightbirds.com/.
- Six Thursday evening classes, Jan 10 to Feb 14; 7 to 8:30 p.m.
- Six three-hour field trips on the Saturday following each class, 8:30 – 11:30 a.m.
- Instructor: Denise Wight
- Limited to 20 participants
- $120 for GGAS members, $140 for non-members
- Location: Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline Street, directly across the street from Ashby
BART in Berkeley. Free parking in the lot behind the center. ERC strives to maintain a fragrance-free
environment. Please refrain from using scented products.
Register HERE . Once the class is full, you may register to be on a waiting list.
Birds of the Bay Area Full
Register to be on the waitlist
January 22 through February 17
It’s winter! It might even rain! But ducks and shorebirds are wintering in the area. Geese and
cranes are in the Central Valley and hawks are in the air! Join an enthusiastic group of birders
to experience birding locations in our area while learning about bird ID and a variety of other
bird-related topics. Field trip locations can be found on the instructor’s website, http://www.wingbeats.org/.
- Four Tuesday evening classes, Jan 22 to Feb 12; 7 to 8:30 p.m.
- Three three-hour field trips on the Saturday or Sunday (your choice) following each class
plus one weekend long field trip on Feb 16-17.(location TBD*) *incorrectly listed as Golden Gate Park in the November e-Gull - Instructors: Rusty Scalf and Bob Lewis
- Limit to 40 participants
- $90 for GGAS members, $110 for non-members
- Location: Ed Roberts Campus, 3075 Adeline Street, directly across the street from Ashby
- BART in Berkeley. Free parking in the lot behind the center. ERC strives to maintain a fragrance-free
environment. Please refrain from using scented products.
Register HERE . Once the class is full, you may
register to be on a waiting list.