Bird Curious: Yoga & Birding, Middle Lake, Golden Gate Park, SF

Leader: Claire brees (brees.c@gmail.com),  Lydia Bruno (lbruno@goldengatebirds.org)

Date: Sunday, May 31 – 9 am to 11 am

Description: Join us for a morning of connection with nature via the Yoga of Birding. This unique event will blend birding with gentle yoga movements, guided breath and awareness exercises and other mindful practices, to help us attune to the rhythm of nature. While there will be visual and sound identification, the focus will be on embodied observation -  opening the sense doors, deepening bodily awareness, and being truly present in nature.

This is birding as a practice of presence, offering a rich and personal connection to the sights, sounds, and textures of our environment...and to experience  birding in a new way.
This event is part of the Bird Curious series, which aims to create a welcoming learning environment for new & budding birders while building community through shared exploration, education and discovery. The walk will be super beginner friendly and we’ll be sure to take our time with each species.

Most of the mile long walk is flat on paved walkways with a slight incline in some areas. ADA accessible. Benches are located along the path at intervals for resting if needed. Restrooms located at nearby North Lake (https://maps.app.goo.gl/49fr9bcEM5TqEtUA9). 

No yoga mats or props needed, but we suggest you wear comfortably loose clothing to accommodate gentle movement.

For a list of birds we could potentially observe during our outing, check out the eBird records for previous years for the month of May: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L743012/illustrated-checklist?m=5

No binoculars? No problem! Fill out this form (https://goldengatebirdalliance.org/58026-2/) to check out a pair of binoculars from Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s lending library. We will also have a few loaner pairs on hand, available on a first come, first served basis. If you have an extra pair of binoculars and you’re willing to bring them along to share, please do!

Heavy rain cancels.

Limit: 12 participants max

Meet at the parking lot off Chain of Lakes Dr between South and Middle Lakes.

Google Map: https://maps.app.goo.gl/94EtzZhfbauksqUa8

Registration opens Tuesday April 21 at 1 pm and closes on Thursday May 28 at 11 pm.