Birding Your Patch

Registration is scheduled to open at 1 pm on Wednesday August 5 and will close at 11 pm on Monday September 14. 

If the class is full, you'll be added to the waitlist.  

Instructor: Kimberlie Moutoux (kimberliemoutoux@gmail.com)

Description: Birding Your Patch will help you to gain a love and understanding of birding in your local community. Participants will pick a patch to become acquainted with and adopt.

In fall 2026, the class will be open to birders in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties only, so we are able to make it to all our patches. (GGBA plans to offer a version of this class for birders who live in the East Bay in spring 2027.)

We will learn about the 75 common birds, 30 local plants and 6 local habitats in our area and how these habitats dictate the location of birds. We will learn how to use ebird and Merlin Bird ID to find and document our local birds.

Each week we will visit 2 of our participants’ local patches and as a team help to see what is possible in each patch.

Participants will each study one local bird and share their findings with the class each evening meeting. 

This class will focus on our local birding picture including the plants that support the birds and give participants confidence in bird identification in the community.

There is a gap between the introductory Zoom meeting and the following class meetings and the field trips so that participants have a chance to select their patches and get to know their fall birds.

Field trips will depend on the participants’ local patches. The locations will be announced at our October 13 session and by email.

Recordings of the lecture presentations will be available to class participants for a limited period of time.

Introductory Tuesday evening class by Zoom, September 15, 7 to 8 pm.

Six Tuesday evening classes by Zoom, October 13, 20, 27; November 3, 10, 17: 7 to 8:30 pm.

(Zoom link will  be provided in September.)

Six three-hour Saturday field trips, October 17, 24, 31; November 7, 14, 21: 8 to 11 am       

Class Size: Limited to 12 participants.

Price: $375 ($300 for GGBA and SMCBA (San Mateo County Bird Alliance) members, a 20% discount).

SMCBA members need to contact Davena Gentry, davena@smcbirdalliance.org, to obtain the  discount code to enter into the GGBA registration system to get the member price.
​​​​