Registration for Spring 2019 is now closed as class is full.
Spring Birding by Ear
The ability to bird by ear, recognizing and identifying various species from their vocalizations, is of invaluable assistance in the field. Join Paul Franklin for this exciting new course and learn how to identify various species by their songs and calls heard during breeding season.
Much time will also be spent learning in the field.
Textbook: The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America will serve as the text for this course; while we encourage students to bring their own, more than enough copies are available for use here in the office.
Where and when do we meet? This six-week class will meet at our Birmingham offices on Wednesday nights (5/1, 5/8, 5/15, 5/22, 5/29, 6/5), 6:30–8:30 p.m. We expect to have multiple field trips each week either on Saturdays and/or early weekday mornings, and we will try to accommodate students’ schedules. It is important students attend the first class on May 1st as many organizational details will be determined, including the best times for field trips. The instructor will send a group email throughout the class to update about meeting and field trip times.
Our office is located on the second floor of 3720 Fourth Avenue South. (Ample and well-lit parking is available in back, just behind Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, the former Saigon Noodle House.) We will spend most of our time learning in the field—locating birds and attending to their songs, then learning to describe, recognize, and remember the sounds we hear.
Cost: Your one-time registration fee ($60/members; $85/non-members) covers all six meetings. (While you are not required to attend each class, do note that we cannot refund individuals for partial attendance.)
Questions? Email the Outreach & Communications Director, or call 205-719-3678.
To see all of our class offerings, click here.
Instructor: A lifelong birder, Paul Franklin has taught birding courses at UAB, Samford University, the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and other institutions since 1987. As an active member of Birmingham Audubon, Paul has served as chairman of the Field Trips and Conservation committees, volunteered as a bird-count compiler, and fulfilled two terms as president of the organization. Among other accomplishments, he has conducted Breeding Bird Survey routes for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, held a Master Bird Bander license, and acted as the state’s primary ornithologist during the development of the Alabama Birding Trail.