ONLINE Course: Audubon at Home: Intro to Birds & Birding

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Pre-registration is required by 11 a.m. CDT Friday, September 11th, and space is limited.

*We understand there are economic barriers that many are facing during this time. If you need financial assistance, please email us.*

UPDATE: Registration is now closed. Check out our other upcoming online events here.

Join Greg Harber for an introductory course providing novice birders with everything they need to know to get started with their new favorite hobby. Topics include selecting optics, choosing field guides, feeding birds in your backyard, finding birds throughout Alabama, and identifying common birds and bird families.

While the first two weeks explore the “tools of the trade,” the remaining class sessions teach students how to use field guides to identify many of the birds they are most likely to encounter in our region. Each class meeting covers a different aspect of birding for the beginner:

– Day 1: Selecting and using field guides and optics
– Day 2: Attracting birds to your yard, bird-feeding basics, and how to find birds in Alabama
– Day 3: Learning to identify wading birds, shorebirds, doves, and woodpeckers
– Day 4: Learning to identify flycatchers and warblers
– Day 5: Learning to identify flycatchers and warblers (part 2)
– Day 6: Learning to identify sparrows, blackbirds, and finches
– Day 7: Learning to identify waterfowl, gulls, hawks, and owls

Where and when do we meet? This online course meets on seven consecutive Mondays (9/14, 9/21, 9/28, 10/12, 10/19, 10/26, and 11/2), from 6–8 p.m. CDT, with the exception of October 5th when there will be no class. It will be a two-hour online class with some time at the end for questions.

Cost: Your one-time registration fee of $70 covers all seven meetings.* (While you are not required to attend each class, do note that we cannot refund individuals for partial attendance.)

Textbook: The National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America will serve as the text for this course. All participants are required to purchase their own copy of the book. You are more than welcome to purchase the book in a format that best suits your reading preferences. We encourage registrants to support their local book store when possible. Other field guides may be used as well, in which case the birds in discussion will be found on different pages. If purchasing through Amazon, we recommend using Amazon Smile and selecting Alabama Audubon as your charity of choice!

Registration: Space is limited. To register, click on the button above. If you’re new to our online system and don’t yet have a username and password, simply click the “X” on the pop up and fill out the basic form. You’ll receive an automated email upon registering.

Please note, you will receive a separate email with the Zoom webinar instructions before the first class (once registration closes). You’ll need the link or webinar ID and password from this email to join the meeting. In the event the link does not work for you, you may need to go to the Zoom website and manually enter the webinar ID and password. Please double check your email and make sure it’s a valid email address prior to completing your registration. We’ve had several kick-backs when sending the Zoom meeting instructions out to registrants, and you won’t be able to join the webinar without this information. Thanks!

Questions? Email the Outreach & Communications Director.

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FAQ’s:

Will this be recorded, and will I have the ability to view them later? Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to record our online courses. Please check out our other upcoming online events here.

Is there a waiting list? We do not have waiting lists for our online courses at this time. 

The link doesn’t appear to be working. You may need to go to the Zoom website (https://zoom.us) and manually enter the webinar ID and password. Also, wait until just a couple of minutes before the meeting is supposed to begin to try to enter the meeting. It will not work if you try to join the meeting half an hour before it’s scheduled to begin, for instance.

I did not receive the email with the Zoom meeting instructions. Please double-check the email address you enter when registering for the course as that is where the instructions will be sent (once registration closes). You may need to add us to your email provider’s safe sender list in the event it goes to spam. Also, please contact us by the morning of the event if possible as generally you should have received the email right after registration closes so that we have time to address your issue.