Education

Ohlone Audubon Society is committed to educating adults and youth on the value of natural habitats and the wildlife they support.  Attend a local bird watching class or sign up a local school for Audubon Adventures!

Click here to see how OAS is supporting women in science in the East Bay.

Bird Watching Classes and Workshops

Wildlife Volunteers Mission Statement

The Wildlife Volunteers are a group of caring people of all ages striving to improve the quality of life for birds and wildlife in the East Bay Regional Park District. We are dedicated to assisting the East Bay Regional Park District’s Stewardship staff with protecting, managing, conserving and enhancing the region’s important scenic and natural resources. Wildlife Volunteers renew their connections to the land through sciences-based, hands-on conservation and resource management activities.


Dave “Doc Quack” Riensche
Wildlife Biologist, Certified Wildlife Biologist ®, Certified Senior Ecologist
docquack@ebparks.org

WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO: https://www.ebparks.org/volunteer/doc-quacks-wildlife-volunteers

Example activities:

  • California Black Rail Habitat Helpers 
  • Rail Rescue Rangers
  • Shorebird Sanctuary
  • “Tern Town Team” Colony Monitors Training
  • Colony Caretakers
  • Turtle Trackers
  • “Bat Brigade” Training
  • Burrowing Owl Buddies
  • Riparian Re-Leaf
  • Habitat Helpers
  • Quail-Rangers
  • Plover Protection Patrol
  • “Bird-A-Thon” – Fund Raising Event

See website for more info: https://www.ebparks.org/volunteer/doc-quacks-wildlife-volunteers

The 2026 Program is full.
Have questions about the Master Birder Program? Please email Jack Dumbacher or Bruce Mast.
Jack Dumbacher jdumbacher@calacademy.org
Bruce Mast cathrasher4@gmail.com

Designed for advanced birders, enrollment in the Master Birder Program is limited to 20 ambitious students and consists of 11 classes and 11 field trips scheduled from February through December 2026.
Classroom meetings will take place once a month at Cal Academy starting Tuesday, February 3, 2026, with subsequent field trips scheduled monthly to help reinforce material covered in class and expose students to the breadth of birds that occur in the Bay Area.
Prior to taking the course, prospective students are expected to be able to identify California birds at an “intermediate level” (100+ species by sight and 25+ species by sound).
To successfully complete the course, students must commit to volunteer at least 100 hours with a Master Birder-designated organization (Golden Gate Bird Alliance, Cal Academy, and a long list of other Bay Area birding or environmental organizations) over a two-year period, and participate in at least 70% of the classes and field trips.
Upon completion of the course, graduates will have developed a field notebook documenting sightings from their field trips, will know how to identify difficult local bird species, will learn about avian physiology, behavior and taxonomy, and will develop an understanding of avian habitats and bird communities. Graduates will have participated in over 20 organized field trips, developed a backyard (local patch) list, and will have made a 10-minute presentation to the class on an avian topic of their choosing. Other details of the course will be presented to interested candidates.
Course tuition is $1,500; members of the Academy or GGBA pay a 20% discounted rate of $1,200.
Classes meet 6:30–9 p.m. on one Tuesday of every month from February 3 through December 5, 2026. Field trips are generally 3–4 hours long and scheduled on the Saturday following each class.

(Taken from https://marin.wbu.com/local-bird-walks)

Local Bird Walks and Bird Education
The fastest way to learn how to find and identify more birds is to spend time with experienced birders. Fortunately, there is a thriving community of skilled observers happy to share their knowledge. Follow the links below for more information on local groups that host bird walks and other resources for learning about local birds.
Local Walks: The Big Two
Marin County Parks and Open Space
Organizes several bird walks and other naturalist-led programs every month, primarily in Open Space Preserves and County Parks, but also in other parts of Marin. Also conducts indoor educational presentations on birds and other natural history topics and special outdoor events for kids. All naturalist events are free and open to the public. 
Marin Aububon
The Marin Audubon Society works for the conservation and restoration of natural ecosystems and organizes regular public bird walks. We particularly recommend Marin Audubon’s first Thursday walks at Las Gallinas Ponds in San Rafael for beginning birders (these take a break in summer). 
Other Local Walks
Madrone Audubon
The Madrone Audubon Society promotes education, enjoyment, and protection of the natural world, especially birds. They are based in Sonoma County, but offer frequent bird walks throughout the North Bay.
Richardson Bay Audubon Center
This nature preserve on Richardson Bay in Tiburon hosts a walk on their property on the second Thursday of each month (excluding July and August). See website for times and RSVP information.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Parks Conservancy leads occasional bird walks, most often around Rodeo Lagoon in the Marin Headlands.
Petaluma Wetlands Alliance
Hosts two monthly walks at the Ellis Creek Ponds and Shollenberger Park in Petaluma (excluding the summer months).
Festivals
The Point Reyes Birding and Nature Festival (April) and the Flyway Festival (February) feature a variety of walks, often extending beyond their immediate territory to include other nearby preserves. Fees and advanced registration required for many events.
Classes (Fee Required)
Point Reyes Field Institute: The Field Institute hosts mostly one-day classes at Point Reyes that offer more depth than typical public bird walks. Many offerings in other natural history topics as well as birds.
Birdwatching in Marin at College of Marin: Taught by our friend Lisa Hug through College of Marin’s Continuing Education department, this casual class is conducted almost entirely in the field through weekly field trips and will introduce you to several of the county’s best birding spots.
Ornithology at College of Marin: Taught every other year, this is a two semester sequence with formal class time spent going systematically going through the biology of birds as well as observation time in the field.
Crowd-sourced Bird Knowledge
Another way to tap into the knowledge of local birders is through the active North Bay Birds Yahoo Group (you can view recent posts without registration at the Birding Lists Digest) where notable sightings are reported and through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird. eBird has a rich and constantly growing database which you can use to seek out particular species, see the recent observations at local hotspots, or explore the map to find new sites where birds are being reported. Another tool you may find useful is our checklist of regularly occurring birds here in our hometown, Novato, CA. 
Private Guides
Several skilled local birders can be hired as guides for an individual or group outing. Visit the websites of Lisa Hug (lisahugsnorthbaybirds.com), David Wimpfheimer (calnaturalist.com), and Daniel Edelstein (warblerwatch.com) for more information.

Birding Classes
 
The Education Committee arranges classes for chapter members and the public to improve your birding skills and enhance your bird watching experience. Knowledgeable instructors provide engaging classroom lectures and guide field trips to gain practical experience. Past classes have included Birding By Ear, Avian Treasure Hunt (migrants), Beginning Birding, Raptor ID, and Gull ID.
Find the descriptions for each class and details about enrollment policies below. Join a class to expand your bird-watching skills and knowledge. Before enrolling in a class, please be sure to read the Class Registration Policies.

Class Registration Policies
The Education Committee has attempted to establish fair and equitable policies for class registration. To seek clarification prior to registering for a class, or to suggest changes to our policies, please contact info@mtdiablobirds.org



A selection of videos from the digital learning resource for birders of all levels on the East Bay Regional Parks website:

https://www.ebparks.org/programs/digital-learning/naturalist-videos/plants-animals/birds

Youth Education

OAS Helps City of Fremont’s Junior Ranger Program

Sandy Ferreira, now retired, previously managed the city of Fremont’s Junior Ranger Program based at Lake Elizabeth. She found it difficult to share her enthusiasm for birds with the City’s Junior Rangers because they didn’t have the ability to see them clearly.

One day, while talking to Sandy about leading a Lake Elizabeth trip for OAS, Mona Brauer and Stephanie Floyd heard about the situation and suggested to the OAS Board that we loan Sandy binoculars for her classes. Soon the Fremont Recreation Department, Phil Gordon, the Eagle Optics company and Wild Birds Unlimited of Dublin also got involved in solving the problem.

The upshot was that OAS purchased and made a long term loan if 17 pairs of binoculars to the City’s Junior Ranger program to allow students make wildlife observations and study nature. City Recreation staff continue to utilize these binoculars when they are teaching birding and nature programs.  

If you would like to learn more about the Junior Rangers and check out their programs, including a birds booklet, an accompanying teacher’s guide, and other neighborhood booklets at https://www.juniorwildliferanger.org/neighborhood

Introduce Children To Audubon Adventures 

Engaging students in grades 3 through 6 in nature study and environmental stewardship.

This fall semester, sponsor your favorite 4th, 5th, or 6th-grade class to Audubon Adventures, the nature program of the National Audubon Society.  A classroom kit contains enough material for 32 students and the cost is $40.95 ($35 plus $5.95 shipping and handling). This program has connected seven million children across the nation to nature with these in-school educational materials. Our school budgets are perennially tight; so please help a teacher at your local elementary school.  This is a gift subscription that will really make a difference to the earth’s future!

For more information on this program please contact our Education Chair by clicking on the link or emailing education AT ohloneaudubon.org.  

National Audubon Adventures Site

Diablo Young Naturalists

https://mtdiablobirds.org/birding/young-birders/

Purpose of Diablo Young Naturalists

The purpose of the Mount Diablo Bird Alliance Diablo Young Naturalists is to reach out to young people and their families to encourage curiosity and love of nature, share great experiences outdoors, and help them take positive action to protect and restore the wildlife, habitats and planet we depend on. We want to help make outdoor information and fun experiences more accessible using pop-up tabling and social media to being with. As the program develops, we’d like to facilitate connections between young people so they can grow a community of their peers that shares interests, loves nature, has fun outdoors and can take action to help our planet.

What Do Diablo Young Naturalists Do?

In Spring 2024 we have started pop-up tabling events at popular regional trailheads, nature parks, and urban parks to raise awareness of the group and make connections in the local community. We share information on trails, have materials that let young people and their families see and learn about birds, and let people know how to stay informed about our activities. Basically, we go to where people are and show them the birds and the natural world already around them.

Perhaps just as important is our Instagram account. Social media is one of the best ways to make connections with young people, so we post regular videos on experiences in nature, recommendations on places to go and what to do, how young people can get involved in conservation, and details on our tabling evets.

What Do I Need To Do to Participate?

The best way to stay in touch with the group is to follow our Instagram account, ‘Diablo Young Naturalists’. There we post regular updates about experiences in nature and details about our events and partner events. At this time there’s no regular calendar of events, but as the program develops, we hope to build a community of young people that can do regular outings and communicate amongst themselves about nature, fun outdoor experiences and ways to help birds, their habitats, and other wildlife and native plants. So just follow our ‘Diablo Young Naturalists’ IG account to get in touch!