Nurture your love and knowledge of birds with beginner birding classes designed to connect you with the birding community and improve your skills in bird identification. We offer two beginner-friendly courses: Birding for Beginners I and Birding for Beginners II. Take one or both. No experience or prior class is needed for either.
Birding for Beginners I
A great first step into birding. No experience needed.
We will spend quality time observing and discussing birds and their behavior, to build your understanding of the sights, sounds, behaviors, and natural history of a selection of our feathered friends.
This is a six-week class divided into two sections: online on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8 pm, and in-person field trips on Saturdays OR Sundays from 8 am to 10 am. To maintain leader-to-student ratios, students must select either Saturday or Sunday and not switch between the two.
Each online class includes lectures and discussions with a panel of local birders. We’ll talk about why we bird, the tools and skills birders use to collect observations, the places we’ll go, the species we’ll see, and why birds want to be there. Each participant receives an optional “ID assignment” to try in the field. On field trips, we’ll use all of our senses to experience and record the birds around us. By the end, you’ll have about 100 new birds in your brain!
This course is offered twice a year, in the Spring and the Fall. The Fall 2026 session has passed, the next offering will be Spring 2027.
Individual rate for the entire course:
$190 non-members
$150 members
Birding for Beginners II
Dive deeper into specific bird groups and the stories behind them. No experience required.
This three-week course meets on Thursday evenings online, followed by an in-person field trip on Saturday each week. Fall 2026 topics and field trips:
- Week 1 (Nov 5 and 7): Ducks and Getting Started with Photography; field trip to Santee Lakes
- Week 2 (Nov 12 and 14): Raptors and Migration; field trip to Rangeland Road
- Week 3 (Nov 19 and 21): Shorebirds and Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and Conservation; field trip to Robb Field
Individual rate for the entire course:
$190 non-members
$150 members
We hope you’ll connect with nature and birds, with yourself, and with other birders. Everyone is welcome in our learning community. If you have access or accommodation needs, let us know and we’ll work with you.
Binoculars are a must, and loaners are available. Bring a notebook, and a smartphone if you use one. Carpooling is encouraged, especially when trips aren’t bike/transit-friendly. Recordings of each Zoom session are available to class participants for a limited time.
Are you an experienced birder or a passionate beginner who would like to join the leader team for these courses? Are you interested in being a student? Questions can be sent to the course facilitator, Jen Hajj, at jhajj@sandiegobirdalliance.org.
Please take note of the following schedule.
