If you love all things nature and want to get to know the birds you'll find in and around Madison, this class is for you. This is a four-part class with online and field instruction geared toward adults. Our goals are to teach you the skills important to identifying bird species, and then practice those skills with a new set of birds each week. Week 1’s birds will include the most common species, Week 2 will focus on less common and more challenging birds, and Week 3 will culminate in the tricky family of Warblers. The final week will feature a bird walk at the UW Aboretum. This is a fun, interactive, judgement-free learning experience; join us!

Class dates are April 15, 22, and 29, and May 6 from 8:00-10:00am CST.

Classes 1-3 will be held on Zoom. Class 4 will be held at the UW Arboretum.

Our instructors, Chuck Henrikson and Jeff Galligan (excellent birders and wonderful teachers!), will host an online, video classroom the first three Saturdays from 8-10am (April 15, 22, and 29). You will receive a link for how to join the online classroom. You will be able to see Chuck and Jeff, their powerpoint presentations and images, and you will be able to ask your questions live during this session.
Then on May 6, Chuck and Jeff will host a bird walk through the UW Arboretum that will allow you to put your new skills into practice.

Class attendees will need a computer, tablet, or laptop, internet connection, and to be familiar with using a web browser like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari, etc. A webcam and microphone are preferred, but not required.

WHEELCHAIR USE: Want to use an all-terrain, outdoor wheelchair for the field trip component? Access Ability Wisconsin offers them for free! To reserve a chair and trailer, visit their website. If you need help coordinating a wheelchair for this trip, please let us know (Brenna Marsicek, bmarsicek@madisonaudubon.org).

Registration opens on March 1.

Registration is limited to 25 people participating in the online classroom. 10 registrant seats are held for members of the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin. 15 seats are saved for Madison Audubon members. Registration will open to Madison Audubon and BIPOC Birding Club members on March 1 (any remaining seats will open to the public on March 25).

MEMBERSHIP: Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance

from $20.00

additional donation to SoWBA:

$20 (No additional donation) $25 total donation $30 total donation $40 total donation $50 total donation $70 total donation $100 total donation $125 total donation $250 total donation $500 total donation $1000 total donation

Quantity:

Add to Cart

Access your cart here

About the Instructors: Chuck Henrikson and Jeff Galligan

Chuck Henrikson was born and raised near Lake Minnetonka in MN. He got a BA in biology at St. Olaf College and an MS and Phd in anatomy at Purdue. After a postdoc, he taught gross anatomy, histology and neuroanatomy at Schools of Veterinary Medicine (Purdue, NCSU and UW-Madison) his whole professional career. After 21 years at UW, he retired in 2009. He was a casual birder before retirement but afterwards really became serious submitting all his sightings to Cornell Lab of Ornithology or eBird. Now he bird every day. He started leading bird walks in the spring for Madison Audubon and started year round bird walks on Tuesdays in the UW Arboretum in 2015. In March of 2020, we had to stop the Tuesday bird walks because of Covid so instead, he started writing Arb bird reports. Initially the reports with added photos went out to 20-30 birders but as word got out about the reports the number grew and now he send reports to 260 people. He started teaching Birding 101 in 2018, so this will be his 5th year of teaching it.

Dr. Jeff Galligan is the director of the TRIO and Men of Excellence programs at Madison College and has worked with retention and credential attainment for underrepresented populations for over a decade. He is also a board member of Madison Audubon and is a co-founder of the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin, a group which seeks to increase diversity in the birding community. He has been an avid birder for decades and believes there needs to be a birding community for people of color along with more inclusive representation of people of color in the conservation and stewardship conversation in Wisconsin. It is his dream to inspire young people of color to see themselves in STEM careers at an early age and hopes the BIPOC Birding Club and his involvement in community birding and outdoor events can be a catalyst in that endeavor here in the greater Madison area and across Wisconsin.

This class is part of Madison Audubon’s adult education series called the Audubon Naturalist Series. Many of the classes offer early registration for Madison Audubon members, but most also open for public registration if there are spots left in the class. Learn more about joining Madison Audubon here!

Cover photo by Kelly Colgan Azar