Birding 101: Build your birding knowledge from the ground up
Registration is now open to all!
Class dates: April 6, 13, 20, and 27 from 8:00-10:00am CST.
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 6, 13, 20, and 27 from 8:00-10:00am CST.
Classes 1 and 4 will be held at the UW Arboretum. Classes 2 and 3 will be held on Zoom.
On April 6, meet the instructors, Chuck Henrikson and Jeff Galligan (excellent birders and wonderful teachers!), and fellow classmates for an in-person class at the UW Aboretum’s visitor center.
On April 13 and 20, join Chuck, Jeff, and your classmates for class sessions on Zoom. 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.
Finally, on April 27, Chuck and Jeff will host a bird walk through the natural areas at 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: Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance has one electric-powered wheelchair available for anyone to use for free. You can learn more about it here, and request it in the form when you register.
Or, if you want to use a more rugged, all-terrain, outdoor wheelchair for this field trip, Access Ability Wisconsin offers them for free! To reserve a chair and trailer, visit their website.
Questions? Contact Brenna Marsicek, bmarsicek@swibirds.org or 608-255-2473
Registration is now open!
Registration is limited to 25 people participating in the online classroom.
About the Instructors: Chuck Henrikson and Jeff Galligan
Course instructor Chuck Henrikson
Chuck Henrikson was born and raised near Lake Minnetonka, 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 goes birding every day. He started leading bird walks in the spring for SoWBA 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 weekly Arb bird reports. Initially the reports with added photos were emailed to 20-30 birders but as word got out about the reports the number grew and now he emails reports to just over 500 people. He started teaching SoWBA’s Birding 101 class in 2018.
Course co-instructor Jeff Galligan
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 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. Jeff is also a board member of SoWBA and Aldo Leopold Nature Center, and serves on the steering committee for Bird City 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.
Cover photo by Kelly Colgan Azar
