Bringing fun and educational events to you throughout the year
These morning walks start at 8:30 am on location and end at 10:00 am. Call 408-358-9453 to register as capacity is limited and pre-registration is required. Registration for each month’s walks opens on the first of that specific month. These walks are free and open to all birding levels.
Apr 13, 2024 • Agnews Historic Park, Santa Clara
Apr 20, 2024 • SCVAS Birdathon Fundraiser, Los Gatos Creek Trail (see below)
May 11, 2024 • Shannon Valley Open Space, Los Gatos. (And it’s World Migratory Bird Day! This year’s WMGB focuses on insects and their importance to bird life so we will focus on the insect-eating birds we find.)
May 25, 2024 • Bird Banding with SFBBO, Milpitas (see event listed below)
June 8, 2024 • Stanford Cactus Garden, Palo Alto
June 22, 2024 • Location TBA depending upon recent reports
Each spring our local Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society holds an important fundraiser known as the Spring Birdathon. Lisa Myers will once again lead the team Los Gatos Birdwatcher. Birders of all levels are welcome, even if this is your first birdathon. For new birders, it is a fabulous and fun way to see new birds. We’ll spend our morning birding Los Gatos habitats along the Los Gatos Creek Trail looking for a variety of species from warblers and herons to raptors and waterfowl. We will be walking on well-maintained trails. The exact Los Gatos meeting location will be confirmed closer to the date. If you cannot join us, we welcome your support, as this is a fundraiser! We’ll have a SCVAS Spring Birdathon donation box at the Los Gatos Birdwatcher through May 5, 2024.
Open to all levels these free workshops help customers learn how to identify four different species of birds found in the Bay Area per season. Workshops will take place at the Los Gatos Birdwatcher outside in our back parking lot from 5:30 − 6:30 PM We’ll go over each species and review behaviors, food and habitat preferences plus vocalizations. Please bring your own folding chair and field guide. Limited to 30 people. Call the store to save your spot. 408-358-9453.
• Tues, April 30, 5:30-630pm – Yellow-rumped Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Yellow Warbler, MacGillivrays Warbler
• Tues, May 14, 5:30-630pm – Spotted Sandpiper, Snowy Plover, Killdeer, Sanderling
• Tues, June 18, 5:30-630pm – Swainson’s Hawk, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk
Craig Nikitas, founder of Bay Raptor Rescue is coming to the Los Gatos Birdwatcher! As a thank you to our community, Craig will share his presentation, Keep ‘Em Flying: Raptors Survive in the Human Environment, featuring his raptor rescue work and the scope of issues he encounters. Peet’s coffee, tea, and sweet snacks will be provided. Registration is required, space is limited. Call the store to register 408-358-9453.
In 2015 Craig founded Bay Raptor Rescue to provide a free service to aid predatory birds in distress. A retired urban planner and wildlife volunteer working with raptors for over fifty years, his career includes caring for captive animals at the Randall Museum, Steinhart Aquarium, and San Francisco Zoo, tending birds in rehab at WildCare, trapping and banding migratory and dispersive birds of prey for 30 years with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, and presenting talks on the natural history of corvids, diurnal raptors, and owls at schools, colleges, universities, the SF Naturalist Society, park associations, the Point Reyes Birding and Nature Festival, and to professional staff at CuriOdyssey, and the SF and Oakland Zoos.
Sat, May 25, 2024 • 8:00 am–11:00 am • Fee: $30 • at SFBBO’s bird banding station
We will have an outing to the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO) bird banding station. Banding birds is a way researchers can track bird movements, giving insights into age, breeding activities, and migration. To do this, nets are set up to catch birds gently. Trained volunteers then extract them from the nets. They are then brought in to be banded, where they are measured, weighed, examined, and released. The banding station has been in operation for decades providing valuable data to researchers. SFBBO volunteers operate the banding station three times a week, weather permitting. On this special morning, the Los Gatos Birdwatcher will be touring the area and observing how this process works. If we are lucky, we’ll be able to release a bird! Spaces will fill fast so call soon to reserve your spot. Details will be provided after you register. A portion of this morning’s proceeds will go back to SFBBO. 408-358-9453