TAS Shorebird Class 2025

Can you tell the difference between those little brown birds on the mudflats at Hornsby Bend? If not, join Jeff Patterson for Travis Audubon’s Shorebird Identification Class of 2025! This class is intended for intermediate birders who would like to increase their skills at identifying sandpipers, plovers, godwits, phalaropes, dowitchers, and other shorebirds.

Shorebirds are a fascinating and varied group of birds, with many interesting identification issues. Some undertake spectacular long-distance migrations (Hudsonian Godwits embark on a 6,000 mile migration which frequently includes stops in Texas). When suitable habitat is available, Central Texas can be an excellent place to study shorebirds at their migration stopovers.

Jeff has taught or co-taught the TAS Shorebird Class since 2012. He is a life-long birder and has taught many other classes for TAS.

Class sessions will be in person (except for Class 4). We will meet at the Hornsby Bend Center for Environmental Research and visit the famous Hornsby sludge ponds for field trips. Note that Classes 1-3 begin with a field trip to the ponds, but we will meet at 7:00am in the Hornsby parking lot to car pool. Class 4 will be a virtual field trip via Zoom. We will conclude with a weekend field trip to Corpus Christi on October 17-19, 2025.

Field Trip 1:                  Sunday, August 17, 7:00 am -9:30 am, meet in Hornsby Bend parking lot
Class 1:                           Sunday, August 17, 10:00 am -12:30 pm, meet at Hornsby Bend building

 Field Trip 2:                  Sunday, September 7, 7:00 am -9:30 am, meet in Hornsby Bend parking lot
Class 2:                          Sunday, September 7, 10:00 am -12:30 pm, meet at Hornsby Bend building 

Field Trip 3:                  Sunday, October 5, 7:00 am -9:30 am, meet in Hornsby Bend parking lot
Class 3:                          Sunday, October 5, 10:00 am -12:30 pm, meet at Hornsby Bend building

Class 4 (Zoom)
Virtual Field Trip:      Wednesday, October 15, 6:30-8:30 pm, Zoom

Weekend field trip     October 17-19, starts 5:00pm in Corpus on Friday, ends 12:00 noon in Corpus on Sunday.

The tuition is $85 for TAS members and $100 for non-members. For those who go on the coast trip, there will be an additional fee of $45 to partially cover the leaders’ trip expenses.

A minimum of 5 and a maximum of 20 people can attend the coastal field trip. For more information, contact Jeff Patterson at jepbird@att.net. If you have taken the class before and want to go on the field trip to the Coastal Bend only, contact annemarie@travisaudubon.org to be put on a waiting list in case there is space available.

REGISTER HERE

The email used to register for this walk will be used to communicate any changes or cancellations due to weather or other factors. Please ALWAYS check your email inbox on the morning of the walk, prior to leaving your home, in case of last-minute changes in the trip plan. Please also check to be sure our emails do not land in your spam folder. When in doubt, please call or email your trip leader. We encourage participants to put the leader’s email address in their safe sender list. Their contact information is included in this trip description.

Payment for a class, workshop, or other fee-based event is due at the time of registration. If payment is not received within a week of registration, the registrant may be dropped from the roster. To withdraw from a class, workshop, or other fee-based event, please contact the Travis Audubon office: 512-300-BIRD (2473) or info@travisaudubon.org.

If a registrant withdraws from a class, workshop, or other fee-based event at least seven (7) days before the first session, Travis Audubon will offer a full refund less a $5.00 administrative fee that helps defray our costs. If the registrant withdraws less than seven (7) days before the first session, no refund will be made. If Travis Audubon cancels the class, workshop, or other fee-based event, we will fully refund the tuition.