Class level: Advanced
Lecture dates: Sept 11, 18 and 25 from 7 – 9 p.m.
Class fee: $60 for TAS Members, $75 for non-members

Optional Field Trip Date(s): Sept 27 – 29 at Hazel Bazemore Hawkwatch  ($60 fee, not including meals, lodging, or transport)

Hawks are fun to watch, but they can be difficult to identify. Central Texas annually hosts 19 species of diurnal raptors (hawks, vultures, eagles, kites and falcons), with another 5 species that occur occasionally. This class will help you become familiar with the 15 most commonly-occurring raptor species in the Austin area, and teach you how to tell them apart.

The class will consist of three consecutive 2-hour virtual classroom sessions with still photos and videos to illustrate key identification points. Plumage and structural features, size, shape and behavior will all be discussed.  The main focus of the class will be to help you become comfortable identifying our year-round raptors (2 vultures and an eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk and Crested Caracara) and to become better able to separate these birds from species that spend only part of the year here (like Broad-winged and Swainson’s Hawks, Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Mississippi Kite, and 3 species of falcon). This class should be suitable for almost anyone with a moderate amount of experience trying to identify birds with binoculars or spotting scope.

The class will be recorded so that registrants can view or review the recording for a limited time after the original session. This class is recommended for those who have some prior birding experience/have taken a beginning birder’s class.

Byron “Doc” Stone is a long-time TAS instructor. This will be his 8th year to teach a raptor identification class for Travis Audubon.

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.