Learn to identify raptors on the coast and in the Santa Cruz mountains during the migration season.

Join Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) as we learn about birds of prey this fall with local Naturalist Jeff Caplan, director of Common Language Nature. Raptors play an integral role in the health of our ecosystems! Learn how to identify migratory and resident raptors when out on the coast or hiking in the Santa Cruz mountains. Jeff focuses on mindfulness, curiosity and bird language to help people from diverse backgrounds feel safe and connected in nature. This basic birding webinar will be great for all ages, especially kids and adults ages 12 and up!

All registrants will receive the access link prior to the event.

About the Instructor:

Bird Language instructor Jeff Caplan weaves 30 years as a naturalist and a teacher of communication skills, to cultivate a common language for connecting more deeply with nature and birds. He inspires Youth science educators in Yosemite, tour Guides in the Galapagos, and University students in the Amazon Jungles of Ecuador. He weaves mindfulness, citizen science and bird language to help people from diverse backgrounds to feel curious and connected in nature. If you want an invitation to Jeff’s smaller, more personalized workshops on Backyard Bird Language and other topics please go to CommonLanguageNature.com.

Jeff Caplan with bird

Getting Out

Enjoy a flat 1.5mile round trip coast hike along the Wavecrest Open Space Reserve’s Bird Trail in Half Moon Bay. It’s in the name! Keep an eye out for northern harriers, red-tail hawks, kites as well as shorebirds.

If you live near Los Gatos, find raptors near Lexington Reservoir at Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve. Take the Priest Rock or Limekiln trails to the lake. Get panoramic views of the reservoir and the Sierra Azul mountain range from the St. Joseph’s Hill Preserve.

Lookout for kites and red-shoulder hawks along the coast this fall, cooper’s hawks in wooded areas, and northern harriers in grasslands.

Be sure to download POST’s Guide to Bay Area Birds before you go!

 

This event is part of POST’s community event series, which is open to the general public as well as POST donors. We hope you’ll join us! We also curate a separate series of private events for our donors. Learn how you can support POST here: openspacetrust.org/support-post

Raptor photos by Tom Grey

Peninsula Open Space Trust protects and cares for open space, farms and parkland in and around Silicon Valley. Since 1977, POST has protected over 79,000 acres in San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties.

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