Botany for Birders: An Introduction with Ryan Gilpin

Have you ever struggled to describe which tree a bird is in? Have you ever struggled to identify a tree making it difficult to know how to manage it? Join local arborist, ecologist and birder Ryan Gilpin for a series of online and field classes designed to help birders more confidently navigate the plant world. Ryan will focus on observing specific characteristics of trees to gather more information. This information can be used to assign a name to a plant, but the goals of the workshop are more about observing and describing than naming. 

Every month, Ryan will focus on a particular characteristic of trees (such as leaves or bark) and how that character can help you to understand more about the plant. Through coupled classroom and field sessions Ryan will help you increase your ability to describe plants and connect to the natural world around you. Field sessions will be dynamic birding sessions in places with interesting trees. When bird activity is high, participants will be encouraged to describe where they are seeing birds in as much detail as possible using plant characteristics. When bird activity is low, participants will be encouraged to observe and describe specific characters of the surrounding trees to work on plant identification skills. Please register seperately for each class in the series. 

Introduction This class will introduce a plant identification process, Ryan’s philosophy behind identifying plants, resources available, and a plan for how to improve at looking for and describing features at different times of the year. We can be most confident in our identification when we look at many different features. In temperate climates with many deciduous trees like Portland, timing is one of the biggest factors in being able to identify trees. We briefly cover these features (flowers, fruit, leaves, bark, etc.), timing, and the plan to address each of these individually at (hopefully) the best time of year through this class series.

Join us on Saturday for the Field Trip that pairs with the online class:

Botany for Birders: An Introduction at Columbia Children’s Arboretum

March 9, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.