Birding Resources

Local Birding Check Lists

• MDAS Northern California Daily Field List (2016) 
• Alternative “Pocket” Field List (2016) 
• Reduced Size “Mini” Field List (2016) (requires trimming) 
• Heather Farm Park, Walnut Creek Check List 
• Heather Farm Park, Walnut Creek Photo Brochure 
• Grayson Creek Birders Check List
• MDAS Contra Costa County Bird List with frequency charts (2010) 

Breeding Bird Atlas

The Breeding Bird Atlas of Contra Costa County by Steven Glover is available for purchase. For each of the 161 species of the birds that breed in Contra Costa County, the book includes current and historical status, life history information, conservation  concerns, and range maps. The book also contains 56 beautiful drawings by Dana Gardner. This is a terrific book and a must have for birders.

This book is available for download in PDF format HERE.

You can also order your own personal hardcopy.
Price: $18.31 (includes shipping & taxes)

Click here to order online »

Order by Mail
Make your check payable to MDAS and mail to:

Steve Buffi
Treasurer
1564 Pyrenees Place
Walnut Creek, CA 94598

Please make sure to indicate “For Atlas”.

Injured Bird Guidance

If you find an injured bird, you should not necessarily pick it up. Please follow these guidelines, provided by Lindsay Wildlife Experience, which offers care and rehabilitation facilities for native California wildlife brought to its hospital in Walnut Creek. For more information, call Lindsay’s Wildlife Hotline at (925) 935-1978.

Mt. Diablo Audubon Society proudly offers financial support to Lindsay Wildlife Experience, as well as other groups that help injured birds, including WildCare, which serves Marin County, and International Bird Rescue, which takes on global projects, such as rehabilitating seabirds impacted by oil spills.

For additional rehabilitation center options, the Wildlife Rescue Directory is a free resource that allows anyone in the U.S. to find a licensed wildlife rehabilitator nearby simply entering their ZIP or city/state. You can check out the directory here: https://www.onthefeeder.com/wildlife-rescue-directory/.

Bird Banding

Banded birds can be occasionally seen upon close examination. These birds are being tracked for scientific purposes by a variety of sources. These two links include information about how to report banded birds.

• USGS Federal Banding Program
• Captive Pigeon Bands

Birding Northern California by Jean Richmond

The book Birding Northern California was written by the late Jean Richmond and published in 1985. This book is a guide to birding areas in northern California, many within 100 miles of the San Francisco Bay area. As a service to the birding community, Mt. Diablo Audubon scanned this book, see Birding Northern California by Jean Richmond

Note that the contents of Birding Northern California have not been revised since the book was published in 1985. This means that the road names and numbers, area codes, park names, etc. have not been updated. Validate all information from other sources prior to traveling to any site mentioned in this book.

Birding Links

Bay Area Audubon Chapters:

• Golden Gate Audubon Society
• Madrone Audubon Society
• Marin Audubon Society
• Napa-Solano Audubon Society
• Ohlone Audubon Society
• Santa Clara Audubon Society
• Sequoia Audubon Society

State and National Audubon Chapters

• Audubon California
• National Audubon Society

Partners

• East Bay Regional Parks
• Save Mount Diablo
• John Muir Land Trust
• Native Bird Connections
• Friends of Pleasant Hill Creeks

Organizations

• Golden Gate Raptor Observatory
• American Birding Association
• Birdingpal
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• eBird
• eNature
• Lindsay Wildlife Experience
• National Wildlife Federation
• The Nature Conservancy
• World Wildlife Federation
• Point Blue Conservation Science
• San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
• International Bird Rescue
• WildCare
• Raptors Are The Solution
• The Gardens at Heather Farm
• Worth A Dam
• Feather River Land Trust
• The Mono Lake Committee
• Monitores Comunitarios Siyaj Chan
• The Nature Conservancy — México
• Pronatura Sur

Birding Websites

• The Bird Wide Web
• Denise Wight’s Birding Pages
• San Mateo County Birding Guide
• Joe Morlan’s Web Page
• California County Geographic Birding Guide
• Birding Lists Digest
• Partners In Flight
• Birdnet

Backyard Gardening for Birds

• California Native Plant Society

Specialized Bird Groups

• The Raptor Center
• North American Bluebird Society
• The Hummingbird Society
• The Owl Pages

Rare Bird Reports

• California Rare Bird Committee

Bird Sounds

• Bird-Sounds.net

Birding Ethics

• American Birding Association (ABA)

Birding Guides and Equipment

• A Guide to Bird-Watching With Binoculars

Bats

• Northern California Bats
• Bat Conservation International

Information on West Nile Virus

• Centers for Disease Control (CDC)