DATES:
June 7-13, 2025 + preworkshop Zoom meeting on June 4, 2025.LOCATION:
Rancho Meling, Baja California, Mexico. US-based participants will meet at the border and caravan to Rancho Meling near San Quintin. We will visit occupied habitats along the Rio San Telmo near the Rancho.PRICE:
$1800 USD/per person/7 days. This includes a workshop manual, ID instruction, protocol, permitting, and daily field trips to practice survey protocol in riparian habitat.Participants will be responsible for food and lodging.
INSTRUCTORS:
Andrew Forde (andrew@fordebio.com) &; Thomas Ryan (tryanbio@gmail.com).SPONSORS & SIGNING UP:
The workshop is being offered by Pro Esteros, a Mexican NGO that has been working since 1988 in Ensenada to protect wetlands and sensitive habitats on the Baja California Peninsula and northwestern Mexico. The class is operated as a partnership between Pro Esteros, The Ocean Foundation, Forde Biological, and Ryan Ecological Consulting.Please use the button below on the Pro Esteros website and provide the information requested in
the Google form. You will be contacted with a confirmation shortly.
DESCRIPTION AND GOALS:
This workshop is designed to provide the participant with knowledge of the field identification of
the Least Bell’s Vireo, both by sight and sound, knowledge of its natural history, and
identification of similar species that might regularly be encountered in Southern California
Riparian Habitat. We will also cover the basics of the State and Federal laws protecting it and the
process of applying for needed permits. The workshop’s main focus will be getting participants
experience conducting surveys with permitted professionals in occupied habitat and exposing
them to various situations as they arise in the field. At the end of the workshop, we expect the
participant to be able to proficiently identify Least Bell’s vireo by sight and sound, evaluate
habitat suitability for the species, and understand the laws protecting it and the permitting
process.
We should also be clear that we (or any other workshop operator) cannot guarantee that you will be declared a qualified observer or obtain a permit from USFWS and CDFW, but it will help the student progress in that process. If you are interested in obtaining a permit, please contact your state/regional agency permitting representatives.
The course will be held at Rancho Meiling, a working ranch and ecotourist destination that is in the foothills of the San Pedro Martir adjacent to the Rio San Telmo, which supports riparian habitat and is a known nesting site for the Least Bell’s Vireo. We will visit different reaches of the riverbed in the mornings and evenings, surveying those reaches, and mapping detections along those reaches. The middle of the day will be both downtime and classroom sessions about laws and permitting. We will typically break up into two groups to give each participant access to instructors. Groups will alternate with the two instructors.
Classes will be taught in English, but we will have local Spanish-speaking participants working with us and will be translating. Most of the time will be spent on field surveying. Each student will be expected to write an example USFWS 45-day survey report. We will also try to have one afternoon that we just spend birding up the San Pedro Martir, one of the few locations for west coast montane species in Mexico, and there is a chance for a California Condor.
HOW TO SIGN UP:
1) Click on THE OCEAN FOUNDATION button below.
2) On The Ocean Foundation – Pro Esteros page, click on the “DONATE” button.
3) On the Donate to Pro Esteros page:
a) Fill out the Payment Information Form. VERY IMPORTANT: in the comments section, put in LEAST BELL’S VIREO WORKSHOP.
b) Click on the “Enter Donation in $US” and the course fee, $1800.
c) Click “One Time”, “I’m not a robot”, and “Donate Now.”
d) Finally, send an email to direccion@proesteros.com, letting us know you have completed your enrollment.