Notes about your surroundings. Workshops on Birding...

Notes about your surroundings. Workshops on Birding Skills--The Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society is sponsoring weekly workshops for beginning birders this fall. Reservations are being accepted through Sept. 23 for the sessions, which begin the first week of October.

Local bird expert Sylvia Gallagher will teach workshop participants how to identify birds common to Orange County and about their habitats.

Each session will have 10 weekly meetings and will include a field trip to try out the birding skills the class has learned. The four sessions will be held on the following dates:

* Wednesday evenings, 7:15 to 10 p.m., Oct. 2 through Dec. 11;

* Thursday mornings, 9 to 11:45 a.m., Oct. 3 through Dec. 12;

* Thursday evenings, 7:15 to 10 p.m., Oct. 3 through Dec. 12;

* Friday mornings, 9 to 11:45 a.m., Oct. 4 through Dec. 13.

There will be no meetings held the week of Thanksgiving.

A donation of $30 is requested; a collection box will be put out at each session’s first meeting. Requests for reservations should be mailed to Sylvia Gallagher, 21562 Kaneohe Lane, Huntington Beach, Calif. 92626.

Maps to the workshop site will be mailed with confirmed reservations. For more information, call (714) 962-8990 after Sept. 23.

Dana Point Field Trip--The Sea & Sage chapter is also hosting on Thursday the first of a series of monthly field trips held on weekdays. The group will visit the Dana Point area, looking for shore birds and land birds. Those on the trip will also keep an eye out for unusual vagrants from the fall migration.

Those wishing to go on the trip are asked to meet at 8 a.m. in the parking lot next to the Dana Point Marine Institute. For more information, contact trip leader Nancy Kenyon at (714) 786-3160.