How to use this calendar

Getting started

The calendar gathers birding walks, field trips, classes and group hikes from Audubon chapters and other local organizations into one list, with a leave-by time for each in-person event. You don't need an account to use it.

When you first open it, you see events in the next 30 days within about a 60-minute drive of Sammamish. Change either under Filters. Your choices are remembered on this device the next time you visit.

List, Calendar and Map

Switch views with the buttons at the top. All three show the same filtered events.

• List groups events under Today, Tomorrow and each later date. Show more at the bottom loads the next 30.
• Calendar shows a month. On a phone, dots mark days with events; on a larger screen you see times and titles. Tap a day to list its events underneath. Swipe left or right, or use the arrows, to change month; with a keyboard, the arrow keys move between days. Calendar view also shows past events from recent months.
• Map shows where in-person events meet. Events at the same place share one pin. Online events and events without a known location aren't on the map.

Filters

On a phone or iPad, tap Filters; on a computer they're in the left-hand column. The row of chips under the toolbar shows what's applied; tap × on a chip to remove it, or Reset to start over. All filters apply together, so “Free only” plus “Online” shows events that are both.

Show

Upcoming events, or Recent ones that have already happened.

When

Next 30 days, next 90 days, or everything coming up.

Drive time

Only events within that many minutes' drive of the place you measure from (below), using the same drive time each event shows. Online events and events without a known location always show.

Measure from

Sammamish by default; the town at the top of the page shows which place is in use. Use my location asks your browser for your position; or type an address or town and tap Go. Reset to Sammamish goes back. From your own location, drive times are routed from there, on the recommendations too; if the route service can't be reached they're straight-line estimates marked approx.

Organization

Only events from the groups you pick. Only groups with events in your current range are listed.

Format

In person, online, or both.

Access

Free only; No sign-up needed (the event page says no registration is required); Hide full events (full or waitlist-only).

The search box in the header matches titles, places, descriptions and organizations. Search clears when you reload the page.

Reading an event

• Leave by is the start time minus the drive time minus a 15-minute buffer, rounded down to the nearest 5 minutes. It's hidden for online events and when the drive time is unknown.
• Drive times follow the roads (from OpenStreetMap), with no traffic, so allow more at rush hour. A time marked approx. is a straight-line estimate instead, used when no road route was available. Drive time unknown means the event page doesn't give one place to drive to (for example, a region or “see event page”). Directions opens Google Maps with the meeting place.
• Ferry required marks places reached by ferry (Whidbey, Vashon, Bainbridge, the San Juans and others), or leaving one if your location is on an island. The drive time and leave-by include the crossing but not the wait for a sailing, which can be an hour or more on summer weekends; check the Washington State Ferries schedule.
• Register by shows the registration deadline, in amber when it's within a week.
• The line with the feather icon lists the birds and habitat the organizer mentions, such as “Raptors · Waterfowl · Wetland · Scope recommended.”
• Tags such as Free, Registration required or Limited capacity come from the event's own page. When a page doesn't say, the card says nothing rather than guess.
• Register opens the organizer's sign-up page; Details opens their event page. Always check there for last-minute changes.

Adding events to your calendar

One event

Tap Add to calendar on a card, then:

• Apple, Outlook, other downloads a calendar file; open it to add the event. For in-person events it includes an alert at the leave-by time.
• Google Calendar opens Google's new-event page, filled in. Google doesn't keep alerts from links, so the leave-by time is in the description; add a reminder there if you want one.

Subscribe to a view

At the bottom of Filters, Subscribe adds every upcoming event matching your current filters to your calendar app, and keeps it up to date as events are added, changed or cancelled.

• Apple, Outlook opens your calendar app's subscribe dialog. On iPhone, the calendar appears under Settings › Calendar › Accounts › Subscribed Calendars; if leave-by alerts don't appear, check whether Remove Alerts is on there.
• Google adds it to Google Calendar. Google can take up to a day to pick up changes.
• Copy link copies the address, for any other calendar app.

A subscription measures drive times from Sammamish, even if you've set your own location, and doesn't include search.

Sharing a view

The page address changes as you pick a view and filters, so you can bookmark it or send it to someone, and the Back button undoes a switch between List, Calendar and Map. A shared link never includes your location or your search.

Saving events (signed in)

Sign in to save events (top right) to get a Save button on each card. Saved events are listed under My events, where you can also mark events you attended, rate them and add notes. Signed in, you also see a few suggested events based on what you save and view.

Where the events come from

Events are collected automatically from each organization's own website every day at 11 AM Pacific, with a deeper refresh on Saturdays. Details such as cost and registration are read from the event page, sometimes with the help of an AI model, so mistakes are possible; the organizer's page is always the final word. See which organizations are included, and other Washington chapters that aren't yet.

Privacy

• Your filters, and your location if you choose to use it, are stored only in this browser. To filter by distance, your position is sent along with each request for events, and from there to the route service that works out drive times (the site's own, or OpenRouteService as a backup), but the site doesn't save it.
• If you type an address, it's looked up with OpenStreetMap's free geocoding service to find its position. If you use your location, its position (not you) is sent to the same service to name the town shown at the top of the page.
• The site counts page visits by city, without storing your IP address or anything that links one visit to the next across days.
• If you sign in, your saved events, notes and the events you view are stored with your account to power My events and suggestions.

Questions