Dorian Anderson’s Circa Bay Ride

Whether it’s marshes that protect cities from flooding and pollinators that keep crops growing to nature hikes that strengthen our bodies and bird song that quiets our minds, healthy natural ecosystems are what keep healthy human communities thriving.

To kick off the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory’s 2024 Spring Appeal, avid birding-by-bike adventurer Dorian Anderson is doing a solo Circa Bay Ride, “Healthy Bay, Healthy Communities,” around the San Francisco Bay April 6-11, 2024, to promote the ways nature helps keep people thriving and raise money for SFBBO’s programs that promote the health of Bay Area species and habitats. Learn more and make a donation here.

These programs include restoring tidal marsh habitat that protects us from sea level rise, leading nature experiences for hundreds of kids, families and seniors, and engaging over a thousand volunteers in field work and outdoor community science. They also include serving some of the most vulnerable people in our community, protecting some of our most threatened species, sharing avian science with resource managers, and leaving a legacy of future conservation scientists by educating students from grade school to college.

Dorian is an experienced birder, bird photographer, and author known for his cross-country birding-by-bike excursions. In addition to his ride, Dorian is leading three free bird walks for SFBBO on April 6 and 7.

An avid birder since childhood, Dorian abandoned his hobby at age 15, focusing instead on a demanding scientific career while simultaneously struggling with substance abuse. He earned a degree in molecular embryology at Harvard, and earned his doctorate in Developmental Genetics and Molecular Cell Biology at New York University. While working as a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital, Dorian decided to leave the academic rat race and focused on the next phase of his life, returning to birding. In 2014, he embarked on his Biking for Birds project, the first North American Big Year completed entirely by bicycle. During this incredible journey, he biked 17,830 miles and observed 618 bird species while raising funds for bird habitat conservation. Since his cycling Big Year, he has transitioned to a professional life as a birding guide, writer, and public speaker and was the guest speaker at SFBBO’s 2019 Annual Meeting!