2025 greeted us with a cold, cold, cold January! Imagine being a creature living outdoors! If you enjoy snuggling up with a good book, you might want to pick up Pete Dunne’s latest, The Courage of Birds and the Often Surprising Ways they Survive Winter. South Jersey’s own national treasure, Pete’s connection with birds shines through his accounts in a mixture of science, wit and charm – his signature writing style. As one reviewer noted, “For best results, savor this book by a cozy fire with a hot cocoa.”
With fingers crossed and encased in warm gloves, the worst of the bitter cold it is behind us and you’ll soon be itching to get outdoors. February is a great time to seek out various species of waterfowl, as lingering winterers are joined by northbound migrants. The Cape May Bird Observatory is offering special field trips on February 8th and 16th focusing on a wide range of species, including scoters, mergansers, eiders, and many other ducks, plus shorebirds, cormorants, and grebes. Winter birding allows for time to study various identification clues: plumage, size & shape, flight characteristics, and behavior to help improve your bird identification skills.
Or join the Saturday morning walk around Cape May Point, which takes place every week from 8 am to 10 am through early April. If you’re looking for the best and most fun way to improve your birding skills and knowledge, join this walk on a regular basis as winter turns to spring in Cape May. CMBO’s skilled volunteers will take you on a learning journey and many of them know a lot about the bountiful habitat that attracts the birds to our area. With a plethora of committed wildlife habitat gardeners, there are few places like Cape May Point for all things birds, even in the wintertime.
One of the best places for Short-eared Owls, a winter specialty, is Jakes Landing at dusk. Join CMBO naturalists on one of three Sunday evening gatherings starting February 23rd from 4:30 pm until dark. Where the forest meets the marsh, naturalists will be on the lookout for Northern Harriers, Great Horned Owls, waterfowl and songbirds. Bundle up!
From the comfort of home, New Jersey Audubon offers an online course called Gardening for Wildlife during the winter months so you can plant wisely come spring. This is the fourth winter of this series, and it just keeps getting better. Details are still being ironed out, but the course will take place online over 6-8 weeks beginning March 4th on Tuesday nights at 7 pm. Check the NJ Audubon website www.njaudubon.org and click on Calendar of Events for more information soon.
Maybe you’re looking to get out of the cold and socialize. If so, mark your calendar for Saturday, March 8th at the Whale Tale Brewing Company on Indian Trail Road across from Home Depot. From 12 pm to 4 pm, a percent of beer sales will support the Nature Center of Cape May, and there will be games and a door prize, too!
Mark your calendars now for two free programs later this spring. On Friday, May 2nd, Cape May Bird Observatory will host a presentation by Dr. Doug Tallamy, “Next Steps for Nature: 500 Questions (and Answers) for How to Save Nature in Our Yards” at the Cape May Point Arts and Science Center. With support from the Diane Cornell Wildlife Gardening Project, Dr. Doug Tallamy will cover all the commonly asked questions about ecological landscaping and you will be amazed how much you can learn in a relatively short period of time.
Which brings us back to another recent work by Pete Dunne. On Saturday, May 17th at 6 pm as part of the Cape May Spring Festival, Pete and famed local wildlife photographer, Kevin T. Karlson, will offer a presentation on their most recent collaboration, The Shorebirds of North America. This is a rare opportunity to see two of North America’s most treasured birding personalities together. The presentation is free and open to the public at the Lower Township Regional High School auditorium. Learn more about these and other programs by visiting www.birdcapemay.org and clicking on Events. Or call the Northwood Center at Cape May Point at 609-400-3868, or stop by Wednesday through Sunday from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.