We've got a lot going on this spring and I'd like to bring three important items to your attention to ensure you're in the know. First off, tomorrow and Sunday (4/16-17) we will be holding our 21st Annual Cape May Optics Sale at our Center for Research and Education. If you come, you’ll receive one-on-one service to help you choose the best optics for your budget and needs and our staff and volunteers look forward to serving you. Doors open at 9am; I’ll be there at 8am serving fresh brewed Birds & Beans bird-friendly coffee so come early and secure your spot in line! Personal attention, optics experts, and all profits go to supporting our conservation mission. How can you beat that?
Second, May 14th is the 33rd Annual World Series of Birding. You can get more information at worldseriesofbirding.org but if you’ve been thinking about fielding a team let me tell you this is the year to do it! We’ve recalculated our Limited Geographic Area (read: counties) PAR system to reflect current bird distributions, we’re rolling out the World Series of Birding App for entering your checklist on game day, complete with photo uploads for documentation, and some other great bells and whistles. I know you’re going to love it! We have moved the Photo Big Day to Saturday April 30th from 9am - 9am (the following Sunday) which does two things: first it allows you to compete in both the Photo Big Day and WSB, and it also gives you more shooting hours so Photo Big Day participants can actually cover the entire state in 24-hours. Check out our website for more details, and if you’re interested feel free to contact lillian.armstrong@njaudubon.org for additional information.
Now to my final point.
I remember reading Jack Connor’s Season at the Point: The birds and birders of Cape May back when I was a graduate student at Rutgers University. My friend, and fellow Floridian, Jeff Bouton was featured prominently, and the cast of characters throughout the book were familiar (although only tangentially at the time): Pete Dunne, Vince Elia, Pat and Clay Sutton, Paul Kerlinger, Richard Crossley. At the point of reading the book I didn’t know I’d end up living in Cape May, and certainly didn’t know I’d become the director of CMBO. What I did know, though, was that Cape May was a special place and this book ported me to that world in vivid detail. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.
The book was published in 1991, some twenty five years ago (hard to believe!). As part of our Cape May Spring Festival this May we have put together a special event to commemorate this milestone. On Saturday May 21 we will be holding a lunch-time panel discussion with many of the historic figures from the landmark book. Jack Connor will lead the panel, and all participants will get the opportunity to ask the questions they’ve accumulated over the last 25 years! So I hope you’ll join us this May for our festival and this special event. Registration is now open at
From all of us at New Jersey Audubon’s Cape May Bird Observatory, we look forward to seeing you in Cape May soon!
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