A Day of Birding for Conservation

Another rewarding World Series of Birding!

The results are in, and this year’s all-ladies Marshketeers team encountered 124 species over 20 hours of searching under some very trying conditions. They braved 30 mph wind gusts that had birds hunkered down and difficult to see or hear. Their search found them in Belleplain State Forest and the marshes at Jake’s Landing in the light of a near-full moon; on sunny, wind-swept beaches on the Atlantic and Delaware Bay; in pockets of Atlantic Maritime Forests preserved in Stone Harbor and Avalon (where they spotted the bonus bird, the Black-crowned Night Heron); in meadows and dune overlooks in Cape May; at The Wetlands Institute and Stone Harbor Bird Sanctuary. A highlight of the day was a pair of Swallow-tailed Kites circling above Cape May – a rarity here. Every year, the search for migrating birds takes the team to diverse natural habitats and reminds us of the importance and necessity of natural areas for their survival – and for our wellbeing.

Each team member logged more than 20,000 steps, and each step reconnected them to the wonder of Cape May and its importance as a world-renowned migration corridor hosting one of the great migrations on planet Earth. Thanks to all of you who support our coastal bird conservation programs and are helping to ensure that we can do even more to help at-risk species that nest along our coast. It’s never too late to support our work.