My day began at 3 AM, earlier than really necessary, but at my age you want to give yourself extra time. I arrived at the South Cape May Meadows at quarter to five, ahead of most of the other participants that would be riding the bus around Cape May County all day trying to tally as many species as possible for the World Series of Birding. Our team, the Cape May Bird Observatory Century Run, had nineteen participants that would be on the bus, as well as a few birding on their own from other locations. We spent the first hour walking the trails at the Meadows as dawn arrived and tallied 43 species, including American Woodcock and Chuck-Will’s-Widow, both heard in the darkness. Birds heard only also count.

One week from today, Saturday May 9th, is the annual outdoor escapade and fundraiser known as The World Series of Birding. I’ve signed up with the Cape May Bird Observatory Century Run team as I have many times in the past, beginning in 1988. It’s the only fundraiser I participate in. Along with lots of other teams we will attempt to spot as many bird species as possible on that day. The top teams will go from midnight to midnight, and cover the entire state of New Jersey and more. Our Century Run team’s goals are a little more relaxed: we go from 4:30 AM to about 10 PM and stay within Cape May County. It’s still an exhausting marathon to test one’s determination and stamina, but usually a lot of fun, too. During covid the rules changed some, and now you can be a part of the team while birding on your own from anywhere, and add your species to the team total. The traditional method of a group traveling by bus is what I will be doing, as I always have. 

Each participant pledges a minimum of $1 per species counted, I will be pledging at least $2 per species (for myself and in memory of Ellen, who did this as well many times), and I will probably donate more. All donations go to New Jersey Audubon, and their valuable mission of conservation, education and research. Current and proposed trends in our government do not bode well for environmental issues and groups, or for the birds, animals, insects and plants we share the planet with, so causes and organizations like this are more important now than ever. I realize these are uncertain financial times for everyone, but if you should be willing to support my efforts, here’s a link to my Donation Page. (My report on last year’s event is HERE.)

Thanks for your consideration, looking forward to a strenuous but fun day in the field, hoping for good weather!

If you’re coming in late, yesterday, May 10, 2025, I participated in New Jersey Audubon’s World Series of Birding. I was on the Cape May Bird Observatory team of 28 people. The object of this fundraiser is to tally as many species as possible in one day. Participants make donations to New Jersey Audubon based on the number of species a team sees, and also can gather donations from friends, family, and businesses. Some Level 1 teams cover the whole state of New Jersey from midnight to midnight. We’re a Level 2 team with a more relaxed schedule, going from about 5 AM to about 9 PM. The traditional plan was for the team to travel by bus (originally in their own cars) to various locations around Cape May County, and that’s what 20 of us did. Since covid, new rules allow others to be on the team while birding on their own from wherever they live. This adds a lot to our list, especially as some team members were birding in New York State, and New Mexico, but for me, the bus group total is the important one. Of course, more species means more donations to a good cause, so I’m fine with that.

One factor that makes a big difference in how the team does is the weather, and this year it was sunny all day with temperatures from the 50s to the low 70s. That sounds ideal unless you know that there was a 20mph northwest wind most of the day that often made it difficult to hear birds (heard calls count), kept birds from being active in the trees and sky at times, and made it a VERY cold start to the day. Well, there’s always something! But the wind definitely affected our team bus total. After a freezing start at the Cape May Meadows, we found some good birds at the Cape May Bird Observatory’s Northwood center in Cape May Point, including Summer Tanager and Red-Headed Woodpecker. The former is rare at that location, and the latter is rare all over New Jersey, I hadn’t seen one in a few years. Then we walked along Lily Lake and down a residential street in town to where someone’s backyard feeder has been hosting a female Painted Bunting, an even more rare bird in New Jersey. They usually don’t come this far north, but young birds of many species do tend to wander, perhaps one way they expand territory. After a short wait, we had good looks. A little later by the lake, we saw two more rare birds at the same time, soaring overhead: a Swallow-Tailed Kite and two Mississippi Kites. Again, birds I haven’t seen in years, though a few are tallied every year in New Jersey. We were off to a great start, my own list was at 60 species when we headed north into the rest of the county at around 9 AM.

From there things did not go so well with for us. We did woodland birding in several places, but missed species we knew were there, but weren’t calling or in sight. At Cox Hall Creek we added a few more, and at Belleplain State Forest, where I do a lot of birding on my own. A good half dozen species I knew were there could not be found. Team members in other places were adding to our total, but our bus group seemed to be well behind the usual count as I remember it. In the past we would often reach 100 species before lunch, this year that didn’t happen until mid afternoon, and as the count goes up it becomes ever harder to find new ones to add.

After a late lunch, we began pursuing wetland and coastal birds, first at Jake’s Landing, on Delaware Bay, then at Avalon and Stone Harbor on the Atlantic Ocean side of the county. I can rarely get good bird photos with my phone, but this one turned out okay. I was compiling my own list on eBird on my phone, but there are some problems with that. First, you have to finish and file a checklist for each location the way I was doing it, and you then can’t go back easily to check things over. In some cases I listed things twice, in others I forgot to list them. It wasn’t until this morning when I could put my results on a printed checklist that I could finally find out what my own list total was.

After our last few stops resulted in only one or two new species, the bus team began to lose the will to carry on, and just after sunset, as seen above, we called it quits around 8:30 PM, earlier than usual.

The entire team total was 206 species.

The bus team Toal was 120 species. (The previous year it was 140, I think closer to average).

My own list came to 109 species. Not bad, but today, also sunny and beautiful but with no wind, I could probably do better even by myself. Ah well, that’s the way it goes sometimes. Maybe until next year will be better…!

Two weeks from today, Saturday May 10th, is the annual outdoor escapade and fundraiser known as The World Series of Birding. I’ve signed up with the Cape May Bird Observatory Century Run team as I have many times in the past, beginning in 1988. It’s the only fundraiser I participate in. Along with lots of other teams we will attempt to spot as many bird species as possible on that day. The top teams will go from midnight to midnight, and cover the entire state of New Jersey. Our Century Run team’s goals are a little more relaxed: we go from 4:30 AM to about 10 PM and stay within Cape May County. It’s still an exhausting marathon to test one’s determination and stamina, but usually a lot of fun, too. During covid the rules changed some, and now you can be a part of the team while birding on your own from anywhere, and add your species to the team total. The traditional method of a group traveling by bus is what I will be doing, as I always have.

Each participant pledges a minimum of $1 per species counted, I will be pledging at least $2 per species (for myself and in memory of Ellen, who did this as well many times), and I will probably donate more. All donations go to New Jersey Audubon, and their valuable mission of conservation, education and research. Current and proposed trends in our government do not bode well for environmental issues and groups, or for the birds, animals, insects and plants we share the planet with, so causes and organizations like this are more important now than ever. I realize these are uncertain financial times for everyone, but if you should be willing to support my efforts, here’s a link to my Donation Page.

Thanks for your consideration, looking forward to a strenuous but fun day in the field, hoping for good weather!

Since 1984, the New Jersey Audubon Society has used their World Series of Birding as a fundraiser. My first one was 1988, and I did it nearly every year from then until 2018. In 2019 I had to cancel due to a death in the family, and then Covid kept me out of it. I’m returning to the Cape May Century Run Team this year, and looking forward to it. Each team tallies as many species as they can see or hear in a specific geographic area of New Jersey. Some teams do the whole state, ours does only Cape May County. This year it happens next Saturday, May 13th. I will be out birding with the team from 5 AM to 9 PM at least. It’s a long day, but a fun challenge. In the past I have asked for donations to support my team and help NJ birds and NJ Audubon through Facebook and my blog. I’m not doing as much of that this year, but I do have a personal pledge page if anyone would like to contribute to our effort, and I would be most grateful if you did!