Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its Tributaries, Inc. and Cumberland County Board of Chosen Freeholders are proud to announce that Birding Cumberland - A Birder’s Guide to Cumberland County, NJ is now available! (Click here for purchasing details)
This updated guide is the result of efforts by a number of individuals and organizations. The first edition in 1993 was coordinated by Cumberland County Department of Planning and Development and funded in part by the Delaware Estuary Program. This new edition was funded by the County and primarily printed and redesigned by Citizens United. A generous grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation toward Citizens United’s operating expenses enabled them to free up membership funds for this purpose.
Leslie Ficcaglia, County Planning Board Member and Citizens United Trustee, was the primary champion for updating the guide, and she also served as the project coordinator and editor.
Ornithologist and author Clay Sutton prefaces the narrative by explaining the need for a revised guide: "Changing times and places have marked the last ten years, but unlike much of New Jersey, the birding and birding opportunities have only gotten better in Cumberland County. Many new birding locations have been discovered, created or, more importantly, protected since the original guide was published in 1993. The acreage of accessible public lands and private conservation lands open to the public has steadily risen since 1993, and today places with quaint, historic names such as Bivalve, Shellpile, and Caviar are hot ‘new’ birding sites for New Jersey birders, both residents and visitors."
Sutton is a well known author and naturalist (see brief biography). His engaging writing style, intimate knowledge of Cumberland’s environs and ornithology, and his enthusiasm for birding is evident in the text. Illustrations by Louise Zemaitis offer glimpses of the winged wonders that lead many travelers to tote their binoculars when visiting our local environs. Birding Cumberland provides detailed descriptions of most of the County’s best birding areas. Ten individual birding tours are presented. The tours can be enjoyed individually as day trips or combined for extended visits. Some other recreational and cultural opportunities are mentioned as well.
Now is a great time to join Citizens United take out a new family membership and receive a Birding Guide for FREE! That is a $12 value included with their $30 contribution. Send your contribution to CU, PO Box 474, Millville, NJ 08332. Be sure to tell us you want a Birding Cumberland.
Some Birding Highlights
The opportunities for spotting birds are endless. Spring brings on the shorebird horseshoe crab phenomena. The Delaware Bayshore beaches are brimming with migrants red knot, ruddy turnstone, sanderling, semipalmated sandpiper and dunlin, the second largest gathering of shorebirds in North America. Birders will find lots of action on the mud flats and tidal creeks where shorebirds also congregate: yellowlegs, dowitcher, black skimmer and more. Though many folks come to see this spectacle and go home quite satisfied, Cumberland hosts notable Spring fall-outs of migrating songbirds. These neotropicals include a colorful myriad of species warblers, thrushes, tanagers, orioles and flycatchers to name a few.
When we’re past the hustle of spring our summer offers plenty of opportunities. The long legged marsh denizens are present, herons, egrets and ibis. Their more diminutive neighbors are busy nesting; seaside sparrows, marsh sharp-tailed sparrows and rails. The forests and fields indigo buntings, blue grosbeaks, prairie warbler, yellow-breasted chat and the much sought after warblers.
Fall is time for viewing purple martin staging areas, hordes of red wing blackbirds, waterfowl migrations and the kings of the skies - raptors. For the hardy birder winter’s cold brings the majesty of large numbers of eagles; as many as 23 roost in Bayshore snags. Waterfowl numbers build to peaks of 8,000 black ducks, 3,750 mallards, 3,000 northern pintails and 47,000 snow geese (these numbers recorded by CU winter raptor/ waterfowl surveys and Audubon Christmas Counts).
Some of the haunts are as interesting as the birding. For example the northeast’s lone primeval forest is a spectacle of botanical wonders. The Bayshore’s quaint villages are rich in history and architecture for visitors to enjoy.
| The guide can be purchased at the following locations:
Wind Chimes Book Store in Millville
NJ Audubon Centers in Goshen and Cape May
The Nature Conservancy’s Bayshore’s Office book shop in Eldora
Booksmith at the Cumberland Mall in Vineland
For sales information bookshops can contact J. Galetto 856-327-1161. Additionally it can be purchased by through the Cumberland County Department of Planning and Development.
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