Gloucester County Nature Club
Gloucester County Nature Club Welcome! This site is intended to provide information about the Gloucester County Nature Club. Nature Club meetings are at 7:00 on the second Thursday of each month (except July and August) at the Wenonah Community Center (old train station), unless stated otherwise in the newsletter. To become a member, visit the Contact Us page.
Our Mission
The Gloucester County Nature Club is a private, nonprofit 501c3 organization of people who share a common interest, curiosity and love for the natural world. The Club strives to promote sound conservation practices and to educate others about nature and the environment.
Opportunities for Education and Participation
The Nature Club provides monthly programs, field trips, and newsletters from September through June and special field trips in the Summer months. In addition, the Nature Club holds special events throughout the year. For upcoming programs, field trips, or events you can check out our latest newsletter on the news page.
Our Book: Natural Places of Gloucester County NJ
Our book "Natural Places of Gloucester County NJ" has been printed, and copies are available for purchase at club meetings, and at a few local retailers including:
Wild Birds Unlimited - 415 Egg Harbor Road #6, Sewell (Washington Township), NJ 08080
Damingers Country Store - 641 Main St, Sewell (Mantua Township), NJ 08080
For some sample pages and a way to order the book online, click on the following link: Natural Places of Gloucester County NJ.
Natural Events for the month of March
Woodchucks emerge from hibernation. Male skunks wander widely, searching for mates. Red maples flower in late March, with male and female flowers on separate trees. Roadside "weeds" such as speedwell, wintercress, hairy bittercress, purple dead-nettle, and storksbill bloom before most native wildflowers. Eastern screech owls, New Jersey’s most common owl, lay eggs beginning in March and continue through May. Woodcocks begin courtship flights. Male goldfinches begin to molt into their brilliant yellow breeding plumage. Eastern Phoebes return this month.
Upcoming Events
East Coast Vulture Festival, Saturday March 6, 2010. Goto www.eastcoastvulturefestival.org for details.
Bird Quest 2010, Saturday May 1, 2010. See the Bird Quest Page for details.
More Upcoming Events
In addition to our own club events list, we've added a list of nature-related events held by other organizations to the Events page. Click here to be taken to the Events page.
Past Nature Club Events
BIRD QUEST '09: The event on May 2, 2009 marked the 10th anniversary of the Gloucester County Bird Quest. We had many special events to help celebrate this year. Thank you all for coming in the less than favorable weather. The response from the people who participated was – This Year was the best EVER! Our winning team saw 76 species while for the day we had 128 species seen by all groups. We had 285 people registered and amazingly despite the weather almost all of them showed up back at the park.
Woodford Cedar Run Refuge with their live birds back at the park was a great cap of a wonderful day. Folks really enjoyed it and learned a lot from Katie and her feathered friends. Everyone received our Bird Quest t-shirt, had a nice lunch and this year we added cake to celebrate our 10th year anniversary. A major milestone. As a special gift we gave out a free exclusive 10th anniversary Bird Quest tote bag to all participants! This nice cloth tote is a perfect size to take to the store or carry your books.
We had three full buses with one bus filled girl scouts (two troops - 48 kids and adults) who had a wonderful time. They all told me they will be back next year and bringing a friend.
- Brian Hayes, BirdQuest Coordinator
For some pictures from the event, click on the following link: Bird Quest 2009 Photos.
Check out more past club events by clicking the "Events" link above or by clicking the following link: Past Nature Club Events.
Recent Nature Club Field Trips
September '09: A trip to Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area was held on Saturday September 12th. The Trip was led by Karl Anderson and Gale Cannon.
Despite dire weather predictions, this trip took place as scheduled, with four hardy participants (plus the two leaders). A good variety of pine barrens specialty plants were found in bloom, including bog aster, slender aster, showy aster, blazing star, Maryland golden-aster, smooth gerardia, thread-leaved gerardia, Nuttall’s lobelia, fern-leaved false foxglove, several species of goldenrods and bonesets, and the usual pitcher plant and sundews. Unfortunately, a bog that we had hoped to visit was flooded, a result of extremely heavy local rains the previous night, so we missed curly-grass fern and a few other species. A few birds were also seen, including osprey, great blue heron, great egret, and blue-gray gnatcatcher. To see some photos from this trip, click on the following link: Stafford Forge Wildlife Management Area.
October '08: A field trip to the Cedar Lake Wildlife Management Area was held on Sunday October 26, 2008. To see some photos from this trip, click on the following link: Cedar Lake Wildlife Management Area.
September '08: A field trip to the Palmyra Cove Nature Park was held on Saturday September 20, 2008. To see some photos from this trip, click on the following link: Palmyra Cove Nature Park.
One of our summer "field trips" was a tour of Club Members' Gardens that was held on Saturday August 16, 2008. The weather was lovely and the flowers were at their best for this tour of several GCNC members' gardens. Butterflies had been relatively scarce during July but populations burgeoned in August, so tiger swallowtails, black swallowtails, monarchs, cabbage whites, silver-spotted skippers, and several other species were in good numbers on the day of this tour. Ruby-throated hummingbirds, goldfinches, and other birds added to the display. Attendance was good but not excessive, so that the garden owners and the visitors had the opportunity to chat at length about the gardens, and perhaps to quaff a refreshing lemonade while admiring the floral displays. Many thanks to garden owners Jessie MacGregor, Ron Kegel, Jay Hoffecker, Jayne Rhynard, Bob and Carol Cassel, Wayne Blackman, Gale Cannon, Glenn and Maria Ceponis, and Amelie Harris for the allowing people to visit their gardens.
June '08: A field trip to Unexpected Wildlife Refuge was held on Saturday June 21, 2008. The ten participants were much impressed by the varied habitats here, which included hardwood swamps, pine forests, oak forests, a grassy clearing, the edges of sand roads, a large shallow lake (once a cranberry bog), and a sedge-dominated vernal pond. Birds seen or heard included prothonotary and prairie warblers, scarlet tanager, great crested flycatcher, great blue heron, ruby-throated hummingbird, indigo bunting, tree swallow, and numerous eastern bluebirds. Some plant species in bloom included colic-root, bulblet loosestrife, Virginia willow, yellow pond lily, bur-reed, and a bog-loving variety of jack-in-the pulpit. Butterflies and dragonflies also vied for the group's attention. The trip was led by refuge director Sarah Summerville. To see some photos from this trip, click on the following link: Unexpected Refuge.
Check out more of our past field trips by clicking the "Fieldtrips" link above or by clicking the following link: Past Field Trips.
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view some of the files contained on this website. To download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.