clublogo.gif (3651 bytes) Gloucester County Nature Club

Welcome! This site is intended to provide information about the Gloucester County Nature Club. 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.

WANTED: Information about Gloucester County Big Trees
Check out the Tree Project webpage to see how you can help us with this interesting project. This page also includes a complete list of tree species that are under consideration for this project. Many thanks!

Natural Events for the month of November

  • Persimmons ripen - they are delicious when fully soft-ripe, astringent when unripe.
  • Witch hazel in bloom.
  • Woodchucks and chipmunks go into hibernation.
  • Bats seek their hibernating sites in caves and abandoned mines.
  • American tree sparrow, sometimes called the "winter chippy", is a regular winter bird feeder visitor.


    • Upcoming Events by other organizations
    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.

    Recent Nature Club Events
    Listed below are a few of our recent events, with some links to pictures.

    9th annual Gloucester County Bird Quest was held on Saturday, May 3, 2008. We had 275 participants who saw 124 different bird species. It was an unusually cool start to the day with a light shower here and there. There were three buses with over ninety people spread on those three buses.

    It seems the winter birds lingered around long enough to be counted by many people the day of BirdQuest '08. Most of the usual migrants at least made an appearance. Birds commonly seen in the past that were missing this year were American Kestrel, Grebes, Mergansers (except a surprising new species: red-breasted Mergerganser), Cuckoos, Blue-winged warbler, palm warbler, waterthrushes, and Chat. Less common birds seen this year were the Red Breasted Merganser previously mentioned, Blue Grosbeak, Hermit Thrush, Common Loon, Merlin, King Rail, and Least Flycatcher. Many of these birds are getting more and more scarce in Gloucester County. For some pictures from the event, click on the following link: Bird Quest 2008 Photos.


    The third annual East Coast Vulture Festival was held on Saturday, March 1, 2008, and was a great success! For more details, see the Events page or the East Coast Vulture Festival website at www.eastcoastvulturefestival.org. For some pictures from this year's event, click on the following link: Vulture Festival 2008. Interesting Vulture information: Some interesting articles on vultures recently appeared in an issue of Nature's Art Wildlife Journal. This issue even includes an article on our own East Coast Vulture Festival! To view the articles, click on the following link: Vulture Articles. Note: This is a rather large file (8Mb), but well worth the time it takes to download.

    Check out more of our past events by clicking the "Events" link above or by clicking the following link: Past Nature Club Events.

    Recent Nature Club Field Trips

    New! 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. (Additional photos added on 11/21/08)

    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.

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