Field Trips

Field Trips to local birding “Hot Spots” and beyond

Experienced birders from WCAS lead regular birding field trip to some of the region’s top birding hotspots in Central New Jersey, the Delaware Water Gap, Delaware Bay, the New Jersey shore, and eastern Pennsylvania. Field trips are free, open to the public, and most require no advance registration. Participants of all experience levels are welcome. If there are field trips you would like to see added to WCAS field trip offerings, please feel free to contact us.

For more field trip information, contact our Field Trip Chair, Brad Merritt, 609-921-8964. If the trip is co-sponsored, please note the registration request in the trip description. In case of inclement weather, please check this website or contact Brad for field trip cancellation updates by 10:00 p.m. the night before.

Check our Event Calendar below for details and contact information

• Winter Bird Walk – Lou’s Walk at the The Watershed Institute. A field walk on Saturday, December 7, at 9:00 AM led by The Watershed Institute’s education director, Jeff Hoagland. Join Jeff on this annual hike of the Watershed Reserve in search of wintering birds. We will encounter a variety of common birds, examining their preparations for winter. Bring binoculars and dress for walking outdoors in muddy, winter weather conditions. Register at The Watershed Institute, www.thewatershed.org, or call 609-737-3735. Co-sponsored with The Watershed Institute.

• ***NEW! Beginner Bird Walk on Sunday, December 8 from 8:30 until 11:00 AM at Veteran’s Park, Hamilton*** led by Mark Manning. Join WCAS member Mark Manning for a beginner bird walk at Veteran’s Park in Hamilton, NJ. Veteran’s Park is a 330-acre park that includes a variety of habitats that host a number of interesting bird species. Our focus will be on identifying winter migrant and resident birds that are found within the park, and will include some entry level information on natural history and identification by ear. If you have little to no experience and always wanted to begin birding, or if you are a backyard bird watcher who would like to take the next step, this program is for you!  For ages 12 and up (under 16 should be accompanied by a parent) and geared towards beginner birders, those who would like to learn how to bird but have not had exposure, and backyard birders who want to expand their experience. Directions: Meet at Veteran’s Park West Entrance, 1778 Whitehorse-Hamilton Square Road, Hamilton. Please contact Brad Merritt at 609-921-8964 or email [email protected] by Saturday evening, 12/7 to pre-register (not required) or in event of pending inclement weather. 

  Winter Wren © Sharyn Magee

• 120th Annual CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT on Sunday, December 15, 2019 (Princeton Count) and Saturday, December 28, 2019 (Trenton Count). National Audubon Society urges volunteers in central New Jersey to participate in one of Audubon’s great traditions, the annual Christmas Bird Count. WCAS sponsors both the Princeton Count, which this year will be held on Sunday, December 15, and the Trenton Count, to be held this year on Saturday, December 28. This year marks the 119th anniversary of the first Christmas Bird Count, when 27 conservationists in 25 localities, led by ornithologist Frank Chapman, changed the course of history. On Christmas Day 1900, the group initiated an alternative to the traditional holiday ‘side hunt,’ in which teams competed to see which could shoot the most birds. Instead of hunting, the group counted the birds they saw and founded a century-old institution. Today, over 50,000 volunteers from all 50 states, every Canadian province, parts of Central and South America, Bermuda, the West Indies, and Pacific islands will count and record every individual bird and bird species encountered during one calendar day. About 1,800 individual Christmas Bird Counts will be held during a two-and-a-half-week period. Each count group has a designated circle, 15 miles in diameter—about 177 square miles—where they try to cover as much ground as possible within a 24-hour calendar day. Christmas Bird Count serves as an up-to-the-minute bird census. Counters catalogue every bird and bird species they see over one calendar day, from midnight to midnight. Growing in popularity since its inception, the count serves an important scientific function as well. Birds are one of the first groups of animals to be affected by environmental threats like pollution and habitat destruction, and CBC data provide indispensable information, not only on long-term health of bird populations, but also the status of the environment that birds share with all living things. Apart from its attraction as a social, sporting, and competitive event, the annual count reveals interesting and scientifically useful information on the early-winter distribution patterns of various bird species and the overall health of the environment. The Christmas Bird Count is the longest running ornithological database. It continues to grow in importance to monitor the status of resident and migratory bird populations across the western hemisphere. The CBC is 100% volunteer generated data that, over the years, have become a crucial part of the United States Government’s natural history monitoring database. Count data from 1900 to the present are currently available through BirdSource (www.birdsource.org), a cooperative project of the National Audubon Society and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. All counts are open to birders of all skill levels. For more information, contact Brad Merritt at 609-921-8964 or email [email protected].

We are looking for additional team leaders—naturalists who can head out into the field and lead a small group of members and friends around your favorite natural location(s). We’ll help coordinate your team and support donation collection. If you would like to volunteer or lead a team, please email Juanita Hummel or Brad Merritt at [email protected]

Click on calendar entries below for field trip locations. Clicking on the field trip you wish to join will bring open up the trip’s details including a Google Map and GPS coordinates. You may also visit our birding “Hot Spots” page for a map of local hot spots.