NEW THIS YEAR !
Introduction to Bird Photography - March 27 & 28 (with Scott Whittle)
Backyard Bird Sounds: Introduction to Birding by Ear - April 24 (with Don Freiday)
Bird and Tree Identification - September 20 & 21 (with Don Freiday)
How to Register for School of Birding Workshops
Thanks for your interest in birding and learning in Cape May, the birding capital of North America!
We suggest registering early for workshops to ensure a place.
Register by phone
Simply call the Cape May Bird Observatory (609.861.0700 ext. 11) with the name(s) and date(s) of the workshops for which you are interested. We will accept payment by credit card over the phone at time of registration.
Register by mail
Simply download, complete and return the School of Birding Registration Form
Note: this form is a dynamic .pdf that can be completed digitally, or it can be printed and completed by hand. For your own security, DO NOT send credit card information via e-mail. Mail, fax or email completed forms to:
Cape May School of Birding
Cape May Bird Observatory
600 Route 47 North
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210-1324
Fax: (609) 861-1651.
Email: cmboprograms@njaudubon.org
Payment
Workshop registration may be accompanied by full payment or you can reserve a space with a $25 non-refundable deposit with balance payment due 2 weeks prior to the workshop. We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, check, or money order.
Cancellations
Cape May School of Birding Workshops require a minimum number of registrants to run, but are virtually
never cancelled. If we do cancel, all participants will be notified in advance and are eligible for a full credit
or refund.
Participants may cancel without penalty if greater than 30 days in advance of the scheduled workshop.
Cancellations within 10 to 30 days in advance may be subject to a 25% service charge. Sorry, but we
are unable to refund or credit any cancellations with less than 10 days advance notice unless due to
health emergencies (the 25% service charge may still apply).
We reserve the right to substitute leders if necessary, though this rarely happens.
Instructions
Detailed instructions and recommended reading will be sent to all registered participants in advance of each workshop, usually by e-mail. All Cape May workshop meeting locations are on our Cape May Birding and Butterfly Map available for download from our website, or can be mailed to you upon request along with the detailed instructions.
Membership
If you are not a current CMBO or NJ Audubon member, you can join at the time of registration to receive the member discount.
Transportation
All transportation throughout the workshop is the responsibility of the participant. Meals and lodging are not included. For a list of recommended accommodations and restaurants, visit the "Places..." listing on our website or call 609.884.2736 for a Places brochure.
2010 Workshop Leaders
MEGAN CREWE has been birding since childhood. A tour guide for more than a decade for Field Guides, a birding tour company, Megan's leadership bursts with information and enthusiasm. She serves as co-secretary and council member for the Neoptropical Bird Club. After living in England for nearly a decade, Megan has returned to the Cape May area with her husband Mike, CMBO's new Northwood Center Store Manager.
MIKE CREWE joined the staff of CMBO in September 2009, and is the latest in a long-line of "Brits" to be drawn to Cape May and its world-class birding. Mike visited the area annually since 2000, and during his 12 years as a professional tour guide in the UK, has brought several birding groups to the area since 2003. Prior to being a tour guide, Mike worked for several years as an environmental consultant and spent 16 years in the horticultural trade. His interests go far beyond birding, and Mike will be happy to talk at length about wasps, moths, reptiles, plants...if it's natural history, he's into it!
DON FREIDAY is the Director of Birding Programs for CMBO. Familiar to many through his published nature writings and daily blogs on www.birdcapemay.org, Don has worked in the field of nature interpretation and/or wildlife biology for over 25 years. He has taught wildlife ecology at Rutgers University, is a member of the NJ Bird Records Committee, authored two books, and has led birding tours throughout the US and abroad. Don's remarkable bird-finding and hearing skills complement enthused and focused teaching.
MARK GARLAND is a naturalist and tour leader celebrated for his amazing wide-ranging knowledge, teaching skills, and genial good nature. A resident of West Cape May, he was for many years on the staff of the Washington D.C. based Audubon Naturalists Society and later a Senior Naturalist for CMBO. Now a freelancer, Mark's followers are legion and few who join him for Cape May workshops or his international tours fail to repeat with another trip...and then another...
MICHAEL O’BRIEN is one of the finest field birders in North America, and testifying to his character, remains one of the nicest people you will ever meet. A leader for VENT, Michael co-authored The Shorebird Guide and America's 100 Most Wanted Birds, and contributed artwork to the latest renditions of both the National Geographic and Peterson Field Guides. His CD-ROM, Flight Calls of Migratory Birds, created with Bill Evans, is the Rosetta Stone of that subject. Michael is well versed in butterflies and dragonflies, as well as everything avia.
SCOTT WHITTLE is a professional photographer who recently settled in the Cape May area. He received an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts, and has 15 years of experience as a freelance photographer in New York City with images published in dozens of publications. In 2008, he used his camera to help set a birding Big Year record for New York State, documenting 349 of the 350 birds he saw. He also competed in the 2009 Digital Photography Division of the World Series of Birding. He has taught photography workshops in Maine and New York, and is always excited to help his students achieve their photographic goals.
LOUISE ZEMAITIS is a VENT tour leader and long-time Associate Naturalist at CMBO. Louise compiles the Cape May Christmas Bird Count and coordinates the Monarch Monitoring Project in Cape May. An honors grad at Temple's Tyler School of Art, she is a talent freelance artist and her illustrations have been widely published. Workshop participants remember her for her polished teaching skills, infectious laugh, and broad knowledge of natural history, especially butterflies and dragonflies.
Why Join a Cape May School of Birding Workshop?
- Fun, attentive, world-class leaders on every workshop.
- A chance to visit one of the truly best birding places on the planet.
- Meet great, like-minded people for lasting memories...and friendships.
- Be a better birder and enjoy a feeling of accomplishment when you are done.
- Registration fees help support the mission of NJ Audubon's Cape May Bird Observatory.
On A Typical Workshop
- The majority of time is spent in the field, watching, listening, and learning.
- There will be at least one indoor session, normally in the afternoon. There may be more on extended workshops or in case of inclement weather.
- Daily plans are adjusted to meet local weather and migration conditions.
- We look at all birds we encounter, but still remain focused on the topic of the workshop.
- Leader to participant ratio is 1:12 or better.
- Questions are always welcome - before, during, and after the workshops.
Thousands of CMBO Workshop alumni are out there in the field, applying the skills they learned in Cape May. Read what they have to say about CMBO's Cape May Birding Workshops.
Cape May School of Birding Workshop
Birds in Flight with Michael O'Brien
2-Day Workshop on September 4-5 (Saturday & Sunday)
Cost: $150 members, $190 non-members
You’ve heard of the legendary Higbee Dike, where migrant songbirds are identified and counted as they fly past. How do those guys do it? Here’s your chance to learn from one of “those guys!” For certain groups of birds - ducks, seabirds, raptors - flight identification techniques have been well established. But have you ever longingly watched a songbird fly over, wishing it would perch so you could identify it? Or had a flock of blackbirds on the horizon and wondered if they were grackles or red-wingeds? Learn how to apply what we’ve learned about flight i.d. to any bird that crosses your air space, be it a familiar-in-flight Sharp-shinned Hawk, or a relative stranger like a tanager or oriole.
Begins at 7 AM at Higbee Beach WMA
Second leader (if registration warrants) will be Louise Zemaitis
Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.
Fall Migration Sampler with Louise Zemaitis
3-Day Workshop on September 10-12 (Friday thru Sunday)
Cost: $225 members, $265 non-members
Mid-September straddles the migratory timetable. You’re not too late for shorebirds, not too early for hawks, and right on time for warblers and other neotropical migrants. Songbirds in the morning; shorebirds, seabirds or raptors in the afternoon. We go where weather conditions dictate. We strive to see the greatest species diversity.
Begins 7 AM at Cape May Point State Park.
Second leader (if registration warrants) will be Michael O’Brien.
Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.
Cape May School of Birding Workshop
Bird and Tree Identification with Don Freiday
2-Day Workshop on September 20 & 21 (Monday & Tuesday)
Cost: $150 members, $190 members
Ever been told, “It’s at ten o’clock in the locust tree. . .” and think, “Yeah, but which one’s the locust?” Were you intrigued that David Sibley chose trees for the subject of his latest field guide? Set in the heart of fall migration, this workshop will feature warblers, shorebirds and hawks in the mornings, and trees (plus birds) in the afternoons. We’ll be in a variety of habitats, good for both birds and trees, shrubs and vines. Don T.A.’d dendrology (the study of trees) in college.
Begins 7 AM at Cape May Point State Park.
Second leader (if registration warrants) will be Mark Garland.
Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.
Cape May Birding Holiday with Don Freiday
2-Day Workshop on October 2 & 3 (Saturday & Sunday)
Cost: $150 members, $190 non-members
This workshop will be “just birding,” no indoor workshop time (unless severe weather dictates otherwise) at the prime time to be in Cape May. Expect eagles, ospreys, falcons,accipiters, shorebirds, late warblers, early sparrows, and many others. Bookend your 2-week Cape May birding vacation either before this workshop with our Bird and Tree Identification Workshop September 20-21, or after with Advanced Birding by Ear October 9-10, at the absolute peak of Cape May fall migration.
Begins 7 AM at Cape May Point State Park.
Second leader (if registration warrants) will be Mark Garland.
Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.
Advanced Birding by Ear with Michael O'Brien
2-Day Workshop on October 9 & 10 (Saturday & Sunday)
Cost: $150 members, $190 non-members
Birds don’t sing much in the fall - but they sure do call. Chip notes, flight notes and critical listening are the primary subjects of this workshop, led by the man who wrote the book (well, made the CD-ROM) on flight calls. Two days with Michael equals years of struggle on your own. Includes optional night-time listening for nocturnal migrants. Learn to dissect a single note, determining whether it rises or falls, is clear or burry. You will never listen the same way again.
Begins 7 AM at Higbee Beach.
Second leader (if registration warrants) will be Louise Zemaitis.
Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.
Sparrow Workshop with Michael O'Brien
2-Day Workshop on October 16 & 17 (Saturday & Sunday)
Cost: $150 members, $190 non-members
A workshop celebrating the LBJ’s (little brown jobs.) Subtle and cryptic they might be; difficult to identify they are not, providing you have the right instructor, the right place and the right time. A time when lots of sparrows and lots of species abound. Common species like Swamp, Field, Savannah and Chipping. Uncommon ones like Clay-colored, Vesper, Lincoln’s, Nelson’s and Saltmarsh. Learn the basics of size, shape and behavior first, then practice examining plumage patterns to discover how stunning sparrows can be.
Begins 7:30 AM at Cape May Point State Park.
Second leader (if registration warrants) will be Louise Zemaitis.
Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.
Hawks in Flight with Michael O'Brien
2-Day Workshop on October 27 & 28 (Wednesday & Thursday)
Cost: $150 members, $190 non-members
With fifteen raptor species, this is the time of peak raptor diversity in Cape May. Broad-wingeds may still linger, and accipiters, falcons and buteos can be head-to-toe. Perhaps a bonus bird will appear, like Golden Eagle or Swainson’s Hawk! It is a rare moment during late October in Cape May when something raptorial is not in view. Learn how to tell buteos from accipiters from falcons from eagles at the very edge of eyesight, and the 16+ ways to tell Sharp-shinneds from Cooper’s Hawks. This workshop will tune your identification skills and makes a great lead in to the annual Cape May Autumn Weekend!
Begins 8 AM at Cape May Point State Park.
Second leader (if registration warrants) will be Louise Zemaitis.
Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.
Cape May School of Birding Workshop
Cape May with Everything On It! with Louise Zemaitis
3-Day Workshop on November 1-3 (Monday thru Wednesday)
Cost: $225 members, $265 non-members
This is the time the local birders wait for and a great way to extend the Cape May Autumn Weekend! Crowds have diminished, and the most massive fallouts of the season commonly occur NOW! Sparrows, kinglets, bluebirds, American Robin, Hermit Thrush, and literally who knows what else, since this week starts the season for vagrants in Cape May. It’s also a great time for big raptors like buteos and Golden Eagle, and large seabird flights pass Avalon and Cape May Point nearly every day.
Begins 7:30 AM at Cape May Point State Park.
Second leader (if registration warrants) will be Michael O’Brien.
Preregistration required; call CMBO at (609) 861-0700 x11 to register.