Audubon Society nature hikes reveal wide variety of natural phenomena
By Jessica Talarick
Walking through the forest, binoculars at the ready, members of the Washington Crossing Audubon Society vigilantly look for birds as they fly from branch to branch.
But the Washington Crossing Audubon Society isn’t just a birdwatching group. Members are advocates for environmental conservation throughout Mercer County and beyond.
WCAS, a chapter of the National Audubon Society, is made up of about 1,600 members with a passion for preserving nature in Mercer, Hunterdon, Somerset and parts of Burlington and Middlesex counties.
One way WCAS spreads the word about the vast open spaces in the region is through field trips. The group organizes about 35 naturalist-led birding trips each year. Trips, which are free and open to the public, start in September and run through the spring.
WCAS member Brad Merritt leads some of the trips. The Rocky Hill resident said he first got interested in birding at Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, where he studied zoology and biology.
Merritt participated in bird watching sporadically with a Bucks County group then took a hiatus from the hobby. He started bird watching again around the time WCAS was founded.
Since joining, Merritt has held leadership positions within the group and is now the field trip chairperson.
“We like to get people to local areas they may not experience,” Merritt said. “We try to make [them] aware of the great nature we have around here.”
While birdwatching is a main focus of the trips, leaders also show trip participants other natural features, some unique to the area they are exploring.
Trip participants meet at the location at a scheduled time. A WCAS member then leads the group through the trails at a slow pace. Advanced bird watchers are welcome to go ahead of the group while the leader points out birds, plants and other elements to novice explorers.
In September, Merritt plans to lead the first trip of the season to Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge. He says the area in known for its coastal birds. The trip is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. on Sept. 6.
“It’s one of the best birding spots in the country, you see all kinds of shore birds,” Merritt said. Trip participants can expect to see egrets, herons and ducks.
The trip is an auto-tour; participants drive around the park’s marshes looking for clusters of birds. Upon finding birds, they can get out of their cars and observe the animals.
Merritt says the Brigantine trip is a great opportunity for beginner bird watchers because the birds are very cooperative and unique. It’s also a good spot for photography.
In October, Merritt is set to lead a trip to Coldbrook Preserve in Tewksbury Township. The trip takes place during the sparrow migration.
The group started the trip to Coldbrook Preserve, part of the Hunterdon County Park System, last year. According to Merritt, a large concentration of sparrows stop in the park’s grasslands to refuel on their way down south.
The Coldbrook Preserve trip is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Oct. 25. Other planned trips include a visit to WCAS’ bird banding station located at Featherbed Lane in Hopewell set for 8 a.m. Sept. 21., and a walk through Mercer County Park set for 8 a.m. Oct. 18.
For those interested in bird watching, but not quite sure where to start, try the group’s Birding Basics class. WCAS started the class a few years ago as an outreach program to promote their organization.
Merritt says the class, which typically has 10 to 15 people, is an opportunity to get guidance from seasoned bird watchers. Birding Basics starts with an indoor presentation, then class instructors take students outside to learn about common birds, how to use binoculars and conservation efforts.
WCAS provides binoculars and field guides for Birding Basics students. The registration fee includes a one year membership to the group.
In addition to the trips and birding class, the public can learn more about birds at the society’s monthly program. In September, New Jersey Audubon staff member Peter Bacinski is set to present Owls, Nightjars & Rails: Birds We Love but Seldom See. The talk is scheduled for 8 p.m. in the Pennington School’s Stainton Hall.
The group hopes to spark more interest in the environment through their free programs. They also want to motivate the the younger generation to go outside and enjoy nature.
Merritt, who has three grandchildren, is particularly interested in youth outreach. He said WCAS once provided introductory lessons in birding to schools called Audubon Adventures, but as schools became more focused on preparing for standardized tests the program was pushed out of the curriculum.
Merritt is disappointed about the demise of Audubon Adventures, but says kids are still interested in the environment. A few school districts, like Hillsborough, have started birding clubs.
Merritt said WCAS supported Hillsborough’s club, which has about 20 members, by lending them binoculars and field guides. He also took club members on a birding trip to Sourland Mountain Preserve.
The birding club is one of the many local groups the society supports as part of its mission of advocacy and stewardship.
Merritt said the WCAS funds $20,000 worth of grants to area organizations for projects associated with education, conservation and environment.
This year’s grant recipients include Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space, which received funding for habitat restoration. Their project is designed to help aid the decreasing bee population by installing bee habitat patches in fields.
The society’s reach extends all the way to Ecuador, where the group partially funds a research program called Life Net.
Along with LifeNet, the Audubon society runs its own bird banding station in Hopewell to keep track of the areas’ bird population. Helping with the bird banding project is one of the ways WCAS keeps Hopewell resident Sharyn Magee connected to her roots; she is one of the many retired scientists involved in the organization.
Magee inherited her fascination with nature from her father, who she said was always interested in plants around their rural Virginia home.
Magee moved to New Jersey after her husband Charles finished graduate school 41 years ago. She’s had many homes in Mercer County, but settled in Hopewell.
The nature lover learned about WCAS from people she met bird watching. She started attending the field trips and then was asked to join the organization’s board. Magee now heads the group’s Holden Grant and Ad Hoc Science committees.
As a retired scientist — she worked at her husband’s company EAG Laboratories — Magee fits in with WCAS’ community of former science and environment experts. Their expertise plays a large role in the group’s conservation efforts.
Magee said birds are in trouble; a fifth of the species is extinct. To learn more about birds’ population decline, WCAS conducts a bird censusing project.
“The first step in understanding population decline is finding out where they’re breeding successfully,” she said. Magee and other members determine the number of breeding birds by listening for singing males looking for a mate. It takes about 9 weeks to two months of censusing singing males to figure out how many birds are in the area.
Doing a bird census helps members find ways to aid the ailing bird population. Furthermore, maintaining a healthy population of birds in the region has a positive effect on the entire ecosystem. Magees said if an area does not have a healthy population of birds, it will not have a healthy ecosystem.
“If you want to do conservation well, you need to know what types of birds are in the area,” she said. “By monitoring birds, you’re not only figuring out what’s there, you’re monitoring the ecosystem.”
Magee hopes that her involvement with WCAS contributes to conserving the area’s fields, lakes and other open spaces. She envisions a day where her grandchildren can pick up binoculars and see birds just like she did.
More information can be found online at washingtoncrossingaudubon.org.
Club member Sharyn Magee takes photos of the specimens she spots on birdwatching walks. Pictured is a black and white warbler.,
