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At New Jersey Audubon, we care about the welfare of birds just as much as we appreciate their beauty, amazing life stories, and inquisitive behaviors that are both playful and territorial. Our festivals have always been designed for maximum fun on the pitch combined with plenty of educational opportunities. With two virtual festivals under our belt, Hybrid Spring Festival 2021 will be unlike any other. Its limited one-day in-person workshops are nearly sold out, but virtual sessions are available and we’ve added more LIVE coverage of Cape May hotspots. All content will be brand new, with closer looks at Warblers with Scott Whittle, Vireos with David Weber, and Shorebirds with Kevin T. Karlson and Glen Davis. New destinations include Garrett Mountain, a gem in northern New Jersey, and Heislerville, where viewers will get an intimate look at the LIVE shorebird banding process (if Mother Nature wills).
Cape May has so much to offer birdwatchers, from beginners to experts, that we generally stay close to home in our programming. Who better to share what it was like to be “stuck” in Cape May during the pandemic than Mark Garland, our Friday night keynote speaker? He is an award-winning naturalist, author, and world tour guide who lives in Cape May, like so many other birdwatchers around the country, including tour guides, artists, authors, and scientists.
We asked ourselves, if we were to venture further, where would we go? Midway Atoll is here! Saturday evening we will hear from Kelly Goodale, a US Fish and Wildlife Service avian biologist with personal experience interacting with Wisdom the Laysan Albatross, the oldest known wild bird in the world. Our Saturday programming also includes educational content on the importance of clean oceans, healthy forests, plastic bag reduction and pollinator gardens, all of which are essential to healthy bird populations. .
To top it off, we’ll feature “bird’s eye” views of several Cape May hotspots with professionally captured drone footage.
After each event, we conduct attendee surveys to gauge our success and gather feedback. Based on the most recent results, we have adjusted the 2021 Virtual Festival format to provide heavy programming from early morning to early afternoon and a break of several hours before the main evening presentations. We provide closed captioning for the hearing impaired, and the ENTIRE festival is recorded and available to registrants for later viewing or rehearsal!
About those numbers; we have to do it right. Our 2020 Virtual Fall Festival scored 91% Very Satisfied and 9% Satisfied from attendees, i.e. 0% Dissatisfied. 70% thought it was excellent value for money and 28% said it was good value for money. Of those who had NOT visited Cape May before, 70% listed it among their top five future birding destinations after attending the virtual festival – and so they will be better prepared to get the most out of their visit .
But wait, there’s more! We will have a raffle for a three-day weekend in Cape May, including compact binoculars, a guided walk and various gift certificates, as well as a separate silent auction. The t-shirts for this festival are quite attractive and can be purchased upon registration in a variety of styles.
Don’t wait any longer and register today! It’s only $100 for members and $125 for non-members, and proceeds support New Jersey Audubon’s ongoing bird conservation work in education, research, stewardship, and policy development. . Click here to register: https://cvent.me/n92WOY
