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Noticing Nature - Have to Have a Habitat

with Sue Slotterback

Registration REQUIRED for EACH SESSION.

All events are tentatively scheduled and may change. Please see the CMCL Events Calendar on our website, follow us on social media, and subscribe to our weekly eNewsletter for any and all updates.

Welcome to Noticing Nature! For the next ten weeks we’ll be exploring some natural history topics at various locations around Cape May County. Our excursions out of doors will offer authentic nature experiences.

Registration is REQUIRED for EACH SESSION - please select each date that you will be attending. 

Before attending, please email Sue at 2ndnature.connections@gmail.com to receive directions and other important info.

Each session will take place as follows:

• Week 1 - April 18th - Get Growing
  • Spring has sprung! It’s time to “get growing”! We’ll focus on the special needs of habitats for different species and notice the edges of one ecosystem to another. No experience necessary. We’ll have a nature journal refresher and make an easy journal to use over the next 10 weeks. Bring a cereal or cracker box.
  • Journal connections: observation, changes over time
  • Location: Cox Hall Creek WMA
• Week 2 - April 25th - “Earth Day Every Day”
  • You’ve heard that phrase before. Just what does it mean? It’s all about choices. Let’s do what we can to make a positive impact.
  • Journal connections: data collection
  • Location: Wildwood Crest Beach
• Week 3 - May 2nd - Migration: Habitats Along the Flyway
  • As the year cycles many species move back and forth from one location to another. Some travel just a few miles, others travel leagues over the course of several months. We’ll discuss migration “mechanics” and what makes habitat so important, as we get a glimpse of a few species along their journey.
  • Journal connections: mapping
  • Location: Cape May Point State Park
• Week 4 - May 9th - The Ways of a Watershed: Forested Wetlands
  • A watershed is the area of land that drains to a common outflow area. We’ll explore a forested wetlands and over the next couple weeks follow the watershed to the ocean.
  • Journal connections: metadata
  • Location: Tuckahoe WMA
• Week 5 - May 16th - River to Estuary
  • There are many changes that happen to the water as it flows from streams, tributaries, and rivers into a tidal estuary. We continue our watershed exploration to new ecosystems.
  • Journal connections: cross sections
  • Location: Beasley's Point Beach
• Week 6 - May 23th - Salt Marsh to Sea
  • The salt marsh provides many ecosystem services to both the land that surrounds it and the sea it flows into. Here is the end of our watershed journey where we will wrap up these past couple weeks to get an overall picture of ecosystems and wildlife habitats encountered along the way.
  • Journal connections: inventory of species
  • Location: Corson's Inlet
• [No session 5/30]
• Week 7 - June 6th - Horseshoe Crabs & Shorebirds
  • Southern New Jersey is the habitat for the largest population of horseshoe crabs in the world. The shorebirds that depend on horseshoe crab eggs are just one connection that gives the area a pole-to-pole significance. Learn about the horseshoe crab’s other connections to our bays, and us!, as we examine this incredible creature up close.
  • Journal connections: phenological timing
  • Location: Kimbles Beach
• Week 8 - June 13th - Dunes & Beaches
  • The dunes are more than just hills of sand. All along the changing profile of a barrier beach dunes are an important ecosystem to a variety of wildlife.
  • Journal connections: changing ecosystem over distance
  • Location: 48th Street, Avalon
• Week 9 - June 20th - Backyard Habitat
  • “If half of American lawns were replaced with native plants, we would create...a 20 million acre national park…” ~ Douglas Tallamy. We’ll stroll the gardens and discuss how to create habitats for wildlife to “bring nature home”.
  • Journal connections: planning plants and habitat features
  • Location: Hereford Inlet Gardens
• Week 10 - June 27th - Trail Wandering
  • The goal of hiking a trail is to get to a certain place by a certain time. Wandering is much different in that the goal is to get to know the trail. We’ll be taking it all in as we stroll along, stopping here and there to make real connections.
  • Journal connections: nature trail journaling
  • Location: Woodcock Trail, Cape May NWR

Here is a list of what to bring and wear for all sessions:

• Dress… for the weather! And be
  prepared for the unexpected!
  • Coat/jacket
  • Hat, gloves, scarf
  • Long, warm pants
  • Sturdy shoes and warm socks
• Other needs
• Water bottle
• Snack - to keep your energy up! :)
• Journal pack (we’ll discuss this during our first session)
• Keep a light, foldable chair in your car—we’ll be taking walks for sure, and in some places there may be seating, but not always. :)

At the end every session we will discuss preparation and location details for the following week. Directions will be posted via email, our private Facebook group page, and/or Google Drive folder.

The Noticing Nature series is FREE and open to the public.

For over forty years, Sue Slotterback has been a professional naturalist and outdoor education specialist for the Ocean Discovery Aquarium, the Philadelphia Zoo, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the NJ Marine Sciences Consortium, NJ Audubon's Nature Center of Cape May, and was the Environmental Educator for The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor. Recipient of the Alliance for NJ Environmental Education's "Outstanding Environmental Educator of the Year Award" in 2009, Sue has guided thousands of people, young and old, through her favorite haunts, turning them on to the wonders of their natural heritage.

Please review our Adult Events Attendance Policy.

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