Join the Nature Center of Cape May for its annual Spring Weekend Open House, Friday, May 16 through Sunday, May 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Explore the nature center’s environmental education campus, complete with a three-story observation tower, themed gardens, and a science lab.
The open house will feature an exhibit of over forty shorebird carvings in the Trucksess Welcome Center. The beautiful, lifelike carvings include species such as Ruddy Turnstone, Black-Bellied Plover, Red Knot, dowitchers, Whimbrel, American Oystercatcher, and Dunlin.
The carvings are the private collection of New Jersey Audubon Society Senior Naturalist Linda Dill, who works at the nature center and has been collecting bird carvings for years. The carvers represented in the exhibit include Harry V. Shourds, II, David Rhodes, Anthony Hillman, and Jamie Hand — some of south Jersey’s most famous carvers and wildlife artists. The exhibit includes biographical information on the artists and the rich historical heritage of carving in south Jersey. Some of the collectible shorebird carvings are for sale.
Saturday Open House highlights include Netting an Avian’s Cuisine at 1:30 p.m. Participants will assist a Nature Center naturalist in collecting marine life with the use of a thirty-foot seine net to examine what the harbor’s hungry migratory birds are eating. At 2 p.m., the Horseshoe Crab Lab will provide an up-close look at live horseshoe crabs and their eggs in the nature center’s science lab. Participants will learn why the ancient arthropod is so critical to threatened shorebirds migrating through Cape May. The fee for the two programs is $8 adults and $5 children three to twelve years for New Jersey Audubon Society members, $10 adults and $7 children three to twelve years for nonmembers, and free for children under three years.
Plants ordered through the annual native plant sale fundraiser may also be picked up throughout the weekend. These high quality plants have been selected for their drought-tolerant and wildlife-friendly benefits. There will be many extra plants available for purchase if you missed the ordering deadline.
The Nature Center of Cape May is located at 1600 Delaware Avenue, in Cape May. Call us at 609.898.8848 for complete Open House details.
