I have been getting lots of positive feedback about our March meeting and speaker Renee Brecht. I don’t think any of us realized how many rare and endangered plants live exist here in Salem County. Renee has supplied us with links to great native plant sites as she promised.
Our walk with David Lord was a rousing success. I was skeptical that many people would get out of their warm beds to go on a cold walk at 7 am. Much to my surprise we had a really good turnout. We saw or heard 35 species of birds. I hope you will be able to join us the next time David leads a walk.
Our April meeting will take place on Tuesday 4/13. If you ever wondered what frog is making that sound, this meeting is for you. We will show images of the frogs and match the sounds with them. This time of year the evenings are alive with frog songs as they call for mates.
After that short program we will be showing a presentation that I am working on for school children. It is called “Litter Harms Wildlife”. I am trying to make children understand the link between the litter we create and its impact on the natural world. I started making this presentation when I noticed the mounds of trash dumped monthly at the “DOD”. The “DOD” is a wonderful place to bird and kayak but some people miss that and see it as a dumpsite. I realized that I couldn’t change the habits of the adults that did the dumping, but their children could. If we can get them to be the protectors of wildlife the parents will follow. After all, every parent wants to be a hero to their children.
Once again we need volunteers to do a clean-up at Holly Hills. We also need volunteers to plan a couple of nature workshops for children. We plan to have them assemble and paint a bird house and at a second workshop to make jewelry and a pencil holder from seashells and self-hardening clay. Let me know if you are interested in running or volunteering to help with either of these workshops.
Don’t forget to look at the Hummingbird map link on the left to follow the little fellows as they fly north. FINALLY-SPRING HAS SPRUNG!
Marilyn Patterson - President
Links from Renee Brecht from Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River.
The native plant website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nativeplantexchange/
The natural heritage website: http://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/natural/heritage/
