Opportunities

Clean-Up of Great Bay Blvd. Wildlife Management Area

On April 13, 2019, thirteen members of the Southern Ocean Birding Group and other volunteers partnered with the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve and NJ Watershed Ambassadors for the fifth annual clean-up of accumulated trash in the Great Bay Boulevard Wildlife Management Area. The hardy volunteers braved warm but rainy conditions to fill 41 jumbo bags of trash and other debris from along the road. This annual event began in November 2015 after we realized that this WMA and the surrounding marsh, which is one of the top birding locations in Ocean County, had become too filthy to enjoy while birding. This clean-up project is part of our efforts to partner with other like-minded environmental organizations and to have the Southern Ocean Birding Group known throughout the state.  Join us for this annual event next spring.

 

Our other projects

We have an on-going relationship with Conserve Wildlife NJ with their Osprey Project and beach bird nesting project, the Atlantic Audubon Society, the Long Beach Island Foundation for Arts and Science, Friends of Barnegat Lighthouse, and with the Tuckerton Seaport. In addition to our work in Cape May, our members volunteer leading bird walks at local parks, we participate in grassland bird surveys with NJ Audubon, we have helped to put up an osprey platform in the salt marsh off of Great Bay Blvd in Tuckerton and helped install beach fencing on LBI, both for Conserve Wildlife NJ, and we participate in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count.

 

Local Events

Representatives of the Southern Ocean Birding Group appear throughout the year at local environmental functions such as the Pinelands Jamboree in Wells Mills Park (held in October) and the Ocean County Decoy Show in Tuckerton (held in September). Members are always needed to man the table, greet visitors, and inform them about club activities.

If you know of other volunteer events where the SOBG could be of assistance, please let us know at soceanbirds@yahoo.com