The New Jersey Audubon Society has launched its new virtual website BirdCapeMay.org (www.birdcapemay.org) bringing Cape May Bird Observatory to the world. The website contains a wealth of articles covering field identification, fieldcraft, book reviews and a photo quiz, as well as a column from renowned US birder, and director of the observatory, Pete Dunne. A birding weather forecast comes from Paul Lehman, covering weather systems and migration patterns across the US with updates using ‘real time’ simulated maps.
The photo gallery contains eight categories covering the four seasons, rarities and scenes from Cape May to provide visual insight into both the place and its birds. Bird news features strongly with daily sightings posted together with information about rarities and vagrants. A calendar lets you see what is possible in the months ahead, full of historical detail, and there is a full diary of programmes and events on offer year round.
The website aims to help every kind of visitor from a birder planning a trip from England who needs some essential tools, to one sipping tea in a café in San Francisco who doesn't even need to be here to enjoy Cape May year-round.
"There are few birding locations that are better known than Cape May, New Jersey, and its fame is not accidental” says Pete Dunne, CMBO Director. “Birders everywhere celebrate its migratory fallouts, species diversity and great migratory concentrations. This website is designed to bring the Cape May birding experience to you, right now, in a way that is as engaging, informative, and as friendly as birding Cape May in person."
