McALLEN — This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Cape May Bird Observatory and the Cape May Hawk Watch in New Jersey. Erik Bruhnke, the 2016 Hawk Counter, will be presenting at Quinta Mazatlan, Thursday, Nov. 3, at 6 p.m. to talk about what makes this place so special for birders and monarch enthusiasts.
The Cape May Bird Observatory hosts four migration counts each fall season: the Hawkwatch located in Cape May State Park, the Avalon Seawatch which gets around 800,000 birds each season, the Morning Flight Songbird Count where the birds are tallied as they fly north during a southbound migration, and the Monarch Monitoring Project which is in its 27th year.
Bruhnke has had a love for birds since he was a child. He graduated from Northland College in Wisconsin with a Natural Resources degree in 2008 and taught field ornithology while he was there. During his first six fall seasons following college, Bruhnke worked as an interpreter at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, Minnesota, and was a board member of the Duluth Audubon Society.
Last fall he counted migrating raptors at the Corpus Christi Hawk Watch in Texas, and he is currently counting raptors at the Cape May HawkWatch.
His avian field experiences have taken him throughout Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, North and South Dakota, Maine, Texas, and western Canada. His wildlife photography has won national awards, and his writings have been featured in Birder’s Guide via the American Birding Association, BirdWatching, and Birdwatcher’s Digest.
He travels the country leading field trips for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours and his own company, Naturally Avian Birding Tours.
The Nature Speaker Series takes place on Thursday evenings through May 2017 and is proudly sponsored by Thurmond Eye Associates. The program fee is $3 per person and no advance reservation is required. Quinta Mazatlan is located 600 Sunset in McAllen, one block south of La Plaza Mall on 10th Street. For more information contact Quinta Mazatlan at (956) 681-3370 or visit www.quintamazatlan.com.
