Why archery?
Kids love archery, and archery helps kids excel.
Nearly everyone can succeed at archery regardless of gender, physical abilities, or disabilities. Archery is a physical activity in which boys and girls can participate together and puts athletes and non-athletes on a level playing field.
There are many benefits to archery programs, including:
- Increased physical activity
- Gets kids out-of-doors
- Far safer than many other sports
- Teaches respect, responsibility, mental and physical discipline, increases self-esteem
- Any student can participate
- Archery is a lifetime sport that can be carried well beyond the school years.
Archery at Great Swamp NWR
Children, ages 10 and older, are invited to learn the basics of archery through this National Archery in the Schools Program. The program consists of six classes, held every Tuesday and Thursday, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. from April 12 to April 28, 2016, at the Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center.
The class, with state certified instructors, will include safety training, target practice, scoring and competition.
Class size is limited to 8 per session. The program is free and all equipment is provided. No prior archery experience is necessary. Registration is required. Phone 973-425-9510.
The class is open to all children, ages 10 and older, and particularly home-schooled children. Additional programs are being planned for summer and off-school hours. Check the Friends website for future announcements.
Consider signing up for this exciting new program being offered at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. It’s fun, easy, and rewarding for all.
The days are noticeably longer now — one of the first signs of spring. The skunk cabbage, one of the earliest spring flowers, is in full bloom in wetland areas along the Bockoven Trail and the Wildlife Observation Center boardwalks. It won’t be long before the mating calls of frogs resound in the swamp.
Did you know that during their mating season frogs and toads produce easily recognizable calls? Recognizing their unique vocalizations is a great way to identify these amphibians, often invisible to the eye. The Friends Nature Shop sells a CD with New Jersey frog and toad calls to help you learn the individual species.
March Second Sunday Program
Would you like to learn more about frogs and toads? On Sunday, March 13, naturalist Dorothy Smullen will present a program on the frogs and toads of New Jersey. The indoor slide show will feature each individual species as well as covering their unique calls. Weather permitting, we’ll take a walk on the Bockoven Trail and listen for wood frogs or spring peepers in the vernal pool. This is also a great time for kids to get started on their Junior Refuge Manager badge.
Sunday, March 13, 1:30 – 3:00 pm
Helen C Fenske Visitor Center
32 Pleasant Plains Road, Harding Township, NJ
February 12 – February 14
Helen C Fenske Visitor Center
Join us for three days of birding fun and help collect data which is vital for bird research studies.
- Can’t tell a blue jay from a cardinal? Join us and you’ll learn how to identify at least a dozen different birds. Guaranteed!
- Help us count and compile a daily tally of all species seen at our bird feeders. It’s a challenge!
- Join us for one 15-minute count, or stay all day!
- Bird Walks: Join one of the daily one-hour guided bird walks
- Saturday and Sunday from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
- Just for kids
- Make a suet bird feeder to take home
- Enjoy bird crafts, bird puzzles and bird games
- Play bird bingo — with prizes!
- Get started on your Junior Refuge Manager badge by completing the bird activity page.
- For the experts — we need you too! Help with those tough-to-identify species, count and tally, assist with online reporting. Share your knowledge.
A joint project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, the Great Backyard Bird count is an annual event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds. The objective is to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are around the world. It’s a huge citizen science project. Last year 147,000 checklists were submitted and more than 5,000 species identified. This data, submitted by all of us, helps scientists understand the birds.
Whether you are a beginning bird watcher or an expert birder – you can participate. Everyone is welcome. It’s free, fun, and easy – and it helps the birds.
For lots more information and great resources visit the Great Backyard Bird Count web site at birdcount.org.
Great Backyard Bird Count at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
Helen C Fenske Visitor Center
Hours: Daily, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
1:30 – 3:00 p.m.
Helen C. Fenske Visitor Center
Elise Hughes Berheim is a graduate student from South Dakota State University. She has spent the past two autumn seasons at Great Swamp NWR conducting surveys on deer population and deer density on the Refuge. She has set up trail cameras at many locations around the Refuge and baited these sites with corn to attract the deer. The data and results will be used to assess and manage the Refuge deer population in the future.
Elise will be presenting her findings at a special program on January 3. She has captured many fun photos on her cameras — and not just deer. Join us for an informative and interesting talk on a topic of interest to us all.
Winners of the 2015 Great Swamp National Wildlife Photo Contest were announced at the 16th Annual Fall Festival, Saturday, September 12. Friends of Great Swamp board member Laurel Gould thanked all of the photographers who submitted photos for this year’s contest. Contest judges Bill Koch and Jim Gilbert remarked on the quality and diversity of the photos making judging a challenging task. Winners were presented with a gift certificate to the Friends Nature Shop and a current Federal Duck Stamp.
2015 Refuge Photo Contest Winners
Category: Birds
First place: Chuck Hantis
Second place: Jim Duffy
Honorable mention: Dorota Jansiewicz
Category: Landscape
First place: Larry West
Second place: Richard Harris
Honorable mention: Robert Stapperfenne
Category: Plants
First place: Maureen Duffy
Second place: Carol Duffy
Honorable mention: Margaret Whiting
Category: Wilderness
First place: Jim Duffy
Second place: Gay Raab
Honorable mention: Robert Stapperfenne
Category: Wildlife
First place: Carol Duffy
Second place: Maureen Duffy
Honorable mention: Gay Raab
Category: Youth
Best of Youth: Samantha Moy
Honorable mention: Madison Kenny
Honorable mention: Caitlin Moy
Honorable mention: Caroline Monks
Honorable mention: Justine Wang
You can view the winning photos on the Photo Contest Winners page and in the Visitor Center from September 26 until the end of December 2015. A DVD showing all of the 2015 entries will be showing continuously in the Visitor Center. Stop by during Visitor Center hours and be amazed at the beauty of Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.
Friends board member Larry West announced that the 2016 Refuge Photo Contest has begun and encouraged photographers to get out on the Refuge to capture the beauty of Fall landscapes. The 2016 Photo Contest Form will be made available in the near future.