Opening Notes

This warbler's weekly musings and feathered observations

The other day I was perched on the front porch watching my fellow songbirds enjoy their snacks from the birdfeeder and the squirrels hoover up the peanuts I leave on the ground beneath it (as a distraction, I have circus squirrels who can reach the feeder dangling by their toesies), and I wondered: why is it ok for us to feed birds and squirrels, but not trash pandas and bears? 🧐 These are the kinds of things that keep this warbler up at night, so I did a little research.

In New Jersey, you definitely shouldn't feed black bears. Interestingly, there's a bill in the works amending this law to include lots of things we do that unintentionally feeds bears which could impact the way we feed our feathered friends: hanging birdfeeders lower than 10 feet above the ground; cleaning up husks and scattered seeds from the ground beneath our birdfeeders on a daily basis; bringing birdfeeders indoors every night; removing a birdfeeder if a bear should gain access to it. That would be a lot of work to enjoy the company of songbirds!

In Woodbury, Woodbury Heights, Westville, and West Deptford, we're not allowed to feed wildlife in the parks or on land owned by the City, unless the wildlife is in a zoo or educational setting. [Petition to build a zoo in Woodbury!]

Sometimes it seems like laws about feeding wildlife are centered on creatures we've decided are nuisances or pests. Many municipalities have laws about feeding deer because they destroy our landscaping and our cars when we run into them on the road. But, when you have situations like baby raccoons with cans stuck on their heads being rescued by Gloucester County Animal Control, it's clear those laws are intended to protect our critter friends from us, not the other way around.

So, at least until the bears make their way over to my little nest, I'll keep popping my overripe strawberries into the bird feeder because the blue jays seem to like them! Hopefully the groundhog and skunk who live under my porch don't learn how to climb - that would really ruffle my feathers!

Lots happening around our towns this week, let's get into it!

This Week's Migration Pattern

Where the local flock is gathering

🎪 Cumberland County Fair -- July 8-July 12

Wednesday, July 9

🎨 Stamps and Stencils with Mr. Aaron

NOTE: LOCATION CHANGE DUE TO HEAT!

📍 Evergreen Avenue School All Purpose Room (please use back entrance by the playground off of N. Bayard Avenue

🕒️ 10 a.m.-12 noon

💵 Free!

⚓️ Pirate Vance - a family sing- and dance-along brought to you by Gloucester County Parks & Recreation

📍 Deptford Memorial Park, 12 Sycamore Lane, Deptford

🕒️ 10:30 a.m.

💵 Free!

🎰 Senior Bingo

For Deptford residents ages 55 and up, ID required to win.

📍 Deptford Community Center, 1219 Delsea Drive

🕒️ Every 2nd Wednesday. Doors open 11:30 a.m., games 12 noon-2:30 p.m.

💵 Pay-as-you-go, light refreshments provided

Thursday, July 10

🎰 BINGO!

📍 VFW Post 679, 275 Wilmer Street, Glassboro

🕒️ Every Thursday, doors open at 7:30 a.m., book sales begin 9 a.m., games start at 10 a.m.

💵 Games, bagels, donuts, pretzels, and beverages pay-as-you-go.

🎸 West Deptford StreetFEST Market & Music Series

It's 80s night! Feat. food trucks from Carolina Blue, Paynter's Platters, and Mister Softee.

📍 Riverwinds, 1000 Riverwinds Drive, West Deptford

🕒️ Market at 5 p.m., food trucks at 6 p.m., music at 7 p.m.

💵 Music is free, market and food trucks pay-as-you-go

👩‍🎓 SAT Prep Class with YES Tutoring

📍 Online

🕒️ 7-9 p.m.

💵 Free! Register at www.yestutoring.com/free-classes

Friday, July 11

🎰 BINGO!

📍 VFW Post 2174, 640 Tacoma Blvd., Westville Grove

🕒️ Every Friday at 12 noon

💵 Games, light beverages, and food pay-as-you-go

🎸 Free summer concert series at Lot 323! GRAND FINALE 😢

Are you ready to rock the nest for Lot 323’s season finale?!?! This week we’ve got Dumb Angel, Dylan Zangwill, and Refrigerator along with everyone's favorite DJ Sharp! John Morris and Rebecca Raush will be painting live during the show. Enjoy some brews from Eight & Sand, Axe & Arrow, and Farmers & Bankers along with Not Your Mama's Tacos, Red's Rolling Restaurant, and Gu's Noodle House (!!!!) and of course, cookies from Crave!

📍 Lot 323, 115 S. Broad Street, Woodbury

🕒️ 6-9:30 p.m.

💵 Free, food trucks and local brews available pay-as-you-go

Saturday, July 12

🌽 Woodbury Farmer’s Market

Live music + farm fresh fruit and veg + catching up with all my favorite peeps, I am SO there! Travel has kept me out of town the first two weekends so I'm prepared to do some damage this week! Whose stands should I definitely visit? Pop over to the FB post for a chance to win a $25 gift card to El Manantial!

📍 Railroad Avenue, Woodbury

🕒️ 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

💵 Pay-as-you-go

🦋 Butterfly Festival

Bring your wings and join the bug parade (yes this is a real thing!). Kids’ crafts, games, art show, food vendors, live music, and a bug show! For more info call 856-224-8045 or email mcummings@co.gloucester.nj.us

📍 Red Bank Battlefield, 100 Hessian Avenue, National Park

🕒️ 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

💵 Free!

📖 Calliopod Open Mic & Podcast Recording

Poet signups will be IN PERSON (and first come, first serve!), so they recommend arriving 45 minutes prior to showtime.

📍 Words Matter Bookstore, 52 S. Broadway, Pitman

🕒️ 5-8 p.m.

💵 Free! More details here.

Sunday, July 13

🎸 Acoustic Sundays

Brought to you by FAF Coalition in partnership with Best Buds and Off the Record. Enjoy coffee, pastries, live music, and local art for sale (including mine! I have a couple of Hugamonsters left and also...lots of weirdo art!).

📍 Gather, 115 South Broad Street, Woodbury

🕒️ 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

💵 Free, food and art pay-as-you-go

🎰 BINGO!

This game benefits Holy Angels Catholic School and the students who receive financial aid.

📍 Holy Angels Parish Center, 96 Green Avenue, Woodbury

🕒️ Every Sunday, doors at 12 noon, games begin at 2 p.m.

💵 Games and concession stand pay-as-you-go, free parking!

Monday, July 14

🚗 Mondays in Mantua

Meet up with the car enthusiast flock and enjoy some pizza from Sal’s and some ice cream from Dippy’s!

📍 Old K-Mart Parking lot across from Dippy’s, 245 Bridgeton Pike, Mantua

🕒 Every Monday from around 4 p.m. to around 7:30 p.m.

💵 Free (food and beverages from the various shops are pay-as-you-go), all makes and models welcome, and as the flyer says “No BS!” (no doing donuts in the parking lot, racing, etc.)

Tuesday, July 15

Busy birds need a rest sometimes!

Wednesday, July 16

📖 Booze-Free Book Club feat. The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jenson

📍 Words Matter Bookstore, 52 S. Broadway, Pitman

🕒️ 9-10 a.m.

💵 Free!

⚓️ Hillbilly Harry's Hilarious Hoedown - a family sing- and dance-along brought to you by Gloucester County Parks & Recreation

📍 Chestnut Branch Park, 401 Main Street, Mantua

🕒️ 10:30 a.m.

💵 Free!

Flock Stewardship

Keeping our nest tidy and our community thriving

📝 Woodbury Heights Borough Mayor and Council Meeting

📍 500 Elm Avenue, Woodbury Heights

🕒️ Wednesday, June 18, 7:30-9:30 p.m.

📒 [Agenda not yet posted, this is where it should be]

🎓️ GCIT's School Based Youth Services, in partnership with CIACC invites students to join them for their Back-to-School event on August 5. The first 100 registered students will receive a free backpack stocked with school supplies! Community resources and light refreshments will be provided. Register for this event by scanning the QR code below:

🎓️ VFW Post 2174 in Westville is holding a Christmas in July School Drive to support Pine Acres ECC and Oak Valley School. They're looking for donations of band-aids, crayons, Expo erasers/markers, glue sticks, play-do, sharpies, sidewalk chalk, etc. You can drop donations off at 640 Tacoma Boulevard through July 25.

Crowing about our kids!

Supporting and celebrating our community's future leaders

🌭 That Kid the Hot Dog Kid is in the news! Tune in to PHL17 LIVE at 8:45 a.m. today (7/9) to hear what Jamison has to say about opening a business at age 11 and navigating life with dyslexia. If you can, DVR it -- his super proud mama bear would love a copy!

👶 Are you looking for a babysitter or petsitter? Kayleigh's got you covered!

⛪️ Vacation Bible School at First Presbyterian Church of Woodbury Heights is coming soon! VBS runs from August 4-8. Dinner at 6:00 p.m. and the program runs from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Sign up by scanning the QR code below:

Good Eggs and New Neighbors

Highlighting the wonderful humans who make our community soar

🍃 Angelic Health Wind Phone Dedication

Last week was the two year anniversary of my dad's death and I miss him every day. I always wish I could just pick up the phone and entertain him with whatever nonsense I'm getting up to (or have gotten myself into lol). Angelic Health was a great support for us while dad was in hospice, and when I saw that they've built a wind phone, well. If you're missing someone, now you can stop by and give them a ring on the wind phone.

📍 Cornerstone Church, 1875 Janvier Road, Franklinville

🕒️ Wednesday, July 16, 10:30 a.m.

💵 Free, refreshments provided

Got some good news? New in town? Just want to say hi to all your neighbors? Send a carrier pigeon to editor@woodburywarbler.com.

Our Animal Friends

Because every creature deserves a loving nest

😺 Wanda may have the longest tail I've ever seen! This four-month-old Maine Coon mix is looking to be adopted with her littermate Tilo.

🐶 Some of the stories I read when pecking around for animal friends to share with you break my heart. Sunnyis one of them. Sunny was surrendered because her owner had too many dogs and was having trouble feeding them. Before that, Sunny spent 18+ hours a day outside, so she's still adjusting to indoor life. 10/10 boopable snoot!

Both of these sweethearts are waiting for their forever families at the Gloucester County Animal Shelter - don’t let them fly away to someone else!

❓ Got a furry, scaly, floofy, or feathery friend you’d like to show off? Send us your photos! We love celebrating all of our community critters!

Bulletin Bird

Community announcements that'll make you chirp

🏊‍♀️ SOUPY ISLAND IS OFFICIALLY OPEN!

Soupy Island still welcomes fledglings under the age of 12 for swimming (there's a kiddie pool!), picnicking, and carousel rides from July 8 to August 14. You can also make reservations for picnics Saturdays! More info here.

📍 1718 Front Street, West Deptford

🕒️ Children 8 and under, Tuesdays 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.

🕒️ Children 12 and under, Wednesdays and Thursdays 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

💵 Free!

⚾️ Tickets are on sale now for Baseball Pinball! Entry fee is $15, and the event will be held Saturday, August 16 in Woodbury Heights. More info below:

🍺 Register now for the Beer Olympics! Woodbury Heart & Soul, in partnership with Eight & Sand Brewery, are hosting fun, games, and live music to benefit the Woodbury Community Endowment Fund. Beer pong entry fee is $10, corn hole (team of two) registration is $25. The fun happens on July 26 from 1-4 p.m., and you can purchase tickets on Venmo @FAFCOALITION

🏆️ Do you have a prize winning jam recipe? Maybe you know how to toss a tire or skillet? Or maybe you just make an amazing bird house? The 2025 Gloucester County 4-H Fair has many competitions for you to enter! Next week I'm gonna do a deep dive but in the meantime -- since this link is hard to find -- here's the event schedule.

Zillow Snoop and Swoop

Dream nests near and far

Snoop:

My feathers are ruffled and I'm over here fanning myself because one of my favorite houses in Woodbury is on the market! I'm not sure what it is about Tudors that makes this warbler's heart sing, but they just look cozy from the outside, an inviting place to return to your nest after you've been out having adventures like enjoying a concert at Lot 323, skiing the Alps, hiking the Appalachian Trail or something. Exposed beams, painted brick walls, tons of windows, a porch swing so you can enjoy watching your fellow birds, a large and airy kitchen to make a delicious frittata with the veggies you picked up at the farmer's market, and an overhead fan on the porch to keep the mosquitoes at bay...what an amazing house for your flock to gather!

Swoop:

If you think real estate prices are out of hand down here (they are!), have a peep at this house in Ho Ho Kus. For about a million dollars you can have a three bedroom split level with a kitchen you'll be forever elbowing your family out of the way while trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner. But check out the slate floor in the garage - that's some fancy flooring! Even this warbler has to admit that's a pretty impressive roost for a million bucks... if you can afford to fly that high!

One last warble...

Final chirps before I fly away until next week

If you're a business or event organizer who uses flyers to advertise your whatever, here are some best practices to make sure people show up and don't fly away confused:

1. Include ALL information (date, location, time, price) on the flyer as well as in your social media/website post. People save event flyers in their camera roll and it's not always easy (or even possible!) to locate the original post the flyer was attached to. I've had to leave things out of the newsletter because I couldn't track down details, which really ruffles my feathers.
2. If you're using a QR code for registration, also include a short link that is easy to type into a browser. Many people access information exclusively on their phones. Requiring them to scan a QR code creates a needless point of friction when they don't have a second phone or a computer screen available. Plus, QR codes don't always work!
3. Publish your fliers electronically in JPEG or PNG format. PDFs are a known vector for malware and not everyone has the tech to open PDFs in an easily viewable/accessible way. Redundant text + image is helpful!
4. Have a website and keep it updated. It's easier to find accurate information on the internet than it is on social media. Have you pecked around to find/look at a FB event on your phone lately? And forget about Instagram, that search is absolutely cooked.
5. Tell me about it so I can include it in the newsletter where it will get delivered to hundreds (!!!) of people each week who open their emails and are definitely interested in hearing about what you've got going on and sooooooooon will also be included on our community calendar!

I'm on a mission to keep you in the loop with what's happening in our little corner of the world. Every time I flutter around our community I'm delighted to see all the amazing nonprofits, government organizations putting our tax dollars to work, schools, volunteers, families, and kids out there doing awesome things that make the W Towns of Gloucester County such an amazing place to nest. Thank you, and lucky us!

Until next time!

Singing the songs of our shared communities,

Jen Russell, your neighbor and Editor-in-Chief, The Woodbury Warbler​

PS – Thank you again for being an early bird to The Woodbury Warbler. This is a pre-launch birdseed-sized newsletter while I’m organizing information and building the nest. Anything you’d like to see more of? Hate the format? Too many bird puns? Don’t want to hear about my groundhog skunk new metal band The Milkshake Nightmare? Your feedback is helpful and I love hearing from you! Send a carrier pigeon to editor@woodburywarbler.com with any suggestions, complaints, tips, celebrations or even just to say hi!

​Thumbnail image: Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute nzp_NZP-20180904_001ABNZP Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology InstituteCC0

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