This is Bird Note.

At 5.30 a.m., Jerry Barrier and his fellow members of Team NutHatch arrived at New Jersey's

Cape May for the 2022 World Series of Birding.

He heard a strange noise.

It was almost like a car's seatbelt warning.

You know, the ding, ding, ding, it was a fog horn that was going incessantly.

Jerry is blind and birds by ear.

The fog horn would affect his ability to hear calls and songs, and the fog would impact

visuals for his teammates who were not blind or low vision.

Team NutHatch was convened by Birdability, a group that promotes accessibility in birding

and consisted of people with different disabilities.

Despite the overcast weather and the fog horn, Team NutHatch persevered.

In fact, they won the Cape Island Cup.

The award for finding the most species south of the canal that separates Cape May from

the mainland.

The team identified 70 species in total.

The new ones that I learned were the laughing gole and the at least two or three species

of turns.

In addition to having to agree on which birds they were ideing, the team also had to work

together to find wheelchair accessible locations and quiet space for those with sensory concerns.

All of us had to have a bit of patience because we had never met in person before.

But the group bonded quickly, like when Jerry volunteered to teach a teammate how to guide

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