Annual Appeal

‘Twas the birds that finally taught me patience and humility. Standing in a cloud of mosquitoes in the forest, binoculars a-fog, neck sore from scanning the canopy, I waited... and waited… and then – a flash of orange and black, a burbled ballad, a Baltimore oriole! All the waiting, suddenly worth it. Later, I stood in line at the grocery store with a bottle of well-earned wine. The clerk started to ask for my ID, but then he saw my binoculars and waved me through, uncontested. Middle age has its distinctive plumage too!

Here at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm, we know from long experience that studying any form of nature is about patience and humility. Teasing out relationships between time, temperature, habitats, and species is a tricky business, but discovery is always rewarding. With the support of friends and members like you, this place abides as a laboratory for coastal science, and a respite for migrating birds (and visitors, volunteers, and staff).

Your donations make this steady abiding possible: research, education, and conservation, carried on season after season. Some of this work only pays off after decades. But it does bring surprising delights: an invading species uncovered, a camper’s first glimpse of a dragonfly, even a patch of farmland saved forever. You’ll discover delights like these in the newest Watermark newsletter and many more at wellsreserve.org.

Please consider a summer gift this month to keep the Wells Reserve going and growing this sunny, delight-filled season. In a world that rarely rewards patience, you help sustain a place that does. Thank you, as always, for being a part of saving and sustaining this important place and its work.

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