Mark is a naturalist who has been sharing his enthusiasm for nature with others professionally for nearly 40 years. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Maryland’s College of Agriculture Work experience includes 6 years as a Ranger/Naturalist with the National Park Service, 17 years with the Audubon Naturalist Society (based in the Washington, DC area), and 4 years with New Jersey Audubon Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory.
He has also led tours for Smithsonian Journeys, Massachusetts Audubon Society, Riveredge Nature Center, and Betchart Expeditions. He teaches week-long birding classes in Cape May for the Road Scholar program by Elderhostel each spring and fall, and he also teaches at the Hog Island Audubon Camp in Maine. He continues to lead many field trips and workshops for both Audubon Naturalist Society and the New Jersey Audubon Society. From 2006 to 2016 he planned and operated the Nature Travel Program for the Audubon Naturalist Society.
He is the author of the book Watching Nature: A Mid-Atlantic Natural History, published by the Smithsonian Press in 1997, and of the chapter Canal Walk in the Anthology City Birding, published by Stackpole Books in 2003. He founded the Cape Charles, Virginia, Monarch butterfly research project in 1995, and in 2015 he became the Director of the Monarch Monitoring Project in Cape May, New Jersey. He has co-authored 3 scientific papers on the Cape Charles monarch migration project.
Since early 2015 he has authored the “Birders Question Mark,” Q&A Column for Bird Watchers’ Digest. For over 15 years he appeared regularly on the weekly radio program Metro Connection on Washington’s public radio station WAMU. He has written regular columns for the Cape May Star and Wave, for birdcapemay.org, and for the Audubon Naturalist News; one of the latter pieces was awarded the Excellence in Mass Media Award by the American Association of University Women in 1995. He is a frequent speaker at various events, ranging from nature and birding festivals to bird club monthly meetings.
Mark currently runs his own small business Garland Cunningham LLC, which plans and conducts the programs and private tours he leads and tours led by other naturalists.
To learn more about Mark, go to mgnature.com
