Daily Archives: July 30, 2008

INSECTS: Dragonflies (Part 1)

Cherryfaced_meadwhawk   

   The Meadowlands are abuzz with dragonflies these days. Needham's Skimmers are among the zillion dragonflies and damselflies zipping around.

   We could never get one of these guys to sit still long enough to photograph it, but this male hovered enough for us get him in mid-air in DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst (above).

    A female Needham's Skimmer is below.

   The photos included here were taken in Carlstadt, Little Ferry and Lyndhurst and North Arlington.

   Click "continue reading …" below for more dragonfly shots.

Female_cherryfaced_meadowhawk_femal

Continue reading →

GROUNDHOGS: The video

   This blog was officially announced last week, but it began more than a month ago with this video of groundhogs. 
   We got the video by walking past a groundhog den that we knew was occupied, placed a small videocam on a tripod aimed at the opening, hit "RECORD," and walked away. 
    We came back 10 minutes later, reviewed the footage, and edited down to this short video.
    In case you missed it, here it is again, using a "green" on-line equivalent of YouTube.

WHAT”S THAT: DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst

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    As you enter the Marsh Discovery Trail at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, you’ll see a tree with large leaves and strange green pods. And you may well wonder what it is.
   "This is a Paulownia tomentosa: princesstree or Royal empress tree," says NJMC horticulturist Ian McDermott.  "This tree has purple sweet smelling flowers in late May and June. Sticky seed pods."