One of those confusing (but beautiful) little skippers we are seeing these days in the Meadowlands is the Zabulon Skipper.

More on Zabs here.

To see what we might see in the Meadowlands in August, we thought we’d look back to August 2012.

Here are some highlights (click text for link to the post):

Aug. 2: Molting Cicada at Moth Night

Aug. 9: More about that Banded Peregrine

Aug. 10: Clear-winged Moth

Aug. 15: How Now Brown Dow?

Aug. 16: Tricolored Fishing (above, photo by Herb Houghton)

Aug. 20: Amazing Least Bittern Shots

Aug. 28: Meadowlands Sunset Shots

Aug. 30: Dragonfly Report (Photo by Stephen Buckingham, right)

Don Torino’s latest column for wildnewjersey.tv is all about Mill Creek Point Park in Secaucus.

Here’s a sample.

Just as Mill Creek Point Park, located in Secaucus, is the meeting place of the Hackensack River and the Mill Creek, it is also a wonderful get-together location for Bald Eagles, Black Skimmers, Yellow-Crowned Night Herons, and Peregrine Falcons.

The great riverfront promenade encircled by hundreds of acres of restored wetlands and the adjacent   1,500-foot elevated board walk running from the Mill Creek Point Park to the Secaucus High School makes the birding the restored marshlands to one side and the Hackensack River on the other offer a unique birding experience.

Michael Newhouse, Natural Resources Field Specialist for the NJ Meadowlands Commission, told me: “One of my favorite things about Mill Creek Point Park is the rare high marsh habitat along the high school walkway. High marsh habitat is being lost all along the east coast and its value is indescribable. The walkway allows people to get higher than the marsh and view this beautiful habitat.”

Link is here.

Get out your binoculars — and send us your Meadowlands Big Year totals as of July 31!

The goal is to see as many different bird species as possible in the 14 towns of the Meadowlands District over the course of 2013 — and also to have fun birding.

To ensure a level playing field, all birds must be seen in areas open to the public, or on guided walks or banding events in such places as Harrier Meadow or the back of the Kingsland Landfill.

The idea is to promote birding in the Meadowlands, and to give area birders a competition that does not require as much travel (and gasoline consumption) as, say, a New Jersey Big Year.

To make this as fair as possible, we  have two divisions: Meadowlands residents and non-Meadowlands residents.

More details follow. Continue reading →