Regina Geoghan reports:

Saw this guy on the butterfly bush by the building entrance just as I was leaving on Tuesday.

I was only there a short time since there were no butterflies in sight other than an Eastern Tiger S.

This one was very chewed up but I took a few shots just for a record to note that he came to visit.   I think it is a Red-spotted Purple.  (Thanks, Regina! This could be a first, at least in recent years…)

Angelo Marra and the Batmobile

Joe D’Angeli is living up to his nickname. For the second August in a row, the Bergen County animal rehabilitator known as the “New Jersey Batman” is coming to DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst to raise funds and awareness for these imperiled and often misunderstood mammals.

D’Angeli’s three-day event is called “Batstock,” and D’Angeli is kicking it off on Friday (Aug. 23) from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Meadowlands Environment Center. The $8 admission fee includes up-close looks at bats, an appearance by a genuine George Barris-designed Batmobile [baove], bat movies, snacks and beverages.

Proceeds from the event go to bat conservation groups, bat rehabilitators, wildlife conservation and education groups, and centers focusing on bats and white-nose syndrome — a deadly fungus that has wiped out more than 80 percent of the small brown bat population in the Northeast. Continue reading →