We took this near DeKorte Park's World Trade Center Memorial Cove on Monday.
The butterfly is a Silver-spotted Skipper.
The bush is a Virginia Sweetspire.
We are hoping to post butterfly sightings frequently this summer. Let us know what you are seeing in the Meadowlands — when and where — and send us your digital images if you can!
We have not seen the Black-necked Stilt in Harrier Meadow since last Friday, and are thinking that either:
A: He moved on to browner mudflats.
B: He is still in the vicinity, and we just haven't seen him. He could be frequenting one of the DeKorte mudflats, for all we know.
We will keep looking. If we see him agian, we will have a free guided walk in Harrier Meadow on Saturday. Check the blog again on Friday… Thanks.
Note: Harrier Meadow is off-limits to the public. If you call us, we'll try to help you take a look for the Stilt, but please do not trespass.
Can you identify this bird?
Click here for more Tuesday Teasers.
Click "Continue reading" for the answer.
We saw our first DeKorte Daylily this afternoon.
More on Daylilies here.
We have seen (and photographed) so many nifty rare birds in the Meadowlands since we started this blog last July that we thought they deserved their own category.
Click here and scroll down to see some of the posts we've had on the Black-necked Stilt, Peregrine Falcons, the Glossy Ibis, Snowy Owls, Long-eared Owls, Rough-legged Hawks, White Ibis and Tricolored Heron.
If you look at the column on the right side of this blog, you'll see a vertical listing called "Categories."
You can click "Tuesday Teaser," for example, and see all the Tuesday Teasers we have done since we started doing them last September. "Reptiles and Amphibians" directs to turtles galore. And "Flora" gets you — you guessed it — plants and flowers.
We are officially envious of photographer Ron Shields, who took these hard-to-get photos of the Black Skimmer earlier this week (either Monday or Tuesday) during the evening from the Nature Trail just beyond the first gazebo at DeKorte Park.
Ron writes: "Two skimmers caught me by surprise and flew by me before I could react with my camera. Isn't that usually the case? Luckily, one bird made a return visit a few minutes later and I captured these images as it flew by me from left to right.
"I used a Canon 5D with a 400mm f5.6 lens handheld. Lighting was tough given the time of day and overcast sky."
Click "Continue reading…" to see more of Ron's Black Skimmer shots.
A colleague phoned us to say that a turtle was crossing Disposal Road by the Amvets Carillon in North Arlington. She was afraid it would get hit by a car.
We found this guy about a third of the way across Disposal. We moved him out of harm's way, closer to the nearest tidal impoundment, but not before taking a few photos for posterity.
These guys are usually seen sliding into the water, 50 feet away.
Click "Continue reading…" to see more photos.
We had a great bird walk this mornin
g, and saw the Black-Necked Stilt in three tidal impoundments — after a bit of hunting.
The little guy really gets around.
We saw him again late this afternoon, and we are set for
an early morning walk on Thursday, meeting at Harrier at 7.
We are also seeing Blue-wing Teal, Harrier, Gadwall, Ruddy, Black-Crowned Night Heron, Greater Yellowlegs and other good birds at Harrier.
E-mail us if you are interested in this walk, and we'll send you directions.
Cedar Waxwings are among our favorite birds. Birding photographer Dave Rotondi took this shot recently at DeKorte.
More on Cedar Waxwings here.
For incredible aerial photography on a shoestring, it's tough to top the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute,
This shot and the ones on the "jump" of this post were taken from a digital camera attached to a tethered helium-filled balloon.
To see a video of how MERI achieves these amazing shots, click here.
More posts on MERI are here. MERI's home page is here.
Click "Continue reading…" to view another photo of the NJMC campus at DeKorte, as well as the Saw Mill Creek WMA tidal mudflat.