We are expecting a solid turnout for Sunday's Butterfly Walk at DeKorte Park at 1 p.m., so please register ahead of time (by day's end Friday).
Click here for details and how to register.
The butterfly above, by the way, is a Delaware Skipper, photographed at the AMVETS Carillon in DeKorte Park.
Hard to believe, but today is the Meadowlands Nature Blog's first anniversary, and it's our opportunity to thank you for your interest in all the neat birds and bugs and critters and plants that make their home here.
Thanks to you, in the past 12 months, this blog has had more than 63,000 hits. We are averaging 175 hits a day. (When the blog started, we had 140 hits total over the first five days.)
We were going to compile a whole bunch of links to earlier posts over the past year that would bring your attention to some of greatest hits, but we thought we'd keep it simple.
Just click here to see previous posts on Snowy Owls, Black-necked Stilts, Tri-colored Herons, butterflies, dragonflies, flora and other wonders. That's what you've been missing if you haven't been to the Meadowlands or haven't followed the Meadowlands Blog.
For nostalgia's sake, here's the first post we did when the blog was officially launched.
We have been in contact with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey regarding the successful Osprey nest in Kearny not far from Laurel Hill County Park, and the nest is now official — with its own number and everything.
Next thing you know, the Osprey family (two adults, two kids) will be paying taxes. :- )
Click here for a link to the New Jersey Osprey Project's blog and its banding of two young Osprey in Jersey City.
In honor of Sunday's upcoming butterfly walk, we thought we'd go with a different kind of Tuesday Teaser. This was taken yesterday at the Butterfly Garden at DeKorte Park.
What kind of butterfly is this?
Click here for more Tuesday Teasers.
Click "Continue reading …" for the answer.
Monday morning at the butterfly gardens at DeKorte Park and the AMVETS Carillon, we had seven species of butterflies.
The butterflies included Eastern Swallowtail, Eastern Black Swallowtail, Monarch, Sulphur, Cabbage White, a Broadwing Skipper (left) and a guy that will be tomorrow's Tuesday Teaser.
Click here for more posts on Butterflies and Moths.
Don’t forget the free Butterfly Walk at DeKortePark in Lyndhurst on Sunday at 1 p.m. – co-sponsored by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.
Get started learning how to identify the Butterflies of the Meadowlands and the plants that attract them. Optics for butterflies and how to start your own backyard butterfly garden will be discussed briefly, followed by a walk. Let’s hope the butterflies cooperate! (P.S. We shot the photo at left at lunchtime at DeKorte Park today.)
To help us with a head count, please rsvp to Jim Wright at jim.wright@njmeadowlands.gov or the BCAS’ Don Torino, greatauk4@aol.com, if you have not done so already…
Click here for directions to DeKorte Park: http://www.njmeadowlands.gov/about/directions/To%20DeKorte%20Park.pdf
Other upcoming NJMC/BCAS partnership events include 90-minute nature walks in DeKorte Park at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21, and in Harrier Meadow, in North Arlington, on Sunday, Aug. 2, and Tuesday Aug. 18, both at 1 p.m.
Every once in a while you run across a strange encounter — like this battle between a Double-crested Cormorant and an eel at Mill Creek Point on the hackensack River last week.
At first, it looked like the cormorant had things under control. Then the eel wrapped itself around the cormorant's neck.
Click "Continue reading…" below the picture to see the entire sequence.
We saw this young Peregrine earlier this week on the eastbound Route 3 Bridge, looking spiffy. His natal nest was on the westbound Route 3, so the little big guy is starting to get around.
A colleague of ours –- a novice birder, at best — swears she saw a yellow parakeet at DeKorte Park
She says, "It is definitely not a goldfinch, but what do I know? It did have that kind of parakeet beak, a long tail & was bright yellow. Would this be a first?"
If you are that photographer, or know of him (in his late 30s, early 40s, mid-height and thin, and wearing a red baseball cap), we sure would like to see a photo, just to confirm that our colleague isn't (completely) crazy and that she really did see an escaped parakeet.
We found this little guy in a handicapped parking space in front of the NJMC administration building in DeKorte Park earlier this week.
We moved it to the building's grounds several feet away, out of harm's way, and then let it be.
When we checked an hour later, it was gone.
We are thinking that this is a baby Cedar Waxwing, given the yellow on the tail feathers.
If anyone has another idea, please let us know.
Cedar Waxwings have been zipping around DeKorte for a while, and we photographed several adults about an hour earlier.
Click "Continue reading" for a shot of an adult Cedar Waxwing taken earlier this week.