Earlier this month Cablevision filmed introductions to its Neighborhood Journal program at the Meadowland Commission home base, DeKorte Park.
   The show spotlights human interest stories unrelated to the Commission, but as the hosts introduce each segment they show what we have to offer here at DeKorte Park – the trails, the programs, the observatory and more.
   If you want to check it out, Neighborhood Journal will air every day for the next 12 days at the following times and Cablevision channels:
   8 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
   Bergen County – Channel 78 or 118
   Passaic and Morris counties — Channel 78 or 118

 
   Sorry for yet another Black Skimmer post but… Former NJMC Naturalist Don Smith found a Black Skimmer (above) that was unable to fly today near Laurel Hill in Secaucus.
   Workers told him of an injured bird that "looked like a Toucan."
   When Don located the bird, it was flapping its wings but could not get airborne.
    The Meadowlands Commission took the bird to the Raptor Trust in the Great Swamp for medical attention. We will update you on its condition.
    Other rescues included a Double-crested Cormorant (click here), a Snowy Egret (click here), and a Red-tailed Hawk (click here). 

  Our next Marsh Discovery Trail walk is noon tomorrow (Thursday). We'll look for the Least Bittern, plus Ruddies, terns, Black-crowned Night Herons and Ruddy Ducks.
   Meet at the entrance to MDT near the guard post at the entrance to DeKorte. Park in the first lot on your right after you enter the park.
   The walk is co-sponsored by the Bergen County Audubon Society. It runs roughly an hour unless the birds are really interesting.

    The Meadowlands Environment Center's Sue Lewicki gave us a heads-up that a Black Skimmer was working DeKorte's Shorebird Pool late this morning. We got this shot at 12:15. Two terns also fishing at DeKorte as well. Pic of one is below.  (Thanks, Sue!)

  Chris Takacs reports seeing seven Black Skimmers yesterday evening at DeKorte Park as they were "flying around the near pool of the Marsh Discovery Trail." That's the part of the Shorebird Pool closest to the buildings.
  NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse says that we should be seeing Black Skimmers sporadically over the next month.

   (Thanks, Chris!)

 
    When a tree service in Ridgefield was removing  a decaying cherry tree to make room for some outdoor exercise equipment for the public, they inadvertently cut down a branch filled with honeybees.
  Although the typical reaction to such an event would be to reach for the pesticide even though the swarming bees did not attack any of the workers, Ridgefield Environmental Commission member Karen Riede reached for her phone instead and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
   Did we know of any beekeepers who might come to the rescue?
   The short answer was yes –James Coppola of the Essex County Beekeepers Society, who has several hives by the Keegan Landfill in Kearny.
   Jim rushed to Ridgefield and rounded up several hundred bees.  No humans got stung, and the honeybees will be merged with another hive at a time when honeybee numbers have been in sharp decline because of colony collapse.
   Here's a tip of the NJMC hat to Jim Coppola for rescuing the bees, and to Karen Riede for making a good call.
   (Thanks, too, to Bruce Riede, for having the foresight to take the photos accompanying this post.) 

   You see this purple plant in DeKorte Park's Lyndhurst Nature Reserve and elsewhere in the Meadowlands. What is it?

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     The Tuesday noon free guided walk on the Marsh Discovery Trail turned up a nice surprise — a Least Bittern (above) along the shoreline about 50 yards off the Transco Trail.
   If the bird is in the open, you may be able to see it from the boardwalk next to the Meadowlands Environment Center, or possibly the Transco Trail.
   On our walk today, we also got good looks at half a dozen Black-crowned Night Herons, a few Gadwall, and plenty of bright-blue-billed Ruddy Ducks.
   The Marsh Discovery Trail will be open for a free guided walk on Thursday at noon, and we will be sure to look for the bittern. These Tuesday and Thursday walks are co-sponsored by Bergen County Audubon.

   E-mail Jim Wright here to rsvp or for more information.

    Chris Takacs reports seeing this mystery bird at DeKorte Park at 2 p.m. today. It has a red band on its right leg, and we are thinking it is a released/escaped pet. 
    It was seen in the visitors' parking spaces by the admin building. Can anybody help ID it? Or claim it? It is still "on the loose."

   Our next guided walk is DeKorte's Marsh Discovery Trail at Tuesday (June 8) at noon, with the help of the Bergen County Audubon Society. We meet at the trail entrance near the entrance to the park.
   Last Thursday we had great looks at more than a half-dozen Black-crowned Night herons, an Eastern Kingbird, Ruddies and some other good birds.
   These walks — every Tuesday and Thursday — take roughly an hour, on a trail that has been closed to the public because of long-term storm damage. Contact Jim Wright here for more information.