Thought we'd post some of the birds that NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse and his stalwart band of volunteers banded this spring.
   Who's this?
   Click below for the answer and more about this bird.

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  Nellie Tsipoura of the New Jersey Audubon Society writes:

    NJAS is currently recruiting volunteers for bird surveys coordinated through the Citizen Science Program. Participants must have some prior experience in shorebird identification and be willing to commit three days a month in August, September and October to conducting bird surveys.
   Shorebird survey volunteers are needed for the New Jersey Meadowlands and some coastal sites. Shorebird Associates are required to survey their site every 10 days (and at least 5 days apart) during southbound (fall) migration: Now to October 31st.
   For more information on this project, contact Nellie Tsipoura,  nellie.tsipoura@njaudubon.org.
   Training in identification and count methodology will be provided by NJ Audubon.
   The NJAS Citizen Science program is a collaborative effort of NJAS, the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife's Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) Data collected will further our knowledge of bird distribution and abundance in New Jersey.

 
   Today, July 17, is the 14th anniversary of the crash of TWA Flight 800. The Jill Ann Ziemkiewicz Butterfly Garden is named for the youngest member of the flight crew, a 23-year-old Rutherford.
   An article about the Jill and the garden is here.
 

 
   R.T. Geoghan took this recent shot of a Black Swallowtail on a Coneflower at DeKorte. (Thanks, Regina!)

   Not the best time for a butterfly count — didn't start till 4 p.m. Thursday — but had a Monarch, a clearwing moth and plenty of Red Admirals, Broad-winged Skippers and Cabbage Whites.

   Full list follows. You can download your own DeKorte checklist here: Download DeKorte Butterfly Count Sheet.

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   We saw three Least Terns yesterday afternoon over one of the impoundments at Harrier, and another was seen near the entrance to the Saw Mill Creek Trail earlier in the day.
   We are also seeing Greater Yellowlegs and assorted sandpipers, including the Solitary Sandpiper below. Fall migration appears to be under way…

    For the past week or so, we have been getting reports of one or more Bald Eagles hanging out at the Keegan Landfill in Kearny.
   Alas, we have not had the opportunity to get dwon to the landfill and see for ourselves.
   Fortunately, Ron Shields took a few shots from his kayak in the Kearny Marsh. He writes that the two shots were taken roughly 30 minutes apart, but that he thinks the photos are of the same bird.
   At least one other Bald Eagle has been seen at Keegan of late — a mature Bald Eagle. (Thanks, Ron!)

   We do get Bald Eagle sightings at DeKorte from time to time, including this one from March, when Bald Eagles and gulls were competing for fish. They are always awesome to see in the wild.

 
    The NJMC's Jim Wright wrote this nature column about nesting Cliff Swallows for the current editions of The South Bergenite.

   Ever since the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission began a nesting-box program more than a decade ago, DeKorte Park has been  an attractive neighborhood for hundreds upon hundreds of Tree Swallows, those fast-flying iridescent-blue marvels that zip back and forth across the open water  in search of insects.
       This year, we have had a new type of swallow for a tenant – nesting Cliff Swallows. But these birds aren't taking up residence in the wooden nest boxes — they've made their own mud-walled homes under the Meadowlands Environmental Center’s Marshview Pavilion.
   “The Cliff Swallows are our ‘bird of the year’,” says NJMC Naturalist Gabrielle Bennett Meany. “We occasionally see these unusual birds as they pass through in the spring, but this is our first record of a nesting pair.”
    Bennett-Meany explains why it’s significant that the birds are nesting: “This is big news because these beautiful birds are listed on the state’s ‘birds of special concern’ list – which means that they warrant special attention because of evidence they’re vulnerable or in decline.”

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   The Record had a great article earlier this month about Marco Lips, the artist currently exhibiting in the Flyway Gallery in DeKorte Park's Meadowlands Environment Center. Link is here.
   Another nifty story appeared in The Observer. Link is here.
   The exhibit runs through the end of August.
   A link to Lips' website is here.