Ray Duffy reports:

"This AM I got my first of year Orchard Oriole when visiting the bird banding at Harrier Meadow.

"In the afternoon, I took twenty minutes around DeKorte around 2:30pm, I got my first of year semipalmated sandpipers on the exposed mud during low tide.

"At 6:45, I visited Mill Creek Marsh. I found 2 families of Mallard ducklings, one group of 8 and one group of about 4.

"Schmidt’s Woods had a Northern Waterthrush.  Other unfortunate arrivals for the year were ticks and mosquitoes."  (Thanks, Ray!)

  Thomas F. Yezerski, author of the enchanting new children's book "Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival story," will be giving two free talks and slide shows at DeKorte Park in the next two months.

The presentations are brought to you by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.

The first, for adults, will be Tuesday, May 24 ,at 7 p.m. The second, for children age 6 and older and their families, will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 25.

Copies of the book will be for sale for a discounted price of $14.95 (please bring cash or check), and Tom would be happy to sign and inscribe them.

Listings info follows.

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Lisa Cameron of the NJMC's Parks Division says:

"It's probably a naturalized crabapple…horizontal branching suggests that.
Possibly a flowering pear gone wild, though their braches are more upright and usually you would see others nearby."  (Thanks, Lisa!)