We had a great Mother's Day Walk in Ridgefield yesterday, with more than 50 people enjoying the beautiful weather and cooperative birds.

We had a few photographers with us as well, including Patrick Carney,  who took the shot of the Chestnut-sided  Warbler above at the Ridgefield Nature Center and the Snowy Egret at left at Skeetkill Creek Marsh.

We also had TV coverage from NY1. Link is here.

Full lists from both sites, plus more pix, including Monk Parakeet and a partial group shot, follow.  (thanks to Denise Farrell and Julie McCall for the lists!)

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We saw this male Ruddy Duck in bright blue breeding beakage along the Marsh Discovery Trail on Friday. Look out, Lady Ruddies.

NJMC Naturalists Gabrielle Bennett-Meany and Brett Bragin brought a boat to Kearny Marsh on Thursday to install Tree Swallow Boxes.

They added another two down or so boxes to a bunch that were already there, so the Kearny swallows should be in business.

New boxes have been added throughout the Meadowlands in the last 10 weeks.

Scroll down this blog for previous and plentiful Tree Swallow box reportsl.

(A big thanks to all who contributed, including to Brett Bragin, who also took these photos!)

Sandy Sorkin, who found the Little Blue at DeKorte this morning, writes:

"The Little Blue Heron is a first for me in New Jersey, as I thought they were generally south of here.  

"The other first time in NJ bird [for me me today]was a Sandhill Crane apparently migrating over Montclair.  

Overall, today's birds are exceptionally colorful and most of them are at http://sandysorkin.com. (Click on "DeKorte" — Sandy also got one of the Common yellowthroats that eluded our camera today. Thanks, Sandy.)

Yellow-rumps seem to be all over DeKorte these days. Dennis Cheeseman caught this shot earlier this week. (Thanks, Dennis!)

Sandy Sorkin took this shot of a Little Blue Heron at DeKorte this morning between 8:30 and 9 in Teal Pool.  We did not see it when we looked around 3 p.m… (Thanks, Sandy!)

This is a great time of year to visit DeKorte.

We saw our first dragonfly and a few butterflies on the Marsh Discovery Trail today, although too fleeting to ID. We heard lots of Marsh Wrens as well. It seems like the summer crew is moving in.

Wrablers seen today include Yellow (Transco), Common Yellowthroat (everywhere), Yellow-rumped (entrance to MDT) and Am. Redstart (Kingsland Overlook).

Here's a butterfly preview — a couple of photos taken by Tom Beattie, who saw 5 Cabbage Whites, a Black Swallowtail and a Red Admiral last weekend at DeKorte. (Thanks, Tom!)

Don't forget our Mother's Day Walk in Ridgefield this Sunday at 10 a.m. We'll visit the Ridgefield Nature Center — where we will be looking for Scarlet Tanagers, warblers, thrushes and more — plus Monk parakeets on the way to Skeetkill Marsh (for Baltimore Orioles and more).

As Bergen Audubon's Don Torino says, "Visit Your Mother This Sunday … Mother Nature that is!"

Details follow.

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The Tree Swallows of Mill Creek Marsh just got dozens of new housing units last week, thanks to the Secaucus Middle School Environmental Club.

The club spent a Saturday morning in March building 50 nesting boxes for the iridescent little bug-eaters.

The group installed the boxes, and then did a marsh cleanup with the Riverkeeper.

Earlier post is here. Great job, guys!

Join Dr. John Sloan and NASA Ambassador and Educator, Laura Venner, for a free night of Moon Madness at the McDowell Observatory in DeKorte Park.

Gaze upon the first quarter Moon through our 20” Classical Cassegrain telescope, view rocks and soil samples from the Moon, and investigate meteorites from the American Museum of Natural History.

See Saturn along with some of his moons through the 20” telescope and learn why two of Saturn’s moons are very unique.

Date: Wednesday, May 11, Time: 8 -10 p.m.

Check-in at the NJMC Center for Environmental and Scientific Education.

Note: In order to access the observatory telescope, a visitor must be able to climb 25 steps (nine steps, a landing, 16 steps) in a spiral formation. The stairs have a railing on either side, with the railings approximately 2 feet apart. Please contact the Meadowlands Environment Center offices at least one week prior to visiting to request disability related accommodations for equal access.

For more information about this program , visit the Observatory’s website here or call 201-460-8300.

Moon Madness—May 11, 2011