This moth, roughly the size of a quarter, was looking into the Meadowlands Environment Center on Saturday during BirdFest, and hung around for the folks at the 11:30 a.m. Butterfly Walk and well into the afternoon.

We knew it was a moth, albeit an unlikely one, but did a brain freeze trying to remember what kind. We promised we would post the answer.

Here goes: The answer is… It is a Plume Moth.

A link with more info on Plume Moths is here.

Another photo of this T-shaped moth from Saturday follows.

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We saw this mystery plant on our Harrier Meadow walk last month.

Anybody know what it is?

This guy had quite a few people scratching their heads at NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse's bird-banding demonstration by Harrier Meadow at Saturday's Meadowlands Festival of Birding.

Any idea? Full frame shot follows. Send in your answer as a comment.

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Ron Shields visited Mill Creek Marsh recently and came up with several neat shots, including the Bobolink above and yellowlegs below.

(Thanks, Ron!)

For those keeping score, we had a banner year for Ospreys in the Meadowlands, with three active nests producing eight fledglings.

The Carlstadt nest had two young, the kearny nest had three, and the Jersey City nest had three as well.

A slipshod fourth nest was under construction on a telephone pole — not the greatest location — south of the Kearny nest (which is across from Laurel Hill).

The ospreys have made a remarkable comeback in the past five years in the district.

Photo of an Osprey at the Kearny nest is by Marco Lips. (Thanks, Marco!)

This week we'll post some photos of the best of the BirdFest birds banded by Harrier Meadow — including a tough Tuesday Teaser (preview posted on right).

We'll also post shots from the butterfly walk — including a Plume Moth, a Praying Mantis and some Pearl Crescents.

If you have some BirdFest shots you'd like to share, send 'em along.

The Cove, the World Trade Center Memorial in DeKorte, includes a black-metal cut-out of how Lower Manhattan looked just before the Sept. 11 attacks. A lone bird completes the somber silhouette.

                                                                      Photo by Dale Jankowksi.

One of the Meadowlands Festival of Birding's locales tomorrow is the Celery Farm in Allendale. We took this photo this afternoon.

Immature Red-shouldered… Hope he sticks around.

Tons of great birds at the Meadowlands Festival of Birding today — including the American Avocet at Harrier Meadow, a Bald Eagle over the former Kingsland Landfill, Ospreys, Kestrels, Sharpies and more.

The first bird banded this morning? A Gray-cheeked Thrush.

The first bird that keynote speaker and legendary bird-chaser Sandy Komito ever chased? An American Avocet.

We will post the full festival list in the upcoming week, plus some photos of the best of the banded birds.