Kevin Wright, local historian extraordinaire, has an informative article in the Wayne Patch on Little Ferry's old brickyards.

Mehrhof Pond, a well-known local birding site, was created from a pit that provided the clay for bricks, and the pond itself was named for the brickmaking Mehrhof brothers.

Writes Wright:

"Representing a combined capital investment of $265,000, ten brickyards operating along the Hackensack River employed traditional methods of production. With the exception of the Mehrhof Brick Company, all used wood fuel to bake raw bricks in scove-kilns. “Soft-mud” brick machines produced over 60 million units of common building brick, a 90% increase over the previous year."

The link is here. 

An earlier post on the Mehrhof brick operation is here.

A link to an illustration of a scove-kiln is here; site has other historical brick-making info.

Greg Miller photographed this Common Raven near Laurel Hill late last week. Let's hope they nest again this year.

(Thanks, Greg!)

The Meadowlands Commission and Bergen County Audubon Society are offering a free guided bird walk at DeKorte Park this Friday in conjunction with the Great Backyard Bird Count.  

We'll count every bird we see — and hope to get an unusual bird or two along the way — from American Bittern to Orange-crowned Warbler…

The 90-minute walk starts at 10 a.m. Meet inside the Meadowlands Environment Center.  Dress for the weather.

Full details follow.

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