There's no telling how long the butterflies will hang around DeKorte Park, but a good place to look this weekend would be up on the Kinglsand Overlook Trail, where honeysuckles are in bloom and all sorts of insects are nectaring.
On the map at left, the purple. .25-mile line is the Kingsland Overlook Trail.
It is on the hill overlooking the Visitors Parking Lot, just inside the gate.
Let us know how you do…
Good luck!
After hearing reports of a Red Admiral invasion to our south and actually seeing some sunshine, I checked out Kingsland Overlook in DeKorte Park for butterflies this afternoon.
All I can say is: Wow. The reports were not exaggerated. I saw 50+ Red Admirals (above), at least five American Ladies, three Question Marks and — get this — a Hummingbird Clear-winged Moth (below).
Pix of Question Mark and American Ladies follow. (Tough angles.)
The Meadowlands Marsh Hawks, our World Series of Birding team, has nifty new T-shirts and baseball caps (it is the World Series, after all!).
This is really snazzy apparel, celebrating one of our favorite raptors (a.k.a. the Northern Harrier.).
The shirts sell for $12. The caps sell for $16. Both are available exclusively in our Tideland Treasures Gift Shop in DeKorte Park's Meadowlands Environment Center.
Rumor has it that your birding skills could improve by 12 percent or more when wearing this garb, but we are not so sure. Your birdage may differ.
Please let us know how you do with the new Meadowlands Marsh Hawks gear!
Don Torino of Bergen County Audubon Society and the Meadowlands Commission's Jim Wright did a scouting trip yesterday in advance of Sunday's free guided walk.
A few quick observations:
* A lot of good birds are moving in, including Baltimore Orioles, Eastern Towhees and a variety of warblers. We even had several Solitary Sandpipers — and heard a Ring-necked Pheasant, not far from its ancestral home.
* The trails are very muddy (and partly underwater in places), so wear waterproof boots if you can.
* We didn't see as much litter as in years past, but we still plan to police the area and trim the trails, so bring work gloves and clippers if you've got them.
* The flora (including the ferns above) is going great guns, with lots of native plants to be discussed on Sunday.
Full list of birds follows.
Dave Rotondi writes:
"Two of the Jersey City Peregrine Falcons have hatched! The pair had a clutch of 5 eggs, so the next few days should be busy at the scrape. You can see the action on the state DEP's Peregrine Cam."
Link is here. (Thanks, Dave!)
We are still tabulating the results, but the Big Year is shaping up as a lot of fun — and a whole lot of birds. We hope to post the latest totals on Monday.