Daily Archives: July 26, 2012

Daily Double: Banded Peregrine, Tagged Egret

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Thanks to in part to Ramon Gomez, the Meadowlands Commission got the Daily Double of the Bird-Banding World today.

First an NJMC staffer happened upon a young Peregrine near a former landfill at lunchtime and was able to get a shot. (The tag reads "36AX.")

Upon the staffer's return, Ramon Gomez, who is participating in the Meadowlands Big Year contest, phoned to say that there was a tagged Great Egret in the Shorebird Pool (below; it may still be around). The tag reads A15.

The egret was also banded but it was impossible to read.  This may be the same tagged egret that Chris Takacs saw at Clay Avenue wetlands a short while back.

We will post more info as it becomes available. Closeups of the tag and band follow. (Thanks, Ramon and Chris!)

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More Moth Info

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As promised, here's are some helpful websites for those who attended last night's big Moth Night.

Dave Moskowitz of National Moth Week suggests: Photographs and moth data should be submitted to our partners at Project Noah – Photographs can be submitted via cell phone), Discover LifeBugGuide and the Moth Photographers Group10_2011_NMWlogoSmall

National Moth Week focuses attention on moths and biodiversity through moth nights and other unique moth-oriented programs around the country and the world.

There are currently 240 registered locations in 48 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, 4 Canadian Provinces and 18 countries and more are coming in every day.

To find other programs near you, visit the National Moth Week website (http://nationalmothweek.org/) and the map of locations.

An Awesome Moth Night!

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The Meadowlands Commission and Bergen County Audubon Society would like to thank all the folks who turned out last night for our first annual IMG_2807
Moth Night. We stopped counting around 100 or so.

Equally important we would like to thank Dave Moskowitz and the team from National Moth Week for providing the lights and expertise and putting on such an amazing program.

We will be posting more photos as time allows — including a bunch of moths that we probably could use some help identifying.

Ar one point, Dave estimated that we had 100 species of moths either at the light set-ups (we had three of them) or the trees with a special moth-magnet brew on them.

A couple of moth pix follow, just to wet your whistle.

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The NJMC's Jim Wright, who keeps this blog, is giving a free talk and slide show on a brief history of birds in the Meadowlands next Tuesday, July 31, at 2 p.m.

The event will be held in the 1-img144-001Meadowlands Environment Center auditorium in DeKorte Park.

Topics will include Meadowlands birds that have made remarkable comebacks, gone extinct or rebounded in a most unexpected way.

The slide show will include a mix of archival images and recent Meadowlands nature photography.

Wright is the author of the upcoming coffee-table book, "The Nature of the Meadowlands," to be published by Schiffer Books this fall.

The talk, part of the MEC's summer senior programming, is open to all.

For more information or to rsvp, call (201) 777-2431 or (201) 460-8300.

Aggressive Terns at DeKorte

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First came the alpha-male Red-winged Blackbird. Now, says Roy Woodford, "The one surprise [Monday] was some rather aggressive Forster's Terns (above).  I counted six of them along the Marsh Discovery Trail … They weren't very happy with my presence (and I wasn't all that close).  I took a few shots and quickly left …"

Roy adds: "It's pretty slow this time of year … but if you look hard enough, there are a few things around.  There was an Eastern Wood-Pewee along Disposal Road … and a few Black-crowned Night Herons (below) along the Transco Trail."

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