Only two days until the free screening of the acclaimed new documentary film, "The Lost Bird Project,"about the stories of five birds driven to extinction in modern times and sculptor Todd McGrain’s project to memorialize them.

The event is on Thursday,  from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

The Meadowlands Commission, Bergen County Audubon Society, Ramapo College and the New Jersey chapter of The Nature Conservancy are proud to sponsor this special screening, along with a question-and-answer session afterward.

More information follows.

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Regina Geoghan photographed this moth at the Butterfly Garden — about the size of a Silver-spotted Skipper and fast-moving.

What is it?

DeKorte Park is home to the World Trade Center Memorial Cove, next to the NJMC Administration Building and facing a Manhattan skyline that once prominently featured the Twin Towers. 

(Photo at right is from the NJMC archives.)

The memorial features two wooden piers suggesting the fallen towers. Each pier is composed of 110 boards, each symbolizing a floor of the buildings.

Nearby, a steel silhouette of the pre-9/11 skyline recalls the view before the attacks. 

A plaque with the following quote accompanies the memorial:

"In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing." — Robert Ingersoll.

Below, a time-lapse photo of the Memorial Cove at night from 2009.

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GoDaddy.com, which sold us our domain name "meadowblog.net,' has been hit with a cyber attack, and millions of blogs and other websites have suffered as a result.

More on the problem here.

Ron Shields photographed this Virginia Rail yesterday at DeKorte:

"Photographed around noon off the Marsh Discovery Trail. The rail has been seen with and without the Sora(s)."  (Thank, Ron!)

Roy Woodford writes:

"I found this little guy was hanging around on the side of the Marsh Discovery Trail last week about 150 feet past the first floating platform.  

"Once he got used to the sound of a Nikon's shutter, he decided he didn't mind me too much.  I actually had to back up several times while he was feeding … he kept walking inside my minimum focus distance of 18 feet (that rarely happens … lucky day for me)."  (Thanks, Roy!)

Ron Shields writes:

"Caught this guy one morning earlier this month, crossing Disposal Road and acting as if he owned the place."  (Thanks, Ron!)

Not necessarily good news. :- )  — also saw one crossing Valley Brook Avenue just outside DeKorte today, taking its own sweet time.

Chris Takacs writes:

"Sunday morning at DeKorte, I saw 2 Soras, 1 Virginia Rail and only 70 or so Great Egrets. I had the Virginia Rail and 1 of the Soras feeding together, It was rail-ly cool! Photo was tough with low light but they're both there.

I also had a Connecticut Warbler by the entrance to the marsh Discovery Trail."  (Thanks, Chris!)

We will post other Virginia Rail and Sora shots from the past few days as time allows.

Regina Geoghan writes:

"Not to forget the really pretty natural flower patches that are at DeKorte Park.   That little flower patch by the parking lot  is so pretty and cheerful."

(Thanks, Regina, for reminding us to post something about this new "little flower patch." It's a nother nice addition to the park.)

Chris Takacs reports that last Sunday around 7 a.m. he had more than 200 Snowy and Great Egrets at DeKorte Park.  Most of the birds were in the Marsh Discovery Trail impoundments.

We are getting to the time of year when the Harbor Herons congregate here.

24 Northern Shoveler
11 Great Blue Heron
143 Great Egret
74 Snowy  Egret
1 Green Heron
8 Black-crowned Night-Heron