DeKorte Park is open again daily, though some trails remain closed. Details here.

(Thanks, Marco!)

Forster's Terns were by the Transo Trail entrance to the Marsh Discovery Trail on Friday in the rain. For every thing, there is a season…

Earth Day Cleanup 
Mill Creek Marsh, Secaucus
Sat., April 20, 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

In honor of Earth Day, the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society are doing a cleanup of the Mill Creek Marsh walking trails on Saturday, April 20, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.  

This beautiful 207-acre marsh and park had several downed trees and lots of washed-up debris from Hurricane Sandy, and we want to remove the remaining brush and downed branches. We’ll also clean up any litter brought in with the tides.

Participants must wear work gloves and protective clothing and footwear and sign a liability release. The release will be available on Saturday, and is also ready for download now (see below). Participants must be at least 16 years old; 16- and 17-year-old participants must have the liability release signed by a parent or guardian.  For more information, e-mail the NJMC’s Jim Wright at jim.wright@njmeadowlands.gov or call him at 201-469-7349.

You can download a release here: Download 2013-njmc-cleanup release

Earth Day Brunch and Talk,

Kearny Public Library, Kearny

Sat., April 20, 12:30 – 3 p.m.

In honor of Earth Day, the Kearny Library is offering a presentation by the Community Garden Club and a slide show and talk about "The Nature of the Meadowlands," featuring author Jim Wright (who wrote the book for the Meadowlands Commission) and principal photographers Ron Shields of Kearny and Marco Van Brabant (who works in Kearny).

The event is free and features a light brunch. Everyone is welcome. The Kearny Public Library is located at 318 Kearny Ave. For more information on this or other programs, call (201) 998-2666 or visit www.kearnylibrary.org.

(Above: Wright, Shields and Van Brabant. Photo by Mike Malzone. Thanks, Mike!)

Ron writes:

"Here are some recent close-up shots from throughout the Meadowlands.

"The pheasant had surprisingly survived multiple Red-tailed Hawk attacks and was under its watchful eye when photographed."

Photos of the Ring-necked Pheasant, and an American Kestrel in flight, follow. (Thanks, Ron!)

Continue reading →

Celebrate the end of income-tax-filing season with this Harrier Meadow spring bird walk in North Arlington on Tuesday, Apr. 16.

We’ll walk around the 70-acre natural area, which is normally closed to the public, and look for Ospreys, early warblers, shorebirds and a snipe or two.

The tide should be out, so the mud flats should have good birds.

The walk starts at 10 a.m. — please park inside the Harrier Meadow gate as a result of PSE&G activity…

Full listing follows.

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To celebrate upcoming Earth Day, join Governor Thomas H. Kean and Jim Wright of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) on Sunday for a free talk on New Jersey’s environment, featuring “The Nature of the Meadowlands,*” the NJMC’s new coffee-table book written by Jim.

Also appearing will be Bob Allen, Director of Conservation of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in New Jersey, who will speak about TNC’s vision for land preservation in the Garden State.

The event will run from 2 to 3:30 p.m.at the Ridgewood Public Library, 125 N. Maple Ave. in  Ridgewood. 

More information follows.

Continue reading →

Jim Wright, who maintains this blog, also writes a twice-monthly column for the South Bergenite. His latest is about a Yellow-rumped Warbler banded last fall in Harrier Meadow:

In the past few years, Naturalist Mike Newhouse of the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and his team of volunteers have banded more than 22,000 birds by Harrier Meadow and on the closed Erie Landfill in North Arlington.

   The banders capture the birds briefly in mist nets, weigh them and determine their age and sex, then let them fly away.

   Although Mike and his crew often see banded songbirds hanging around nearby Harrier Meadow and although they have recaptured some of the same birds over the years, he says that “99.9 percent of the time, a bird is never seen or heard from again.”

   That’s why Mike was surprised — and initially excited — late last month when he received a report that one of the 3,400 Yellow-rumped Warblers he has banded over the years was found in Florida.

   This particular warbler was a female that Mike’s team briefly captured on Oct. 12 of last year. Almost five months later, on March 15, it was found in the town of Live Oak in Florida — roughly halfway between Jacksonville and Tallahassee, and 1,200 miles from here.

   The bird, alas, was dead when Georges Gawinowski found it in his garden.

“I get a lot of birds who come around to drink water — I have a pond,” Gawinowski reported via e-mail. “I did not like to find him dead, poor guy. He may have hit the window or maybe a cat [got him]. He had no mark of visible injury.”

   Georges said he reported his find to the bird-banding laboratory at the U.S. Geological Survey because “nature needs our help.”

   For Newhouse, the migration of this particular yellow-rump and its eventual demise was a reminder of the perils of migration and the dangers and human-related pitfalls that birds face daily.

 That’s one of the main reasons why Newhouse and his crew do their banding-related research — to learn more about the various species of birds that migrate through the Meadowlands.

  “Birds face many challenges throughout their lifetime,” says Newhouse. “One of those challenges shouldn’t be finding food during migration.”

 That’s why, he says, he and his crew band birds and document their vital statistics — “so we can determine how the habitats in the Meadowlands are being used by migrant birds and are these areas helping them on their journey.”

   By keeping track of what species are captured in which kind of habitat, and checking the weight gains of birds that are recaptured, Newhouse and his team can determine the best habitats for any type of bird. In the instance of yellow-rumps, these half-ounce marvels prefer the scrub/shrub habitat in Harrier Meadow Marsh, with lots of insects to eat.

   Now is the time that yellow-rumps return to the Meadowlands in large numbers. Next time you see one of these beautiful and abundant warblers, take a moment to appreciate how far it has traveled on those tiny wings.

NJMC naturalist Mike Newhouse, Chris Takacs and Rob Fanning had a Bonaparte's Gull yesterday morning in Harrier Meadow.

Chris' photo of same is above.

It was only the second time that Chris or Mike had seen it, and Rob's first in the Meadowlands and second in Bergen.

Mike Wolfe reported a Bonaparte's yesterday on Lake Tappan. (Thanks, Chris and crew!)