Monthly Archives: May 2013

Our Latest S. Bergenite Column: World Series of Birding!

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The NJMC's Jim Wright, who keeps this blog, also writes a nature column twice a month for the South Bergenite. His latest is on the Meadowlands Marsh Hawks team and their big competition this weekend:

This Saturday, before the crack of dawn, the Meadowlands Marsh Hawks will again take flight, competing for the third year in a row in the prestigious World Series of Birding.

The one-day event takes place only in New Jersey yet it draws some of  the best birders in North America. The Marsh Hawks will again compete in the “county” division, with a goal of seeing 140 species in Bergen County.

Last year, the Marsh Hawks — NJMC naturalist Mike Newhouse, Lyndhurst resident Chris Takacs and Mike Wolfe of Hackensack — won first place in their division with a total of 139 birds.

The birds they saw or heard included such rarities as — horned grebe, clapper rail and pileated woodpecker, but they did not see a Black-capped Chickadee. Go figure.

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MEC Concert: Music Inspired by Birdsong

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The Meadowlands Environment Center is hosting a unique concert this Saturday night featuring a composer who is very serious about using birdsongs as her muse.

The Birdsong Project Trio, led by pianist Diane Moser, performs at 8 p.m. at the MEC.

Moser, a Montclair resident, spent five weeks in the summer of 2008 at the MacDowell Colony for artists in New Hampshire, listening to birds to create compositions based on Robins, Sparrows, Chickadees and the natural soundscape.

More information follows.

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Jersey City Peregrine Cam

Mike Girone reports that the 1-IMG_9441Jersey City Peregrine Cam is up and running at 101 Hudson Street. 

The cam is made possible by the state Endangered and Non-game Species Program, the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, and Mack-Cali, the owners of the building. (Thanks to all!)

The link is here.  More information on the nest, via Nestbox News, is here.

We love our Meadowlands Peregrines — in fact, it's the NJMC bird of the year for 2013 (and subject of an NJMC T-shirt to boot!)

Two ‘Nature of the Meadowlands’ Talks Next Week

1-Nature of Meadowlands coverJim Wright, who wrote "The Nature of the Meadowlands" for the Meadowlands Commission, will be giving two free talks (featuring images from the book) next week in East Brunswick and North Arlington.

Both events are open to the public.

News article on the East Brunswick event is here.

A recent Star-Ledger review of the book is here.

More information on the two events follows.

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Unusual Mill Creek Mammal

The NJMC's Beverly Schmidt reports, 20130505_103608_resized "Upon entering Mill Creek Marsh Park this past weekend, I encountered what I believe to be a new species of Meadowlands mammal.  It very shy, did not appear to be aggressive."

Dennis Cheeseman later photographed the animal as it tried to hide in a tree… It did not appear to be hungry. In fact, it appeared to be stuffed.

We know this sort of thing happens all over — just seems like the Meadowlands has more than its share…

Dennis' photo follows. (Thanks, Beverly and Dennis!)

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Meadowlands Mourning Cloak

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We have been seeing these in several places in the region, especially DeKorte Park, but typically have seen them from a moving vehicle.

Photographed this one (its cloak slightly tattered) yesterday in Harrier Meadow while checking on the saplings…

Rocky Teaser Answered

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What's unusual about this photo by Marco Van Brabant??

The butterfly!  As Jantet Terchek incredibly answered, it's a Mourning Cloak!  (Congrats to Janet — never thought anyone would get the butterfly, let alone the species….)

Close-up of same follows.  (Thanks, Marco!)

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Help the Marsh Hawks! Four Days to the Big Day!

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Help the Meadowlands Marsh Hawks  in our third annual World Series of Birding competition this Saturday.

We will be exploring every woodlot, marsh, and mud flat in Bergen County in search of as many bird species as we can find.

In 2012, we had an amazing day where we counted 139 species, which gave us first place in our category, and helped us raise more than $2,000 four new native plant garden by the carillon on Disposal Road (pPledge sheet-1-page-001ictured above).

This year we need your support so we can defend our title against some strong competition  – and create a better wildlife habitat for birds along the Kingsland Overlook trail in DeKorte Park.

More information — including how to contribute — follows.

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