Marie Longo took a pic of this dragonfly on our First Sunday walk at DeKorte recently. Can anyone help with an ID?  Marie waited for the dragonfly to land on a rock to make the ID more challenging. (Thanks, Marie!  So thoughtful.)

Our next guided walk with the Bergen County Audubon Society is next Tuesday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to noon.

With a little luck, we should be seeing lots of herons and shorebirds — and quite a few raptors.

Wear bug spray! Full listing follows. Continue reading →

Doug Morel reported on eBird that he had two Blue Grosbeaks on Disposal Road yesterday:

“1 male, 1 female along Disposal Rd.,  seen with other birders, long looks with scope & in decent light.”

Photographer Ron Shields was nice enough to offer us a quick kayak tour of the Kearny Marsh on Thursday afternoon.

Although the geography was been drastically rearranged by Hurricane Sandy and it is much harder to access, it is still an enchanted place — with “great” birds.  Thursday afternoon’s highlights included Least Bittern, Least Tern and Caspian Tern — and quite a few Semipalmated Plovers (left) and Sandpipers.

Anyone interested in an informal, unofficial kayak tour (B.Y.O.K.)  of the Kearny Marsh on Thursday morning, Aug. 29, at 8 a.m. should e-mail us (link is in right-hand column).

Full bird list follows. Continue reading →

Mike Girone writes:

A quick note to report another banded juvie Peregrine in the Meadowlands (DeKorte’s Saw MIll Creek trail, seen Saturday afternoon, 8-17).

This bird has a silver federal band with a strip of blue tape on it, and a black-over-green auxilary band.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get numbers off the aux. band, and unsure if it’s a male or female. Continue reading →

Our next guided walk with the Bergen County Audubon Society is next Tuesday, Aug. 20, from 10 a.m. to noon.

With a little luck, we should be seeing lots of herons and shorebirds — and quite a few raptors.

On a recent scouting trip, we had great looks at an American Kestrel (above, on top of a bird blind with his lunch), a Belted Kingfisher, Black-crowned Night Herons and other nifty birds.

Wear bug spray! Full listing follows. Continue reading →

Staff Writer Jim O’Neill of The Record has a story in the paper today about an added benefit from the Meadowlands’ marshes:

“,,…new research being conducted in the Meadowlands shows that even degraded urban wetlands are able to capture and store carbon pollutants, providing a valuable resource to combat climate change.”

The link is here.

Sandy Sorkin sez:

The migrants are starting to appear in larger numbers in Mill Creek Marsh.  I counted 17 Snowy Egrets on Sunday morning, a few Great Egrets and one Great Blue Heron.

I finally found out why I see and hear so many Marsh Wrens. They seem to be responding to my camera shutter click.  I take a picture and they respond.

(Thanks, Sandy!)

Steve Buckingham photographed this Red-banded Hairstreak at Jill’s Garden on Kevin Karlson Shorebird Day. Steve writes:

“Attached is a shot of the Red-banded Hairstreak from Saturday.  It really shows up nicely against the Black-eyed Susans.”

(Thanks, Steve!)

The butterfly is on the North Jersey Butterfly Club’s checklist for DeKorte Park, but this is the first one we’ve seen. Very cool.

Mike Girone reports:

Spent late Saturday (8-10) afternoon at DeKorte and adjacent roadways. Spotted a Cooper’s Hawk flying west and fairly low over Disposal Road. It eyed up a group of Killdeer (who were very much aware of the hawk), but kept going. Not long after, up to 3 Red-tailed Hawks were soaring together near the Carillon.

An Osprey was seen over DeKorte getting buzzed by swallows. Great & Snowy Egrets, along with Forster’s Terns, were patrolling the Shorebird Pool, and an unidentified flycatcher was working Transco Trail near the Turnpike.

A check on Valley Brook Ave. yielded 2 Common Raven fly-overs (at low altitude), and a pair of Osprey (both dining on fish) on the light poles at the old ball field. One of the Osprey switched light poles, and ousted an American Kestrel from its perch. Continue reading →