Due to the continuing icy conditions at Mill Creek Marsh, this weekend’s First-Sunday-of the-Month walk will be at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. The walk runs from at 10 a.m. to noon. The MEC restrooms will be open for 15 minutes before and after the walk.
Target birds: Snowy Owls, miscellaneous ducks and raptors.
Full listing follows. Continue reading
Rob Fanning reports: “Had a drake RB Merganser at DeKorte today and the Canvasback flock is up to 19. Had a pair of Ring-necked Ducks, too.”
NJMC naturalist emeritus Don Smith reports that over the weekend from River Barge Park he saw Ring-necked Duck, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Male Common Goldeneye, Buffleheads and Hooded Mergansers and a very early Tree Swallow. He also had 50 Common Mergs by Laurel Hill.
(Thanks, Rob and Don!)
As was posted on this blog last week, the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park will have limited access on weekends beginning this Saturday, March 1.
As always, the park itself will remain open from dawn to dusk, and a park attendant will be on site and available.
We did not reach the MEC decision lightly, and we appreciate your feedback.
Long-term damage from Hurricane Sandy has drastically reduced park attendance on weekends, with most of the Marsh Discovery Trail closed for repairs and access to the Environment Center’s Marshview Pavilion greatly reduced.
The Environment Center will be open on weekends for regularly scheduled walks and programs. It will also be open on weekdays to accommodate visitors and the more than 15,000 schoolchildren that visit DeKorte Park each year.
We will reassess the MEC weekend closings in the coming months. We are happy to report that long-term repairs for the Marsh Discovery Trail are slated to begin later this year.
In the meantime, we ask that you plan accordingly (we do not consider portable toilets to be a viable solution). Thank you for your patience.
Dennis Cheeseman photographed a Great Cormorant at Losen Slote Park in Little Ferry this morning (above), and Ray Duffy managed to get a shot of those distant White-winged Scoters (below)he saw this weekend off Mill Creek Point. (Note: White-winged Scoters are on the Birds of the Meadowlands checklist, and considered rare.)
(Thanks, Dennis and Ray!)