Rich Romano writes:

Here’s a shot of one of two wild parrots that nest in Secaucus near Schmidt’s Woods, photographed Monday.

(Thanks, Rich! They look to be Monk Parakeets, aka Quaker Parrots. )

A big thank you to 75+ folks who attended the wonderful free Earth Day concert at DeKorte Park  last night, featuring folk-singer/songwriter Spook Handy.

For fans of Spook and his inspirations — Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie — it was a memorable evening.

The concerted was sponsored by the Bergen County Audubon Society and hosted by the Meadowlands Commission. and it was preceded by a free guided nature walk in DeKorte Park.

Highlights included a crowing Ring-necked Pheasant, a couple of Osprey with fish, and assorted duckage.

Full list follows. Continue reading →

Allan Sanford writes:

Saw these guys on disposal road and they were happy to see me. Unfortunately i was unprepared and not happy to see them without insect repellent. Perhaps a warning is in order. LOL

Here’s the warning:

As visitors to DeKorte Park and other Meadowlands locales may have noticed, we are getting a lot of Midges these days. The good news is that they don’t bite, and the birds (especially the Tree Swallows) love them. The bad news is they can be annoying if you walk too close to a shrub where they  congregate.

They are amazing bugs of the Chironomid family, and they have long “whiskers” on their heads, as evidenced by the close-up photo below.

More on Chironomids here.

We photographed this young Bald Eagle over Valley Brook Ave. on Monday afternoon after he rousted the two Ospreys from their nest.