Daily Archives: May 13, 2014

What’s in a Name: Hackensack River

IMG_018 Painting Duck Hunters on the Hoboken Marshes copy

Thanks much to the Meadowlands Commission’s Parks Department for providing this nifty feature.

The Hackensack River’s modern name may stem from one of two Lenape phases: Hackink Saquik, meaning “a stream that unites with another on low ground” or Hocquan Sakuwit, meaning “hooked mouth of a river.”

Both reference the River’s curving junction with the Passaic River at Newark Bay.

The name may also be derived from the Lenape word, Hackingh, meaning “land of the pipe” from the clay material found in the meadows and used in pipe making.

(Reference: Fields of Sun & Grass by John Quinn)

 

 

Congratulations, Marsh Hawks!

1-6a00e553bb7c208834017d42e27953970cThe Meadowlands Marsh Hawks (NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse, Chris Takacs, and Mike Wolfe) placed second out of 18 teams in their division in Saturday’s 31st annual World Series of Birding and raised more than $3,000 for projects benefiting wildlife in the Meadowlands. Congratulations, Marsh Hawks!

The team set a Bergen County World Series of Birding record with an incredible 149 species in less than 24 hours, including 26 warbler species, 4 owls, and all three falcons. Some of the rarities found by the Marsh Hawks are Cerulean and Hooded Warbler, Glossy Ibis, and Seaside Sparrow.