We asked folks yesterday to ID the bug egg casing seen on last week’s Mill Creek Marsh walk.
Dan McDonough, Secuacus town historian, pointed out the casing and identified it as belonging to a Carolina Mantis. John Beetham ID’d it correctly on the blog as well. (Thanks, Dan and John! John’s nifty nature blog is here.)
More on Carolina Mantises here.
Our next free guided walk will be Sunday, June 1, at 10 a.m., at DeKorte Park, followed by a free reception for the Flyway Gallery show, images from “The Nature of the Meadowlands.”
More on the gallery show here.
Full listing follows. Continue reading
Secaucus Town Historian Dan McDonough pointed out (and identified) this unusual insect egg casing. Do you know what it is?
Answer tomorrow.
Judging from reports (and lack thereof), the Cinnamon Teal has not been seen today. Nor has a Black-necked Stilt reported at DeKorte yesterday.
Bird was found by NJMC Naturalist Emeritus Don Smith Friday morning. Could be a released/escaped bird, but no bands on legs.
Bird not seen since 10:15 a.m. Friday that we know of, but will post if it is resighted…
The tide was in again as of 3 p.m., and we have had no new sightings. Saturday morning from 10:30 on might be a possibility as the tide goes out again, exposing fresh mudflats…
The equivalent time of the sighting on Saturday would be 11 a.m. or so. Please e-mail Jim Wright at jim.wright (@) njmeadowlands.gov if you see the bird — and please share any photos.
More on Cinnamon Teal here. Scroll down blog or click here for map of where teal was seen.
Stopped by River Barge Park at 2:30 p.m. Friday to see 19 Black Skimmers on the rowing dock. (Nine of which are pictured above.)
A half-hour earlier, roughly nine had been on a nearby mudflat, and none on the dock.
We hope they stick around.
Today (Friday, May 23) is World Turtle Day. Best not to click on the link. You can’t make this stuff up.
Ron Shields writes:
I found this guy zipping around the fragrant honeysuckle in back of Gunnell Oval this past weekend.
(Thanks, Ron — this might be the first hummingbird pic on this blog, although we did come close here.)
Found by Don Smith … Will post pix asap. Male.
On Saw Mill Creek mudflats.
Mickey Raine reports:
We went to River Barge park yesterday around 5:15-5:30 or so, and we each did a count of them and after several times, concluded that there had been anywhere between 30 and possibly 33.
I took some shots from an angle that should allow a fairly accurate count. The problem is that some that were situated almost directly behind ones closer may easily get lost; however, in spite of that 30 should clearly be evident.
Hey, maybe by the weekend, word amongst the Black Skimmer society might get out there and generate even more–perhaps akin to what folks see in Long Island or Cape May. . .
Thanks, Mickey!
A link to the NJMC’s Jim Wright’s June 2013 South Bergenite column on Black Skimmers is here.