Jill Ann Ziemkiewicz, for whom DeKorte Park’s beautiful butterfly garden is named, died 18 years ago Thursday.

She was part of the crew of TWA Flight 800, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island on July 17, 1996.

Jill’s Garden, with its wonderful array of blooming flowers and butterfly bushes, is an amazing yet tranquil place.

The Meadowlands Commission decided to hold Butterfly Day in late July in part to honor her memory.

Elaine Raine photographed several butterflies and a clear-winged moth in Jill’s Garden yesterday.   We share them now. (Thank you, Elaine.)

You can read more about the flight and the crew here and here.

Our next two big family events at DeKorte Park are Moth Night on Monday, July 21, followed by Butterfly Day on Sunday, July 27, and they are both free. Scroll down the blog for details on both.

Saw it in the usual spot — Sawmill Creek mudflats in DeKorte Park — just before lunch. If you haven’t seen it yet, please stop by. A spotting scope is highly recommended.

Just a quick shot of sandpipers bathing and napping at River Barge Park on Wednesday afternoon.  At one point probably 100 in flight.

Also have heard reports of a Boat-tailed Grackle there. Did not see Black Skimmers yesterday, though.

Ron Shields reports plenty of Least Bittern activity at the Kearny Marsh, as you can see in these photos. (Thanks, Ron!)

Folks send us a lot of excellent Osprey shots, but this recent one by Ray Gilbert (from Valley Brook Ave.) stood out even more than most.  (Thanks, Ray!)

Mickey Raine passed along his fascinating report on DeKorte Park caterpillars — just in time for Moth Night next Monday (July 21) and Butterfly Day on Sunday, July 27.

Here are the first of some highlights from Mickey’s post:

At DeKorte Park recently, we were greeted with a wonderful surprise–the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 1st stage instar and the 4th stage, also.

On the average, these early stage caterpillars are so incredibly tiny.

The 1st instar, resembling bird droppings (nature’s remarkable way of masking and protecting them), would only be about 3/8 inch at most, and Elaine, of course, had found five of them throughout the lower parts of this one Tulip Tree.

The 4th instar on the leaf with the silky web and more closely representing the full caterpillar appearance was about an inch long.  We cannot help but smile when seeing the misleading “fake” eyes planted right near the top of the coat over the real head, the small reddish orange one that you see in one of the shots.

Mickey Raine passed along his fascinating report on DeKorte Park caterpillars — just in time for Moth Night next Monday (July 21) and Butterfly Day on Sunday, July 27.

Here is the second part of the highlights from Mickey’s post:

The rustic orange and black Woolly Bear Caterpillar (above) seems to be one that captures my attention wherever we are.

Even in the winter, we have seen them in full like you see here.

The literature often mentions this peculiar behavior of crossing roads that simply does not make sense, and nothing offers any answers as to why this species does so as a common practice.