Mickey Raine  sent this report  (and these great photos!) yesterday:

“This past Saturday I stopped by Mill Creek Point… I was standing by the Greenway [arch], a pair of mating Monk Parakeets… landed in the children’s playground.  They did not seem nervous… almost posing at times.  I spent a good 15 minutes observing them.”

Mickey also shared a link to a 2010 article about wild Monk Parakeets in the northeast:
http://newjerseyoutdoors.blogspot.com/2010/03/wild-parakeets-in-new-jersey.html?m=1

He continued, “Also, in the pool of water… just before reaching the circle, a Greater Yellowleg was poking into the water.  And only…7 or 8 feet away was this rather large Snapping Turtle…it seemed to be basking in the sun.”  Thanks, Mickey and Elaine.

For the fifth year in a row, a team representing the meadowlands will take part in the national World Series of Birding.
The World Series is the country’s largest and most prestigious birding competition and provides participants and sponsors with a fun and interactive way to raise money for critically needed conservation priorities.
Over the past thirty years, this event has brought birding to the attention of the media, and has raised close to $9 million for bird conservation.
Thanks to your support over the past four years we’ve been able to help complete some great projects in around DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. Projects include establishing a new butterfly garden along Disposal Road and enhancing native plantings at the Kingsland Overlook and Harrier Meadow. (These projects also received funding from Bergen County Audubon Society.)
Our local team, known as the Meadowlands Marsh Hawks, consists of Mike Newhouse, Chris Takacs, and Mike Wolfe, three top-notch birders.
There’s still time to support our local team!

The link to the Meadowlands Marsh Hawks page is here.

FREE – 7th Annual Mother’s Day Nature Walk for all ages. This walk with the NJMC and BCAS begins at the 5.4-acre Ridgefield Nature Center (once the home of the Great Bear Bottled Water Co.) and ends at Skeetkill Creek Marsh.The walk is run by the NJMC and the BCAS. Plus, we’ll stop to see the Monk Parakeets along the way.
Meet on Shaler Boulevard at Ray Avenue in Ridgefield, NJ. See directions, right.
To register, call Don Torino of the BCAS at 201-230-4983 or register online here.

FREE! Saturday, May 9, 10-2, at River Barge Park in Carlstadt.
Join the New Jersey State Police Marine Division for presentations on boating safety. Bonus: climb aboard a State Police Patrol Boat.
Register here please.

Pool with separate ‘regeneration zone’ where natural materials clean water for swimming.

They’ve been around for almost 30 years now, having originated in Europe, where they are called swimming ponds. But many Americans are just becoming aware of this alternative to the typical chlorine-scented, eye-reddening swimming pool. Natural pools use plants and gravel to filter water, rather than relying on chemicals.

Natural swimming pools combine swimming areas and water gardens. Materials and designs vary — the pools can be lined with rubber or reinforced polyethylene and may look rustic or modern — but they all rely on ‘regeneration’ zones, areas where aquatic plants act as organic cleansers. The pools have skimmers and pumps that circulate the water through the regeneration zone.

Owners need to adjust to the idea of their pool as a living ecosystem and master the maintenance particular to natural pools — trimming dead plants; fishing debris and the occasional snake or turtle out of the water.  It’s not for everyone. But the advantages include infinite design possibilities to give the pool year-round visual interest.
For further reading, see these articles:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/natural-swimming-pool-zmaz02aszgoe.aspx
http://www.gardendesign.com/water/natural-pools.html
http://inhabitat.com/natural-swimming-pools-let-you-beat-the-heat-and-ditch-the-chemicals/
http://organics.org/16-natural-swimming-pools-that-you-wont-believe-are-real/

Glossy Ibis.

Dennis Cheeseman enjoyed his lunch hour at DeKorte Park yesterday… many thanks to him for sharing these great photos.

Common milkweed is about 8″ high in the big patch near the entrance to Lyndhurst Nature Reserve in DeKorte Park. Keep a look out for it in your area and protect it from weed-wackers. The future of the Monarch butterfly is at stake!

About 32 people joined BCAS and NJMC in the Losen Slote woods yesterday. The trails were good and muddy, but except for the rubber tip of a crutch, no casualties were reported. The birds made plenty of noise but were not easy to see among the unfolding leaves. I’ll have to rely on others to report their sightings…
I was distracted by the plants.

Clethra was everywhere – can’t wait to see (and smell) it in bloom. Black Cherry was abundant as well. I saw Arrowwood Viburnum popping up in several places, and a small patch of Highbush Blueberry. Long catkins dripped from the Gray Birch and thick spikey ones stood upright on an unidentified willow. I recognized young Sassafras by it’s fragrant green stems and clusters of tiny yellow flowers at the tips. These will put on a spectacular show when they’re in fall color.

There were ferns by the thousands – at least four types were distinguishable at this fairly early stage. Trout Lily, with it’s mottled leaves, carpeted vast expanses of untrammeled ground . I found a few spent flowers but none in bloom.  Other enthusiastic ground-covers were May Apple (in bud), Wood Anemone, and Sessile-leaved Bellwort. I also saw a couple of Turk’s-cap Lilies and a lone blue viola.

I encourage everyone to visit this lovely and unusual place; there’s not another woodland like it in the meadowlands that is open to the public. It’s like a mini-vacation.

Reminder, this Sunday’s nature walk at Losen Slot Creek Park has been changed to 9:00 am. Meet at the parking lot left of the hockey rink.

For directions see column at right.

Branch Brook Park, Newark NJ.

F.L. Olmsted

Best known as the designer of NY City’s Central Park, Olmsted is considered the Father of American Landscape Architecture in America. He coined the name Landscape Architect for the Central Park design competition, and his influence spread nationwide. He designed Boston’s famed Emerald Necklace and many regional parks. Essex County NJ is home to Branch Brook Park, designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, the sons of FLO. Olmsted considered Brooklyn’s Prospect Park to be his greatest accomplishment.

To see more, visit the FLO National Historic Site here.