There’s a good article in today’s Record newspaper about the dwindling number of Monarch Butterflies in Bergen County and throughout the country, mainly due to the increased use of herbicides that have destroyed milkweed, the only plant a Monarch’s larvae will eat. Check out the story here

To learn more about the plight of the Monarch, come to the Sixth Annual Butterfly Day on Sunday, July 26, from 10 am to 3 pm in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. Bergen County Audubon Society President Don Torino will be giving 15-minute talks, at 10:10 am, 12:10 pm, and 2:10 pm,  on Monarchs and how you can help boost their numbers.

This free event also includes butterfly walks, a kids scavenger hunt with prizes, a costume contest (for ages 12 and under), face painting, crafts, coloring stations and music. Experts from Bergen County Audubon and the North Jersey Chapter of the North American Butterfly Association will be onsite to help identify the winged marvels and will supply tips for identifying butterflies, attracting them to your home garden, and more.

For more information on Butterfly Day and to register, click here.

An NJSEA staffer took this photo yesterday of a butterfly hanging out near the Science Center at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. She asked what type of butterfly it is. The answer to her question is a question, more specically it’s a Question Mark butterfly, the common name for the Polygonia interrogationis species. The moniker  comes from the silver mark on the underside of the hindwing, which broken into two parts, a curved line and a dot, creating a ?-shaped mark.

I was lucky enough to see Chris Takacs when I pulled into work this morning at DeKorte Park. Chris informed that he had seen nine Least Terns along the metal boardwalk of the Marsh Discovery Trail and that this is an unusually high number of Leasts for DeKorte. Higher numbers are seen in the impoundments of the Kearny Marsh and Kearny Marsh East. There had been more in DeKorte years ago but they don’t nest around the park anymore.

This morning Angelo Urato of the NJSEA spotted a pair of American white pelicans on the mudflats at Saw Mill Creek in the Lyndhurst-North Arlington area, an exceedingly rare sighting for this region. Angelo snapped the photo while captaining an NJSEA pontoon boat tour and, as of this morning, they could not be seen from land.

Nearly a year-to-the-date (July 6, 2014) a lone American white pelican was spotted on the Saw Mill Creek mudflats in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. George, as the pelican was christened, could be seen all the way through Oct. 17, at least 104 days.

Could one of these pelicans be George, which Ron Shields beautifully captured last year in the photo seen below? Hopefully the duo will move closer to shoreline. We’ll keep you posted. Send along any sighting reports and photos to brian.aberback@njmeadowlands.gov

More than 40 nature enthusiasts traversed Mill Creek Point Park in Secaucus this past Sunday, viewing  Red-Tailed hawks, Marsh Wrens, Snowy Egrets, osprey and more during a nature walk led by the Bergen County Audubon Society and the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. Some elusive clapper rails were heard but not seen.

Don’t fret if you missed out. Our next guided walk, which focuses on birds and butterflies, is Tuesday, July 21, from 10 a.m. to noon at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst.

Speaking of butterflies, don’t miss our Sixth Annual Butterfly Day on Sunday, July 26, also at DeKorte Park, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event includes a full day of butterfly walks and free kids activities including a scavenger hunt, face painting, Butterfly Costume Contest (for kids 12 and under) and butterfly crafts. Experts will be onsite to help you identify these winged marvels.

For more information on the July 21 walk and Butterfly Day, go to www.njmeadowlands.gov and click on events.

This exhibit took place last fall in Oslo, Norway. Artist Per Kristian Nygård’s work explores the possibilities of space. This grassy installation merges an organized architectural environment with the organic nature of landscapes. The large piece causes an intuitive and physical response to the experience of “entering a space where everything’s wrong but feels right,” said the artist. Read more here.

An early precedent for Nygard’s work has been on view in lower Manhattan since 1977. Walter De Maria’s New York Earth Room, on the second floor of 141 Wooster Street, contains 250 cubic yards of earth, covering 3.600 square feet of floor space, 22 inches deep. The sculpture weighs 280,000 lbs. Walking into the small space is a heady experience, as the scent will make you feel like you’ve entered a wet forest; the sight of such beautiful, pure earth in the midst of the city is surprisingly moving.
The New York Earth Room is currently closed for the summer and will reopen on September 9.
Find more about Walter De Maria here.

“Droppings and the Dam(n) ” is a large-scale installation created by Indian sculptor Arunkumar H.G., for this year’s Sculpture by the Sea event in Aarhus, Denmark. The monumental polychrome structure was woven out of 70,000 discarded plastic bottle tops and steel wire, conveying a powerful environmental message. See more at Junkculture here.

River Barge Park will be open during the Secaucus fireworks display tonight, July 2nd. It’s a great place for viewing – right across the river from the launch site.