The plants are in the ground!

One month ago the Bergen County Audubon Society awarded a $3,500 grant to the NJSEA for songbird and pollinator plantings at the Lyndhurst Nature Reserve in DeKorte Park. Supervisor of Park Planning Katy Weidel reports that workers today and yesterday planted approximately 2,500 plugs of Common Milkweed and Rose Mallow (Hibiscus) as well as 250 Black Cherries (fruit consumed by over 30 species of birds – host plant for Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Viceroy butterflies) and Red Chokeberry (fruit for the birds and nectar for the butterflies).

Katy tells us that the plants will increase foraging, cover, and nesting habitats for a variety of songbirds, and provide a nectar and larvae sources for butterflies. Thanks to the BCAS for its generosity!

Chris Takacs got this shot of a banded White crowned Sparrow near DeKorte Park today. Chris reports that the numbers on the band indidcate that the sparrow may have been marked during the Harrier Meadow banding project.

The decline of a species is a very insidious affair. Their departure almost seems to go unnoticed until it sneaks up on you when you least expect it. It feels as if when no one is watching you wake up one day and realize you no longer see the bird you once loved as often as you have in the past. Then you begin to look around and wonder why, and ask what could have happened ?

In reality, of course, the deterioration of a species of wildlife does not happen overnight and usually has multiple causes, but the warning signs are always there waiting to be found. The American Kestrel is one of those species that holds a special place in my heart. Unfortunately, while it once graced the skies of the Meadowlands, it has now sadly seen a dramatic decline in a very short time.

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