Below are photos from Mickey and Elaine Raine’s trips to Mill Creek Marsh on Tuesday and Wednesday. We’ve got a momma mallard leading her charges, what we believe is a Cecropia Moth cocoon (correct us if we’re wrong), Tree Swallows, a Least Sandpiper and the mudflats at low tide. Enjoy!
A warm welcome to our newest contributor, Hector Vilches! Hector sent in these fantastic Tree Swallow photos he took last weekend at DeKorte. It’s always great to have new contributors. Everyone is encouraged to send their photos, siting reports, observations and thoughts on the Meadowlands to the blog. Just drop me an email at brian.aberback@njmeadowlands.gov.
The sweet smelling white flowers of the Summersweet glow like a woodland candelabra through the Sweet gums, Oaks and Sassafras trees, the Mayapples are raised like tiny turtle umbrellas along the forest floor and the Ostrich ferns stand in tribute to a time long ago. A Hairy Woodpecker suddenly clings to a tree right over your head and a Red-Tailed Hawk watches your every move from its perch.
You are in Losen Slote Creek Park in Little Ferry, one of the last stands of hardwood lowland forest in the Meadowlands District and the last that is accessible to the general public. It is a 22-acre hidden gem in an otherwise congested part of Bergen County, where birders can see migrants such as Hooded and Blackburnian Warblers, where Wood and Swainsons Thrush have the run of the forest floor and the Kingfisher’s rattling call can be heard through the woods.