A montage of a few of the early summer native flowers blooming at Richard W. DeKorte Park in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Flowers include Oakleaf Hydrangea, Lace Cap Hydrangea, Swamp Milkweed, Orange Butterfly Weed, Coneflowers, Queen Anne’s Lace and Salva.

Many thanks to Regina Geoghan for these beautiful photos of a number of native flowers and daylilys at DeKorte. Come see them for yourself! And don’t forget the BCAS is leading a Birds and Butterflies Walk at DeKorte this Sunday, July 3, from 10 am to noon. For more information email greatauk4@gmail.com or call 201-230-4983.

A montage of various early summer daylilies blooming at Richard W. DeKorte Park in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

A while back I was being interviewed by a television reporter regarding the Bergen County Audubon Society’s  “Milkweed in Every Yard” program, a project that was developed to help the Monarch Butterfly. “So why does the Audubon Society care about butterflies, after all aren’t you guys about birds right ?” the grinning reporter asked. I was at first a little surprised by the query. After all who doesn’t care about butterflies? However, it was a very good question, why should anyone care about butterflies anyway?

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Don’t forget to come out to DeKorte this coming Sunday, July, 3, for the Bergen County Audubon Society’s “Birds and Butterflies” walk. We’ll be looking for our favorite summer species, including Monarchs, Swallowtails, Skippers, Egrets and Orioles.

The walk is from 10 am to noon. For more information email greatauk4@gmail.com or call 201-230-4983.

Meadowlands Moth Night is part of National Moth Week. For more information, including some astounding facts and figures, click here

A view of a daylily field at Richard W. DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst New Jersey.

As we reach mid-afternoon and head toward the homestretch for the week, here are some beautiful daylilies from DeKorte photographed by Regina Geoghan. Thanks Regina!

Have a great weekend everyone!

We’ve been getting great photos from Mickey Raine lately of birds at the fountain at Jill’s Garden in DeKorte Park. More are below. But we thought it important to also let you know about the origin of Jill’s Garden. The area honors the memory of Jill Ann Ziemkiewicz, a Rutherford native and the youngest member of the flight crew assigned to TWA flight 800, which fell into the ocean off Long Island on July 17,1996. Read more about Jill’s Garden here

Diamondback Terrapin

This Tuesday’s BCAS nature walk at Mill Creek Point Park in Secaucus proved extremely fruitful. Mickey Raine photographed an abundance of species.

Don’t forget our next guided walk is Sunday, July 3, at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, from 10 a.m. to noon. The walk will focus on birds and butterflies. For more information contact greatauk4@gmail.com or call 201-230-4983.

Double Crested Cormorant

Double Crested Cormorant

Great Black-backed Gull

Marsh Wren

Egret

Red-tailed hawk

According to the 1969 hit song by  Tony Joe White, “Poke Salad Annie,” Annie would go down to the truck patch and pick a mess of poke salad, but unfortunately later in the song a gator eats her Granny.  Despite Granny’s bad luck, Pokeweed is an amazing native plant that is an important food source for our birds and should have a place in our  wildlife habitats.

Pokeweed (Phytolacca Americana), also known as Pokeberry, Pokeroot and Pigeon Berry, is an herb native to New Jersey which grows just about anywhere, from waste areas to any backyard that has birds passing through it. It is a good bet that if you walked out to your backyard or took a stroll down the corner right now that you would find some Pokeweed growing around, in between or next to something in your neighborhood. I first thought it gots its name Pokeweed because it pokes its head everywhere in my backyard, between my milkweeds, in my honeysuckle you name it. But it is okay with me and especially okay with many bird species .

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Mickey Raine ventured out to DeKorte this past Sunday and found Egrets, Red-winged blackbirds, Cedar Waxwing and even a Bald Eagle flying overhead.As a bonus we’ve included a Fiddler Crab Mickey photographed at Mill Creek Marsh last Tuesday.

Wanted to take the opportunity to commend and congratulate Wyckoff Girl Scout Troop 94686, who just dedicated a new butterfly garden in their town, the culmination of a year’s worth of work. The garden is located in Russell Farms Community Park in the township.

The girls earned their Bronze Awards for creating the garden that will grow Milkweed, the sole plant that provides food for caterpillars that turn into Monarch butterflies and the only place adult Monarchs will lay eggs.

As one scout said, “The monarchs are so pretty and graceful. They are a symbol of happiness and hope.” Read an article on the scouts here.