Yesterday we posted about NJSEA naturalists this summer building Wood Duck boxes. They were also busy constructing bat boxes.
While bats have a reputation as creepy, they actually provide major positive impacts for the environment. To start, bats can eat thousands of mosquitoes and crop destroying insects in a single evening. In the rain forest, bats can spread seeds that help to plant new growth.
Here are some cool aerials of the Secaucus High School Marsh site from 300 feet in the air. The photo was taken by a camera tethered to a balloon by NJSEA researchers for vegetation mapping and monitoring to asses wetland health and observe plant communities. Thanks to Brian Wlodawski for providing!
Thanks to Dee DeSantis for these great photos of the American White Pelican and friends from yesterday’s DeKorte walk! The next BCAS Meadowlands walk is Sunday, Oct. 1, at Losen Slote Creek Park in Little Ferry, from 10 am to noon. For more info email greatauk4@gmail.com or call 201-230-4983. Hope to see you there!
NJSEA naturalists spent time this summer constructing and placing Wood Duck boxes in the Meadowlands. Check it out!
On approximately 40 non-consecutive days between Oct. 1, 2017, and June 11, 2018, boaters will not be able to go further south on the Hackensack River than the Hudson Generating Station in Jersey City. This is due to the placement of the new center span on the Wittpenn Bridge that spans Jersey City to Kearny.
Closure dates will be posted on the USCG website notice page at https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=lnmDistrict®ion=1 as they become available. Boaters can register at the site to receive weekly notices. There is a link at the top left hand corner of the page to register with their email notification service.
American Golden Plover
We’ll close out the day with some more great shots from Ron Shields at the Kearny Marsh. Ron writes: Here are some additional images taken over the past week which include a closeup of a Golden Plover, a Black-bellied Plover and a Pectoral sandpiper. They are great birds for the Kearny Marsh and the Meadowlands. There have been upwards of two dozen plus pectoral sandpipers present which is the most I have ever seen there and this is only the second time I have photographed Black-bellied plovers in the Kearny Marsh.
Black-bellied Plover
Pectoral Sandpiper
American Golden Plover
Ron Shields photographed someGolden Plovers and Wilson’s Phalarope at the Kearny Marsh in the past week. These are great birds for the Marsh and the Meadowlands! This is also the first time Ron has spotted the phalarope in the marsh. Thanks Ron!
American Golden Plover
Wilson’s Phalarope
Wilson’s Phalarope
Wilson’s Phalarope
Jim Wright
The BCAS and NJSEA have plenty of great activities lined up for the Meadowlands Birding Festival on Saturday, Oct. 7, at DeKorte Park, from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm!
Today we’re spotlighting the”Nature of the Meadowlands” talk by Jim Wright, with photography tips by nature photographer Ron Shields, at 10:30 am in the MEC Auditorium.
The talk marks the five-year anniversary of Wright’s book, “The Nature of the Meadowlands,” which was written for the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.The lavishly illustrated, 128-page book illuminates the Meadowlands’ natural and unnatural history, including its darkest days of a half-century ago and its environmental revival. Ron contributed many of the book’s beautiful photos.
Jim’s column, “The Bird Watcher,” appears bi-weekly in The Record. His blog is The Celery Farm and Beyond
Ron Shields is an avid birding photographer in the Meadowlands who was recently featured in a Record article.
Bring the kids to the Meadowlands Environment Center on Oct. 19 for an evening of not-so-spooky fun featuring live wolf and bat presentations! Experts will explain how they benefit the environment, dispel myths and show that these important creatures aren’t so scary after all. There will also be games and crafts. Don’t miss this great family night out!
The event runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Bat presentations at 5:45 and 7:30 pm Wolf program at 6:30 pm Crafts and games ongoing.
To register click here
Some good news stories over the weekend on the reintroduction of Bobwhite Quail into the Pine Barrens by the New Jersey Audubon Society and the spotting of a of a juvenile male Peregrine Falcon in August at DeKorte Park that was fledged in Richmond, Va., in late June.
Check out the Bobwhite story here and the Peregrine article here
