Thanks to Marco van Brabant for these photos taken at DeKorte Park yesterday showing the park’s natural environs during a gusty day. A great glimpse of the park!

Great Egret

The Great Egret, the iconic bird of our Meadowlands,  has returned once again to welcome all who visit special places such as DeKorte Park and Mill Creek Marsh. The Egrets, Herons, shorebirds, raptors and the over 200 species of birds seen in the Meadowlands have become the symbol of a healthy environment, one that has returned from the brink, like many of the birds it now embraces.

I love to watch the faces of newcomers when a Great Egret glides low overhead for their very first time. I know it is something that will stay in their hearts forever. But that experience  almost didn’t become a reality. In fact, birds like those we cherish in the Meadowlands today were almost gone forever if it were not for a law passed 100 years ago: the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

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