The Bergen County Audubon Society is leading a nature walk through Losen Slote Creek Park in Little Ferry followed by a park cleanup this Sunday, May 6. The walk goes from 9 to 11 a.m. and the cleanup starts after the walk and will last until approximately 12:30 pm.

Losen Slote Creek Park is one of the area’s few remaining lowland forests. During the nature walk they’ll be looking for spring migrants, warblers and thrushes.

Please bring gloves and wear appropriate clothes for the cleanup.

For more information contact Don Torino at greatauk4@gmail.com or 201-230-4983.

Mayapple flower

I recall winding up one of our nature walks at DeKorte a few years back when a very nice woman stopped to ask me, “What are those strange plants that look like little green umbrellas growing alongside the building?”  “You mean the turtle umbrellas?”  I asked with a smile.  While they may not actually be turtle umbrellas, they are a great native perennial that by the way really are an important food source to Eastern Box turtles.

Blanketing the forest floor in places like Losen Slote Creek and even in shaded areas of  DeKorte Park, Mayapples (Podophyllum peltatum), are one of those natives plants that never fail to make me smile and remind me why I love our native flora so much. (I think in reality they are actually Gnome umbrellas).

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