It was just outside the Administration Building by the WTC Memorial Cove as of 4:45 p.m.

This revived weekly feature is brought to you by the Meadowlands Commission’s Parks Department to give you some historical background on how local places, landmarks, and geographical features  got their name.

We at the Meadowlands Commission are always scratching our heads on how to spell “Gunnell Oval” in Kearny.

The sign says “Gunnell Oval,” but everywhere we look, we see it spelled “Gunnel.”

The NJMC’s Angelo Urato did some investigating:

“Kearny’s Gunnell Oval Park was named after Benjamin E. Gunnell.  He was a popular youth in town, attended the Roosevelt School,  and was a very good baseball player.

He died in 1918 fighting the Germans in WWI.

The sign at the entrance of the park spells his name GUNNELL.
The  Web site for the Kearny Monument for soldiers who died in for WWI has his name listed as “Gunnel.”

Can anybody shed more light? (We are betting that “Gunnell” is the correct spelling.)

Neat story by Environmental Writer Jim O’Neill in The Record today about the need for more folks to plant milkweed to help save Monarch Butterflies.

The link is here.

We asked folks yesterday to ID the bug egg casing seen on last week’s Mill Creek Marsh walk.

Dan McDonough, Secuacus town historian, pointed out the casing and identified it as belonging to a Carolina Mantis. John Beetham ID’d it correctly on the blog as well. (Thanks, Dan and John! John’s nifty nature blog is here.)

More on Carolina Mantises here.

Our next free guided walk will be Sunday, June 1, at 10 a.m., at DeKorte Park, followed by a free reception for the Flyway Gallery show, images from “The Nature of the Meadowlands.”

More on the gallery show here.

Full listing follows. Continue reading →

Secaucus Town Historian Dan McDonough pointed out (and identified) this unusual insect egg casing. Do you know what it is?

Answer tomorrow.

Judging from reports (and lack thereof), the Cinnamon Teal has not been seen today. Nor has a Black-necked Stilt reported at DeKorte yesterday.

Bird was found by NJMC Naturalist Emeritus Don Smith Friday morning.  Could be a released/escaped bird, but no bands on legs.

Bird not seen since 10:15 a.m. Friday that we know of, but will post if it is resighted…

The tide was in again as of 3 p.m., and we have had no new sightings. Saturday morning from 10:30 on might be a possibility as the tide goes out again, exposing fresh mudflats…

The equivalent time of the sighting on Saturday would be 11 a.m. or so.  Please e-mail Jim Wright at jim.wright (@) njmeadowlands.gov if you see the bird — and please share any photos.

More on Cinnamon Teal here.  Scroll down blog or click here for map of where teal was seen.

Stopped by River Barge Park at 2:30 p.m. Friday to see 19 Black Skimmers on the rowing dock.  (Nine of which are pictured above.)

A half-hour earlier, roughly nine had been on a nearby mudflat, and none on the dock.

We hope they stick around.

Today (Friday, May 23) is World Turtle Day. Best not to click on the link. You can’t make this stuff up.