The first day of Spring is Sunday, but bulbs are already beginning to bloom in DeKorte Park. Thanks to Regina Geoghan for this montage taken yesterday.
Top row: Crocus flowers
Lower left: Yellow and white Daffodil
Lower right quadrant: All crocus except top right (Yellow Daffodil)
Join us this Monday, March 21, from 6 to 7 pm for Evening Yoga at the Meadowlands Environment Center.
Adults of all ages/levels welcomed — focus on alignment, flow and warmth followed by a restorative pose to unwind the body and mind for bed. Open to all levels of students-beginner to advanced, ages 14 and up. Poses can be modified to accommodate all levels. Additional session on Monday, April 18.
Cost is $10. To register, click here.
Hope to see you Monday!
A while back a news reporter came along on one of our field trips, and as reporters often do, they ask a general question to allow the readers to learn something about the subject of their story. “So what is a birder and why do you consider yourself a birder?” the young correspondent asked me with kind of a smirk.
Now, for those that know me, I am rarely at a loss for words, but at that moment I found I was more than a bit speechless. How was I to explain with a quick comment what it is we love so much in just a few sentences? And why does someone consider themselves a birder? I think I remember answering his question by saying something dumb like, “We are birders because we enjoy looking at birds.”
Not very informative to say the least and a little lacking trying to explain what I have been doing with my life the last 40 or so years, but to this day I have not entirely learned how to answer that question, and I have not come to terms with what exactly is birding and what makes someone a birder ?
Chris Takacs took this shot yesterday of a Horned Grebe at DeKorte Park. Chris writes that while it’s common to see the waterfowl in the winter in Liberty State Park and Newark Bay, it’s pretty uncommon here. But the Grebes appear to be making their way north. More than 40 were spotted in the Bayonne and Jersey City area this past weekend.
Don Torino of the Bergen County Audubon Society reports that yesterday’s nature walk at Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus proved very fruitful, with sightings of Bald Eagles, Great Cormorants and much, much more.
Below is a bevy of great photos from the walk taken by Joe Koscielny.
The BCAS’ next free Meadowlands walk is Sunday, April 3, from 10 am to noon at Harrier Meadow in North Arlington, a beautiful natural area which is normally closed to the public. They’ll be keeping an eye out for lingering waterfowl and early spring arrivals. Meets outside the gate to Disposal Road, which is accessed off Schuyler Avenue. For more information: 201-230-4983 or greatauk4@gmail.com.
Enjoy these photos!
Cormorants
Great Cormorant
Adult Bald Eagle
Adult Bald Eagle
Gadwall
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Herons
Northern Mockingbird
Peregrine Falcon
There’s a story in today’s Record about the Tenafly Nature Center’s plan to install a Butterfly Garden. Check out the article here.
Join the Bergen County Audubon Society for a free Nature Walk at Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus tomorrow, March 15, from 10 am to noon. They’ll be looking for ravens, raptors and waterfowl. Meet in the parking lot at the ballfields. Information: greatauk4@gmail.com or 201-230-4983.
Join the Bergen County Audubon Society for a free Nature Walk at Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus on Tuesday, March 15, from 10 am to noon. They’ll be looking for ravens, raptors and waterfowl. Meet in the parking lot at the ballfields. Information: greatauk4@gmail.com or 201-230-4983.
Mickey Raine got some spectacular photos yesterday of a Tree Swallow and feeding Great Black-backed Gull at DeKorte and a Red-winged Blackbird at Mill Creek.
Mickey writes
I took a quick drive over to DeKorte Park and Mill Creek Marsh early this afternoon, and it was exciting to see and hear some of the early arrivals of the Tree Swallows. At first, I thought I was imagining things, but when looking way up high in the air, there they were . . . A trio of the incredible aerial acrobats swooshing every which way with hair pin turns on a dime. Apparently, the newly arriving bugs were flying about and serving as meals for these adorable flying machines.
While walking down Transco Trail toward the back parking area, I noticed way up ahead, a fairly large Gull, busily trying to eat something relatively large. When I realized, as I got closer, that it was a Great Black-Backed Gull, I knew that it was not going to be some clam, but most likely perch or some other fish. Well, there is was, maneuvering its placement within its beak, and ultimately getting the fish to slide down fully. Notice how thick the neck is in the two photos-.
Afterward, at Mill Creek Marsh, the Red-Winged Blackbirds were engaged in the endless competition for territorial claim and maybe attracting mates–although I did not see any females. The males were seen at every turn, and it was so much fun to watch them compete and respond to one another by going one decibel louder each time. The sun was very limited at the time, but during one brief moment, just enough appeared in letting me see the one captured for this email batch. The RWBB were flying like little fighter jets from one tree to the other, and this one you see here flew completely across the main body of water as if to engage in some direct challenge to a boisterous one on the far end.
Well, it certainly had all the sounds and makings of spring around the corner. I am hoping that this means no more snow.
Have yourselves a very beautiful weekend.
This morning NJSEA staffers were busy at Harrier Meadow mounting and installing Tree Swallow nesting boxes for the beautiful, magnetic blue spring migrants who have started to appear in the Meadowlands. They have arrived a bit earlier than normal thanks to the warm weather. In addition to our photos from this morning, we’ve included file photos of Tree Swallows outside their new homes.
Tree Swallows migrate to the Meadowlands by the hundreds every spring and our naturalists are busy installing dozens of nesting boxes around the Meadowlands District in our marshes and the Hackensack River. The Tree Swallow is a secondary cavity nester, which means it must have the use of dead trees to nest in, and it must have a hole that has been excavated by a primary cavity nester. Loss of habitat and competition for nest sites from other bird species are part of the reason why we provide these vital nest boxes for these birds.
Here’s a complete primer on tree swallows:
The Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) is a small, beautiful bird about 5 ½ inches in length and has a metallic blue or blue-green upper part and a white under part. Tree Swallows are one of the first swallows to migrate back to this area for the spring nesting season. Hundreds of pairs can be found around lakeshores, streams, flooded Meadowlands and marshes.