Join the Bergen County Audubon Society tomorrow, Oct. 20, for their Third-Tuesday-of-the-Month Meadowlands Nature Walk. The free walk is at Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus from 10 am to noon. Keep an eye out for migrating raptors, shorebirds and other birds of interest, like the Northern Harrier shown in this post. The walk meets at the main parking lot by the ball fields. For more information, email greatauk4@gmail.com or call 201-230-4983.
Common Yellowthroat Credit: Fred Nisenholz
We’re very happy to have a bonus second column today from our friend Don Torino at the Bergen Audubon Society. It’s a very heartfelt piece about the everyday challenges of being an environmentalist and the small things that keep us going. Enjoy!
They say to be a conservationist one must forever be an eternal optimist. Anyone that pronounces themselves an environmentalist knows all too well that, to carry on the day-to-day conflicts and struggles that at times seem to be overwhelming, we must have faith that in one way or another we can change the world for the better.
I am sure that somewhere deep in my heart, between the frustrations, public indifference and exhaustion, that is what must be driving all of us to continue. Nevertheless there are those times the undying hopefulness begins to fade and even dwindle into the defeats of the day .
White-Winged-Crossbill-at-Losen-Slote-feeding-on-Sweetgum-seeds-Photo-by-Maureen-Krane
(Note: We will be posting a bonus column from Don around 2 p.m. today!)
A few winters back birders from all over New Jersey and some neighboring states descended upon Losen Slote Creek Park in Little Ferry to see if they could get a look at Redpolls and White-winged Crossbills that were generous enough to stop over and give us local folks a thrill. As a multitude of binoculars gazed skyward I could hear a nice young lady cry out, “There they are on the itchy balls!” I couldn’t help but laugh . I hadn’t heard the tree referred to by that name for a very, very long time . The tree that she was so happily denoting was, of course, a Liquidambar styraciflua – the Sweetgum tree.
We are thrillled to announce that Scott Weidensaul, one of the nation’s leading naturalists, will give a free talk at the Meadowlands Environment Center at 7:30 pm on Friday, Nov. 13. Weidensaul’s talk on the plight of migratory birds is titled, “Birds, Beans and Conservation: Simple Ways to Save Migratory Birds.”
Scott Weidensaul is the author of more than two dozen books, including the Pulitzer Prize-finalist about migratory birds, “Living on the Wind.” Weidensaul’s newest book: “The Peterson Reference Guide to Owls of North America and the Caribbean,” will be available for purchase, and Scott will sign autographs of the book after the event. This program is sponsored by Birds & Beans: The Good Coffee, and hosted by the Bergen County Audubon Society. For more information, email greatauk4@gmail.com or call 201-230-4983.
Join the Bergen County Audubon Society on Oct. 20 for their Third- Tuesday-of-the-Month Meadowlands Nature Walk. The free walk is at Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus from 10 am to noon. Keep an eye out for migrating raptors, shorebirds and other birds of interest, like the Northern Harrier shown in this post. The walk meets at the main parking lot by the ballfields. For more information, email greatauk4@gmail.com or call 201-230-4983.
Following up on last week’s photos of still-active Monarch Butterflies at Jill’s Garden in DeKorte Park, above are some great shots taken by Regina Geoghan yesterday.
Chris Takacs sent in this photo from today of a stern looking Merlin perched atop a cedar in the Meadowlands. Chris said the bird was doing some serious hunting around the area. As you can tell, this Merlin was all business.
Let’s hear it for Big Blue! No, we’re not talking about the New York Giants’ victory last night. Rather, these amazing Great Blue Heron shots at Mill Creek Marsh that Mickey Raine sent this morning. Writes Mickey: We took a short trip to the Marsh during low tide, and there to greet us was the real BIG BLUE–the Great Blue Heron. The other local Big Blue, the NY Giants NFL team, was preparing for the game at Met Life Stadium in the Meadowlands, only about 1.5 miles from the Marsh.
This critter today seemed to be a bit of a ham, almost as if wanting to have its photos taken. It remained pretty calm and moved along the water in deliberate fashion. Unfortunately, the tide level was probably too low for larger fish to be swimming in the immediate vicinity of the large wading bird. In addition to the Big Blue, we noticed female Common Merganser hanging out with some Mallards, and a Green Winged Teal doing the same in a different spot.
Happy Columbus Day. Enjoy the beautiful weather!
It’s late in the season, but you can still see some great butterflies at DeKorte Park. Chris Takacs saw about a dozen Monarchs at Jill’s Garden yesterday and a couple more around the Meadowlands this morning. Head on down before the winged marvels say goodbye for the year.
The Sweetgums, White Oaks and Sassafras trees are turning the crimsons, golds and yellows of fall. The ferns still stand at attention on the forest floor as they did in the ancient woodlands of the past. A Hairy Woodpecker suddenly clings to a tree right over your head and a Red-Tailed Hawk watches your every move from its noble perch. You are in Losen Slote Park in Little Ferry, one of the last stands of hardwood lowland forest in the Meadowlands and one of the most beautiful and unique places in the Meadowlands, especially in fall.
The Losen Slote (Dutch word for winding Creek) is a 22-acre hidden gem in an otherwise congested part of Bergen County, a unique lowland forest habitat where you are transformed to another time where the Muskrat, Box Turtle and Red Fox still roam. Where the Wood Duck and Hooded Mergansers are framed by the surrounding Gray Birch trees now full of goldfinch and eagerly await Pine Siskins and Redpolls of winter. This is where the Fox Sparrows and Carolina Wrens spend many of their autumn days and the Coopers and Sharp-shinned hawks and even the Barred Owl hunt like they have for thousands of years.