The Meadowlands Commission and Bergen Audubon have two great free guided walks lined up for next week.
On Tuesday at 10 a.m., we are visiting Harrier Meadow in North Arlington for a bird-banding demonstration (not to be missed) and a walk in this 70-acre reserve that is usually closed to the public.
On Thursday is our first annual Earth Day Walk at DeKorte, followed by lots of great programs and giveaways at the Meadowlands Environment Center.
More info on both walks and the Earth Day events follows.
Author Archives: NJMC
More About Tree Swallows
We wrote this article on Tree Swallows for a recent edition of The South Bergenite, and thought we would share it here.
Waterfront housing in the Meadowlands has been going up at an amazing rate this spring, and occupancy rates are approaching 100 percent.
Welcome to the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s Tree Swallow Nesting Box Program, an annual community effort that provides housing for 175 tree swallow couples and their youngest offspring.
“It’s simply amazing to see how readily these little birds adapt to nest in the boxes,” says NJMC Naturalist Gabrielle Bennett-Meany, who has been involved with the program since 1998. “There is an instant satisfaction to putting up a nest box and seeing, within moments, a pair of tree swallows appear. It’s an incredible sight.”
About Those Midges….
As visitors to DeKorte Park and other Meadowlands locales may have noticed, we are getting a lot of Midges these days. The good news is that they don’t bite, and the birds (especially the Tree Swallows) love them. The bad news is they can be annoying if you walk too close to a shrub where they are congregating.
They are amazing bugs of the Chironomid family, and they have long “whiskers” on their heads, as evidenced from the two close-up photos (above and on the “jump.”)
More on Chironomids here.
Harrier Meadow Walk: The Full Monte
We had an amazing turnout for our Sunday Harrier Meadow Walk — birds and people. The full list — plus a Sunday list for DeKorte — is below, courtesy of Julie McCall. (Thanks, Julie!)
For the Harrier Meadow List, we added a few from Tom Beattie's list, including the Solitary Sandpiper above. Tom also reported Swallowtail and Cabbage White butterflies. (Thanks, Tom!)
Full lists follow.
Tuesday Teaser 041310
NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse is banding birds near Harrier Meadow again as part of a larger research project, and that means we'll some new bird close-ups to share. Who is this dude? A huge clue and answer follow.
Harrier Walk Highlights
Don Torino of Bergen County Audubon Society reports: "Some 75 people participated in our special Sunday Harrier Meadow Walk.
"We had a wonderful time. Our youngest participant was 6 years old and she loved it, especially the nesting Tree Swallows. Among the highlights were: 20+ Greater Yellowlegs, Killdeer, Palm Warbler, Red-Tailed Hawks, nesting Tree Swallows, Snowy Egret, Gadwall, No. Shovelers,Red-Winged Blackbirds.
We 'll post the full list this week. (Thanks, Don and BCAS for leading the walk. Thanks to Marco Lips for taking photos, including the one above, and thanks to all who spent part of their Sunday in the Meadowlands.)
Wild Turkey Sighting in Rutherford
The Cruzados saw this Wild Turkey near their Donaldson Avenue home in Rutherford Thursday morning and passed along this photo by Ray Cruzado. (Thanks!)
Kearny’s Osprey Nest Back in Business
Last year, a pair of ospreys had a successful nest in Kearny for the first time in the post-DDT era, and began New Jersey's Osprey Nest #042-A-002 — 
one of roughly 430 in New Jersey.
Following up on a report from Ray Duffy, we checked out the nest from Laurel Hill County Park earlier this week and found both ospreys on the nest (above).
They eventually flew off together and circled each other. One then headed off to Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area to look for lunch.
Links to earlier Kearny Osprey posts are here and here.
Link to the New Jersey Osprey Project is here.
Laurel Hill Raven Update
After we got word that Common Ravens had been seen on Disposal Road
Bottom line: All appears well. We saw one raven on the nest (above). We know, it's a little to hard to see a raven in the shade, but we try…
The other raven was perched in the tree below the nest. It was kind enough to fly past — probably on its way to Disposal Road.
To top things off, we had a Peregrine Falcon (above left) fly overhead.
Neat place, that Laurel Hill.
Tomorrow: Kearny Osprey Update.
Monk Parakeet Update
The bridge over the train tracks by Railroad Avenue (where else?) is undergoing repairs, and workers had to remove the (eggless) nests.
Thanks to Karen, the workers did put up two nesting platforms for the parakeets but they were not yet interested in moving in.
In fact the roughly two dozen parakeets were just hanging around the vicinity, apparently waiting for (and hoping for) the workers to finish. When that will be is unclear. (Stay tuned!)
Tomorrow: Laurel Hill Raven Update