This is Japanese Knotweed, an invasive plant, on a Meadowlands landfill.  As the old fortune cookie saying goes, "Even dirt glitters when the Sun is shining."

     This was a good day for raptor sightings, including a Peregrine Falcon on the Route 3 Bridge (see next week's Tuesday Teaser).

   We also saw a Northern Harrier over the Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area  and eight Ospreys flying over the Richard P. Kane Natural Area by the Hackensack River in Carlstadt.

    The day was topped off by this Red-tailed Hawk, on a Sycamore branch by the far parking lot at DeKorte Park.

   We figure he was keeping an eye out for an unsuspecting squirrel.

  (Thanks to Adam L. for pointing it out!)

   Last week, we posted an item about a hard-to-ID dove we saw on a Harrier Meadow walk (photo above).  Link is here.

    Many readers voted for the Ringed Turtle-Dove, but it just may be a  semi-domestic strain now called "African Collared Dove."

   Click "Continue reading…" for the full explanation.

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    Now that the DeKorte Shorebird Pool water levels have been lowered, we're getting lots of birds fishing and mud-rummaging in there.

   Yesterday, we saw these two Snowy Egrets with Mohawk-hairdos have a little spat over fishing grounds — just like nations like to do.

   One of the tricks of finding shorebirds at DeKorte is timing the mudflats. Unfortunately, it's a bit of an art and a science. 

   In this post, we'll try to suggest some ways of increasing your odds of  getting a good shorebird day.

   (Be advised that this week, we are trying to reduce the water levels in the Shorebird Pool to complete some building maintenance, so there should be  opportunities to see good birds — like the Lesser Yellowlegs above — all week long.)

  Here's the main rule of thumb for timing the other tidal impoundments:

   To find out roughly when the low tide at DeKorte is going to be, calculate the low tide at the Amtrak Swing Bridge on the Hackensack River, and add two hours.

   Click "Continue reading…" for links to the tide charts and another mudflat shot.

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   Thanks again to everyone who took a flier on the weather and attended "A Day With Kevin Karlson" on Saturday.

   We had a spot or two of rain during the morning walk, but we did have enough mudflats in the Shorebird Pool to get a lot of peeps and several other good birds.

   Thanks again to Kevin Karlson, ably assisted by NJMC Naturalist Michael Newhouse, NYC "Mega-birder" Lloyd Spitalnik and Ace North Jersey birder Rob Fanning.

    Click "Continue reading…" for the Full Monte.

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082409: Neil Maruca reports: Meadowlands Highlights: Long-billed Dowitcher, Short-billed Dowitcher, Solitary Sandpiper, Yellow-crowned Night Heron

   In The Kingsland Impoundment at DeKorte Park on Sunday, there were 17 Dowitchers, 67 yellowlegs and 3 Solitary Sandpipers viewable from the parking lot , in addition to 100+ Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers. The Dowitcher breakdown was 14 Short-billed (Atlantic subspecies), 1 Short Billed (Prairie Subspecies) and 2 Long-billed. The Yellowleg breakdown was
55 Lesser to 12 Greater, Solitary were in with the Lessers.

The Yellow Crown night heron was an adult, found in the marshes on the Secaucus bank of the Hackensack River, which had good shorebird counts also (60+ Semipalmated Plovers, 250+ Peep, 2 Solitary Sandpipers, both Yellowlegs). Had a candidate for a Baird's sandpiper (20% larger than the larger Semipalmateds, black legs, buffy/peach breast) but I lost sight of it in the reeds before I could confirm the wing extension and feather pattern on the back. 🙁

   (Thanks, Neil!)

Click "Continue reading…" for more August reports.

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    Here's a couple of new photos of a Cicada — one of the guys who has been making all that racket in the trees at DeKorte Park and elsewhere.

    More on Cicadas here.

   A nice recent New Jersey article on Cicada, crickets and Katydids is here.