This guy — photographed recently by Regina Geoghan in Jill’s Garden– is one of our favorites. And he’s a tricky one, in honor of our upcoming Moth Night on Monday, July 22, and Butterfly Day on Sunday, July 28.   Who is he?

With the folks from National Moth Week visiting DeKorte next Monday for our 2nd annual Moth Night, thought we’d pass along this story about the New Jersey-based group.

Here’s a sample, from mycentraljersey.com:

Move over cicadas, moths are taking over for a week.

Much of the insect attention this summer has focused on the noisy cicada’s that have infiltrated parts of New Jersey after being dormant for 17 years. But from July 20 to 28, a much quieter, and arguably more attractive, species will be on display.

Citizen scientists around the world will be setting up white sheets and lights in backyards, woods and fields hoping to spot one or more of the roughly 5,000 species of moths as part of the second annual National Moth Week.

This global science project started last year to encourage the public to observe and document one of nature’s most diverse — and misunderstood — creatures.

Link is here.

The kickoff events for National Moth Week are this Saturday in East Brunswick. You can download the flier for these free events is here:

KICKOFF EVENTS FLIER.

Tuesday’s birding-by-pontoon-boat trip has been moved to Thursday, July 25, at 10 a.m., with added seating now available.

Details follow!
Continue reading →

Tuesday morning’s pontoon-boat event with BCAS has been postponed because of the current high temperatures, which would make the cruise less than delightful.

We are rescheduling, and hope to expand the number of boats available.

Stay tuned!

And stay cool.

Just fyi…

We had a great breeding season for Peregrine Falcons in the Meadowlands, with at least two nesting pair producing at least three young.  This may well be the first time in recent memory that we have had two successful nesting pair in the district.

(Thanks to the NJMC’s Angelo Urato for the photo above!)

Photographed Thursday in Jill’s Garden DeKorte Park.

Still no Monarchs…

Question Mark and the Mysterions. How do we know it’s a Question Mark and not a Comma? See last image.

Went for a quick walk to Jill’s Garden in DeKorte Park around 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, and the calvacade of butterflies began soon after.   (Plus two species of clear-winged moth.)  Not many, but a great assortment.

Snowberry Clear-winged Moth

Two are pictured above; many more follow!  All photographed Thursday. Where were these guys last Sunday? Continue reading →

One of our favorite events of the year is Moth Night at DeKorte Park — brought to you by the masterminds behind National Moth Week and sponsored by the Meadowlands Commission and Bergen County Audubon Society.

The folks at National Moth Week will be bringing their bright lights, moth cloths and moth bait to DeKorte Park on Monday, July 22, from 8:30 to 11 p.m. As we did last year, we expect to see some pretty cool moths — and learn about these amazing, misunderstood, nocturnal creatures.

Link to a recent South Bergenite column on Moth Night is here.

National Moth Week’s Facebook page is here.

More information and some pix from last year follow. Continue reading →