Chris Takacs took this shot of a young Yellow Warbler near the Jill's Garden Fountain yesterday.  (Thanks, Chris!)

Kris Niewiadomski took this shot of an American Redstart bathing at the Jill's Garden fountain earlier this week. (Thanks, Kris!)

We are wondering, with so many amazing photos of birds bathing at the fountain, whether we should have some sort of contest.

Any ideas?

Regina Geoghan writes: "One photo from Tuesday of the daylilies just as the skies were starting to clear."  

(Thanks, Regina!)

The daylilies are going full throttle these days, and tons of other flowers are blooming as well.

Definitely worth a visit to DeKorte this weekend.

Who knows? Maybe those skimmers will be back.

Here's your first chance to attend a free September screening of the acclaimed new documentary film, "The Lost Bird Project,"about the stories of five birds driven to extinction in modern times and sculptor Todd McGrain’s project to memorialize them.

The event is on Thursday, Sept. 13,  from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

The Meadowlands Commission, Bergen County Audubon Society and Ramapo College are proud to sponsor this special screening, along with a question-and-answer session afterward with artist Todd McGrain,  director Deborah Dickson, producer Muffie Meyer and executive producer Andy Stern, Jim Wright from the Meadowlands Commission and  Don Torino from Bergen County Audubon Society.

The Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum will have specimens of the extinct Passenger Pigeon on display at the center, and you will also be able to view two Heath Hen specimens after the screening.

We will post more information as the event grows closer, but we wanted to give everyone a heads up so they can save the date.

To reserve seats, click here.

Details about the film follow.

Continue reading →

Congrats to Roy Woodford and Tom S. for each getting half of Tuesday's two-part Teaser.

The nautical signal flags do indeed spell "NJMC" (New Jersey Meadowlands Commission), and were the logo for last month's inaugural River Barge Park Day. (Thanks, Roy and Tom!)

Our latest "Focus on the Meadowlands" post on wildnewjersey.tv features a pic of a perched Peregrine Falcon (above) along the Hackensack River, plus a shot of the young Red-tail on its nest down-river and a Harrier Meadow hare.

The link is here.

Mickey Raine took this sunset shot from Mill Creek Point last weekend.

(Thanks, Mickey!)

We had a great walk yesterday, with 38 species and plenty of folks enjoying the last cool day for a while (we dubbed the walk "The Last Day of Spring Walk").

Highlights included Black Skimmers, a Black-crowned Night Heron or two, and baby Barn Swallows.

A full assortment of pix from the walk is on the Meadowlands Nature Blog's Facebook page. We are planning to use Facebook more, so please "friend" us and pass the word.  Thank you.

The link to our Facebook page is here. Link the photo page from Tuesday's walk is  here.

Full list of birds from Tuesday's walk follows.

Continue reading →

Roy Woodford reports:

"I found that Least Bittern again … hanging around near the Turnpike.  He was gracious enough to sit still for about 3 seconds so I could get a shot."

A link to Roy's previous post on kayaking the Kearny Marsh (with pix) is here.

As of 4:50 p.m. Tuesday, two Black Skimmers were hanging out on the little island in the Shorebird Pool in front of the Meadowlands Environment Center.

Ron Shields reports seeing as many as four there yesterday evening, when the above shot was taken.