The New Saw Mill Creek Paddling Guide: Digital Version

  NJMC Saw Mill Canoe
   By popular demand, we are providing a downloadable PDf of our new Saw Mill Creek Paddling Guide. This way you can see a digital version and save paper. Do not try to print it out… It is set up to be read on a computer.

   We are posting all six of our new or reprinted guides over the next week.

   Next: The DeKorte Park Trail Guide.

Download NJMC Saw Mill Creek Paddling Guide

July 4 Nature Walk at DeKorte

     Our First-Sunday-of-the-Month for July is on Independence Day. This free two-hour guided nature walk starts outside the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, and runs from 10 a.m.
   We’ll walk around the square-mile park, looking for Black Skimmers, butterflies and various egrets and herons. The walk is run by the New Jersey
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adowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.
   To rsvp, contact Don Torino of the BCAS at greatauk4@aol.com or 201-636-4022.  

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    We had a nice turnout for our Tuesday walk, with extremely low water levels in the Shorebird Pool.
   Highlights were up-close looks at Blue Crabs, several Black-crowned Night Herons, dozens of egrets and a baby Tree Swallow sticking its head out of the nesting box.   Next walk is Thursday at noon.

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July 20: Tuesday Morning Pontoon Boat Birding Cruise

  NJMC pontoon boat at Saw Mill
    For the first anniversary of our third-Tuesday-of-the-month nature walks,  we thought we would do a Hackensack River cruise on the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission's great pontoon boats.
   The cruise lasts two hours and costs just $15. We are aiming to make this a cruise for both birders and nature photographers.
   You can download a registration form here. You can call 201-460-4640 to reserve a seat or two and to get more information. Space is limited, so best to register early. If there's a lot of demand, we will see if we can do more of these. 
   This NJMC cruise is in conjunction with the Bergen County Audubon Society, and Don Torino of BCAS and Jim Wright of the NJMC will be pointing out various BOIs (birds of interest).
   Link to the registration form is here; fill in "Bird Cruise, July 20" for the date.

  

  

DeKorte Mud Flats Emerging

  

   As of 4:30 p.m. today, water levels in the DeKorte Shorebird Pool have dropped dramatically in advance of a routine inspection of the piling-restoration work done under the Visitors Center in the Meadowlands Environment Center.

   A quick look found no unusual birds of interest. The Marsh Discovery Trail will be open at noon on Tuesday and Thursday for the the weekly 90-minute walks.  Contact Jim Wright here if you want to rsvp for a walk. 

Studying Swamp Sparrows

  

  Researchers from the Smithsonian have been visiting a marsh along the Hackensack River in Carlstadt to study Swamp Sparrows, with an assist from the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
   There are two types of Swamp Sparrows in the Northeast. One frequents uplands, the other likes coastal plains.
   The Carlstadt marsh is one of the few places where both species occur and adapt, over time, to thrive in the salt marsh.
   Researchers are banding and cataloging the Swamp Sparrows, and looking into how they evolve for their environment.
   More on Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrows here, with a link to Coast Plain Swamp Sparrow Facebook Page. Photo of banded Coastal Plain Swamp Sparrow follows.

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