Tag Archives: meadowblog.net

GROUNDHOG DAY VIDEO


In honor of Groundhog's Day, here's a video we did last June, before the blog was really up and running. We will check on Lyndhurst Lindy and report any activity.

The one-minute video features a woodchuck looking out of its den on a path in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, when Junior butts in. (Best played with audio on.)

For more information on this abundant Meadowlands mammal, click here.

Note: We realize that it is a bad idea to take hang out in front of birds' nests or mammals' dens in an effort to get a family portrait. The animals feel threatened and cannot escape.

  For this video, we used a trick we learned minutes earlier from a professional cameraman: You put the video-cam on a tripod not too far from entrance, hit "record," and walk away. 

  Later on, you come back, retrieve the camera  and see what you caught on video. 🙂

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT: Meadowlands

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   The Meadowlands Commission's team of three birded on Sunday from 6 a.m. until after 5 p.m. at commission locales and came up with 62 species, including a Bald Eagle, a Rough-Legged Hawk, three species of owls, Orange-crowned Button1Warblers and Horned Larks.  

More later this week.

    Click the button at right for more information on the count nationwide.

MONK PARAKEET UPDATE

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   The wild Monk Parakeets of Ridgefield look to be doing well.
   We stopped by to check in on them last week and found more than two dozen IMG_7145 sunning themselves in nearby trees. It seemed a bit odd to see a parakeet on a tree with dead leaves, but that is the way it is in this region.
    Karen Riede of the town's Environmental Committee says the Monk Parakeet population is around 30– as it was last year about this time — and that the birds are perfectly acclimated.
   "They all grew up right here, and this is the only home or environment they know," she says.
    The birds have been in Ridgefield, Edgewater, Fort Lee and other spots for so long that there is a strong likelihood that  this beautiful, colorful (if a tad loud) bird will be to the state list.

   A prevous post on the parakeets is here.

HARRIER MEADOW WALK: 111908

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    The second Harrier Meadow walk for November was cold and a bit windy but sunny. Five hearty Harrier fans fought the chill for two hours to see more than 30 species.
    According to NJMC Naturalist Michael Newhouse, "We had an excellent view of an Orange-crowned Warbler. We also had 8 species of waterfowl, several Northern Harriers, a Bald Eagle, and Fox and Savannah Sparrows."

  Click here for other Harrier Meadow postings.

  Click "Continue reading…" below  for the full list.

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AQUATIC CRITTERS

  Seventh- and eighth-graders from the Belleville Middle School's Science Club took aquatic samples at the tidal impoundmenIMG_0035t at DeKorte Park last week, and came up with a pipefish, grass shrimp, and killifish.
  We photographed the critters in the NJMC Center for Environmental and Scientific Education, where MEC educator Joe Sarnoski talked about the critters and the center's resident diamondback terrapins, including the 25-year-old Stinky.

  Click "Continue reading…" for more photos and info on what the students  netted.

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TEACHING CONSERVATION

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  Through its educational arm, the Meadowlands Environment Center, the NJMC has an extensive outreach program that connects area students with the natural world.
   Last week, for example, seventh- and eighth-graders from the Belleville Middle School's Science Club learned how — and why — Meadowlands Commission naturalists are banding birds in North Arlington.

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BANDING REPORT: 102008-102408

   This week Meadowlands Commission naturaliImg_7726_3sts banded 295 birds in North Arlington, including 27 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and 107 Savannah Sparrows — a threatened species in New Jersey and a bird we at the Meadowlands Commission are especially interested in.

   Click here for all bird banding reports. 

      Click "Continue reading…" immediately below for this week's tally.

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RIDGEFIELD: Natural attractions

IMG_9891   Ridgefield, in the northern part of the Meadowlands District, has several nifty attractions, from the restored wetlands of the Skeetkill Creek Marsh to the Monk Parakeets that nest under the highway bridge over the train tracks on Railroad Avenue.
  But there's also the Ridgefield Nature Center, a beautiful wooded natural area comprising 5.4 acres off Shaler Boulevard by Ray Avenue.

   The property was the source of the spring for the Great Bear Spring Water Co. from 1920 to 1975, at which point the land was sold to the Borough of Ridgefield.

   Since then, the borough has been restoring the site, planting well-labeled native trees and plants and curtailing the invasive species. Those are labeled, too — so you'll know what to look out for in your own backyard and elsewhere.

    Click "Continue reading…" immediately below for more information on the Ridgefield Nature Center.

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REPTILES: Northern brown snake

   We know that some people get freaked out by snakes, or even photos of snakes, so we are posting some nifty close-ups of this snake — a northern brown snake, aka a Dekay's snake, thanks to Ray Duffy's ID) on the "jump" of this post.  

    If you do look on the jump, be ready for a surprise ending.

   Click "Continue reading…" immediately below to see the snake shots.

   E-mail Jim Wright if you prefer that snake shots not appear on "the front page" of the blog.

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NORTH ARLINGTON: Disposal Road = Raptor Road

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  The rough stretch of road connecting Schuyler Avenue in North Arlington and DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst is officially called Disposal Road or AMVETS Way, but these days it's Raptor Road.
   Every trip we've made along the road in the past week, we've seen a redtail or kestrel or marsh hawk. The female marsh hawk was seen hunting along the Kingsland Landfill last Thursday.

   The Marsh Hawk (Northern Harrier) is endangered in New Jersey. The American Kestrel is a species of special concern.

For more raptor shots, click "Continue reading…" below.

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