Tag Archives: video

MONK PARAKEET VIDEO

  
   We shot the above video last week when we checked in on our favorite Monk Parakeet colony, in Ridgefield, in the northeasternmost part of the district.

  IMG_0051   The video is just footage of the birds hanging out on and near their nests, located on a railroad bridge in a commercial district not far from the center of town.

   They are delightful to watch, but not quite as delightful to hear — as you'll learn if you play the video with the audio up.

  The birds seem incredibly social, flitting around the area and occasionally cuddling with one another == which may explain why the Monk Parakeet on the left is gathering nesting material.

   One of the delights of seeing these birds — especially on a cold windy way — is to see their vibrant colors and think (for an instant) you are in the tropics. 

  Previous posts on the Monk Parakeets of Ridgefield are here.

  The Bergen Record's Mike Kelly did a column on these amazing birds today. The link is here.

The Coots of Kearny

    We did this very short (34-second) video for tonight’s talk at the Kearny Library. We made the video a week or two ago at the Gunnell Oval. The water segment was videoed at the nearby Kearny Marsh.
   We don’t see American Coots out of water too often, but there they were — walking around  by the ballfield, acting almost like chickens.
  These red-eyed little birds are often mistaken for ducks, but as you might see from the video, their feet are not webbed.
    If you scroll down the blog to this week’s Tuesday Teaser, you can see what a coot’s foot looks like and click on a link for more info about these odd birds.

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. 🙂

ENVIRONMENT CENTER: Space Camp (video)

 

   This week the Meadowlands Environment Center is holding a space camp for students entering the seventh grade.
   Tuesday’s session was about the sun, stars and planets, and students went outside to learn about the sun in whole new ways (see 1:45-minute video). Boy_at_scope_9688_2
   MEC’s Laura Venner talked to the 15 students abot the sun and SOHO, an international project involving NASA and other space agencies to study the sun.
  The space camp, one of a half-dozen offered by MEC, a partnership between NJMC and  Ramapo College, is designed to meet the New Jersey State Core Curriculum Content Standards.
   All MEC camps are held at the new Center for Environmental and Scientific Education (below), a “green” building that incorporates sustainable materials and alternative energy, in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst.

Mcdowell

  Click "Continue reading…" for two more images.

Continue reading →

BIRDING: Harbor Herons video

     This two-minute video is about the Harbor Herons Project, a collaboration of NYC Audubon, NJ Audubon, the Meadowlands Commission and many volunteers. Img_0608
    It should be played with the "sound" on.
    Several great egrets and double-crested cormorant fledglings that were banded earlier this summer are now being spotted in the Meadowlands, confirmation that our marshes are pivotal to the success of herons in the entire metropolitan region.
 Here is a link to our previous post on the Harbor Herons Project, including a link to the project’s Web pages. 

   Click "Continue reading…" for more information and photos from this project.

Continue reading →

CONSERVATION: Tree swallow study

   
    Tree swallows are thriving in the Meadowlands once again, thanks to an innovative nesting box program.

  And the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission now has the data to prove it.

  With a huge boost from local scout troops, families and other groups, the Meadowlands Commission has erected some 250 nesting boxes in marshes throughout the 30.4-square-mile district.

    This year, with the help of Using_the_gps GPS devices, the Meadowlands Commission naturalists Mike Newhouse and Gabrielle Bennett-Meany are keeping track of tree-swallow activity in all of the nesting boxes.

   They found that more than 60 percent were occupied by nesting pairs, with 610 eggs laid and more than 480 nestlings  successfully fledged as of July 15.

  Click "Continue reading…" for more images and information.

 

Continue reading →