The Meadowlands Blog

Our Latest Wild N.J. Post: Dragonfly & More

Our latest "Focus on the Meadowlands" post for the wildnewjersey.tv blog features this dragonfly up-close, an awesome Orange Sulphur butterfly and a pair of Great birds.

The link is here.

Teaser Answered!

Ron Shields writes:

What has one beak, two eyes, ten legs and squawks like heck?

Answer:  A very loving Killdeer mom with four chicks underneath.

Wishing you an early Happy Mothers' Day!!! 

(Thanks, Ron!)

Long Story Short (Click Below to See Entire Photo)

 We took this photo last Thursday on the Marsh Discovery Trail. Only way to get the entire bird on the blog was to do a two-parter. Some readers may have to click "Contiue reading..." to see the entire photo. 

Tomorrow: Walk at (Recently Cleaned) Harrier Meadow

Just in time for Tuesday's free guided Harrier Meadow walk, 20 students from the Ecology Club of St. Joseph Regional Prep in Montvale spent the better part of a day last week cleaning up the 70-acre site.

They picked  up several contractor bags' worth of trash and found was weird flotsam that came in with the tides (12 feet of nautical rope -- still looped -- a McDonalds Happy Meal toy, shotgun shells, a bowling pin, a doll leg, a Doll's head, a 10- foot piece of rebar, and light bulbs.

The work crew also cut back some of the runaway groundsel to restore part of the Harrier Meadow meadow. (Thanks, St. Joe!)

Seen at Harrier Meadow on Friday: More than 200 Greater Yellowleg, 8 Dunlin, a Spotted Sandpiper and a Wilson's Snipe.

Details of the walk follow.

South Bergenite: Of Heath Hens and Passenger Pigeons

Jim Wright, who keeps this blog, also writes a nature column every other week for The South Bergenite. Here is his latest column -- on extinct birds seen in the Meadowlands more than 100 years ago..

DeKorte Park offers some amazing sights – from spectacular birds to beautiful sunsets – but the rarest of all has been right under my nose all along.

Indeed, I have walked past it dozen of times during my work for the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission without giving it a second look because -- truth be told -- it gave me the creeps.

The “it” is a Plexiglas case with 35 taxidermy birds of 28 different species. The display is located just inside the auditorium in the Meadowlands Environment Center.

 The creatures are all more than 100 years old at this point, and a bit bedraggled. The birds were all killed in the district in the late 1800s, and donated by Caroline Geigold of Secaucus decades ago.

Many of these birds would have inhabited the Atlantic White Cedar Forest that once grew in parts of the Meadowlands.

My attitude about these taxidermy birds has always been dismissive. Why would I look at dead birds in a display case – especially when DeKorte Park offers so many beautiful live birds?

But earlier this winter, prize-winning nature author and historian Scott Weidensaul presented a program in the auditorium. Before the talk, he took the time to study the taxidermy menagerie, and then remarked to me, “You’ve got some amazing birds in there.”

Two species in particular caught his eye – Passenger Pigeon and Heath Hen. The species have two things in common: Both were once commonplace in the Meadowlands, and both have now been extinct for more than 75 years.

More follows.

North Bergen Peregrine

Last Thursday we were checking out the Meadowlark Tract in North Bergen, located just a bit south of Skeetkill Creek Marsh, when we saw a Redtail duck for cover, Seconds later, this Peregrine came barreling through.

It's about as close to a Peregrine as we have been.

Two more pictures follow.

American Bittern, Kearny Marsh

 
Ron Shields was kayaking in the Kearny Marsh earlier this week when he took these amazing photos of an American Bittern in beautiful plumage.  (Thanks, Ron!)

More on the American Bittern (a threatened species in New Jersey) here: Ambittern.

How To Photograph a Grasshopper from Below

When a Grasshopper lands on your windshield, you pull over and stop your vehicle, and then reach for your camera.

Yesterday's Teaser Answer

   Yesterday's teaser asked readers to identify this caterpillar, seen on Sunday's nature walk at DeKorte.

   Major Clue is below, answers and more info (including what it is eating on) follow on jump.

   

Monk Parakeet Update

  

    At the suggestion of Karen Riede of Ridgefield, we checked in on the Monk Parakeets of Ridgefield last week, and it seems they are in the midst of a housing crunch.
    The bridge over the train tracks by Railroad Avenue (where else?) is undergoing repairs, and workers had to remove the (eggless) nests.
   Thanks to Karen, the workers did put up two nesting platforms for the parakeets but they were not yet interested in moving in.
   In fact the roughly two dozen parakeets were just hanging around the vicinity, apparently waiting for (and hoping for) the workers to finish. When that will be is unclear.  (Stay tuned!)

   Tomorrow: Laurel Hill Raven Update

Disposal Road Shrike Continues...

      We had the Northern Shrike at 10:50 this morning -- great views by the retention pond across Disposal Road from the Carillon.

  We were in a vehicle across the road from the retention pond, and the bird flew in and perched in the tree above for about 30 seconds (above).

   It then hung out on a nearby strand of barbed wire, dipped down into the tree behind the barbed wire, then flew  across the pond and disappeared from view. We also had a male Northern Harrier fly overhead almost simultaneously.

    If you are planning to look for the shrike, birding from your vehicle does not seem to be a bad approach. You are out of the wind, and the bird seems oblivious to vehicles.

   This is the 10th day out of the past 12 that the bird has been seen.

   Click "Continue reading ..." for more shrike shots from this morning, including a "locating the bird" shot and a neat tailfeathers shot.

   Scroll down the blog for earlier Shrike posts.

Tuesday Teaser 091509

   We have been trying to get one of these guys to sit still long enough for us to take a photograph for more than a year now.

   We didn't realize just how beautiful they are until this guy landed on a weed on the 1-A Landfill in Kearny late last month.

   Click here for more Tuesday Teasers.

   Click "Continue reading..." for the answer.