The Meadowlands Blog

Butterfly in progress

  

We saw this awesome caterpillar last week near the Carillon on Disposal Road.

   Click "Continue reading ..."  for a close-up, a shot of its host plant and what kind of butterfly (we hope) it will become one day.

Forster's Terns in love at DeKorte

    Forster's Terns have been putting on an amazing display at DeKorte Park, on the elevated boardwalk next to the Meadowlands Environment Center.
   At least 20 terns sit on the railing of the walkway, often in one long row, as though it were a single's bar on a Friday night.
      The males fly off, catch a fish, then return  and give it the object of their affections. The female takes the fish, though not before much ado and squawking.

  If you are at DeKorte near the Visitor Center, you will likely hear the terns before you see them.

     What's the attraction?
     Simple. One good tern deserves another. (Sorry.)

   Click "Continue reading ..." for a gallery of courtship photos, plus a bright-blue-billed Ruddy and an Osprey with a fish -- all while the terns were jabbering away.

Amazing Cormorant Rescue

Meadowlands Commission naturalists were on the Hackensack River at Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area when one noticed an apparently gruesome sight -- a Double-crested Cormorant had slipped and gotten its head wedged in a gap between boards of an old tidegate.
   At first, the young bird appeared to be dead, but as the naturalists  approached in their boat, they could see that it was hanging on for life.

   Naturalists Gabrielle-Bennett-Meany, Brett Bragin and Mike Newhouse pried the boards further apart, and intern Eleanna Ballas of Secaucus lifted the cormorant until its head was free.
   She placed the cormorant in the water, and it dived under. It surfaced again about 20 yards away and swam off, hopefully no worse for wear. 

    NJMC naturalists also rescued a Snowy Egret on the Hackensack River last fall. Post is here. NJMC naturalists also rescued a Red-tailed Hawk near Harrier Meadow in North Arlington in late March. Post is here.

Awesome Aerial Photography

   For incredible aerial photography on a shoestring, it's tough to top the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute,
   This shot and the ones on the "jump" of this post were taken from a digital camera attached to a tethered helium-filled balloon.

  To see a video of how MERI achieves these amazing shots, click here.

   More posts on MERI are here. MERI's home page is here.

   Click "Continue reading..." to view another photo of the NJMC campus at DeKorte, as well as the Saw Mill Creek WMA tidal mudflat.

Black-necked Stilt at Harrier Meadow

    We saw this Black-necked Stilt at Harrier Meadow today -- with three Wood Ducks a couple of tidal pools over. 
    He was calling up quite a storm and fishing the shallows.

  More on Black-necked Stilts here.

    Click "Continue reading..." for more shots of today's Stilt.

Snowy Egret, breeding plumage

   Photographed this week in Harrier Meadow, North Arlington.

Little Blue Heron at Mill Creek Marsh

  Digiscoping photographer Kevin Bolton photographed this Little Blue Heron at Mill Creek Marsh on Wednesday.
  Thanks, Kevin!
  Kevin's Web site is here.
 

Scenes along the Hackensack -- await you!

    We took this photo of Double-Crested Cormorants -- and many more images -- during one of our first Ecotourism pontoon boat trips of the season this week.
   Click here to view information on how to join us on one of our inexpensive two-hour tours of the Hackensack River, Mill Creek Marsh and the Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area.
   Click "Continue reading ..." to see more photos from this weekday cruise -- including a Peregrine Falcon, two nifty bridges, an Osprey, Harmon Cove and a Great Egret.

Glossy Ibis and friend

   We saw these guys hanging out at Harrier Meadow on Friday. That's a Glossy Ibis on the left and a Snowy Egret on the right, for those keeping score at home.

   We have not seen the Glossy Ibis today, but if we do, we will send out an e-mail and have a walk for anyone who wants to see this beautiful bird. 

   E-mail Jim Wright here if you want to have your name added to the e-mail alert list.  

Laurel Hill Raven Update

   The Common Ravens at Laurel Hill in Secaucus have been tending to at least two ravenettes in their nest.

    In the photo above, Pop is flying down the cliff to get some food he stashed on a rock below the nest. 

    Earlier this week,  we saw two young but large Common Ravens flapping their wings in the nest, preparing for their first flights. They will be flying any day now.
    Previous posts on the Laurel Hill Ravens here.

Raven vs. Redtail

   Recently, when a Red-tailed Hawk approached Laurel Hill, where Common Ravens are nesting, the male raven flew out to meet the Redtail and read it the riot act until the hawk was well beyond the nest.
   In the shot above, you can get a sense of just how large a bird a raven is.
   Click "Continue reading ..." below to see other photos in the sequence.

The lost communities on the Hackensack River

    As we prepared for our talk in East Rutherford tonight (7 p.m., Civic Center, Vreeland Avenue), a Secaucus resident gave us a 75-year-old newspaper clipping about a bridge across the Hackensack River that once connected Secaucus with East Rutherford and Carlstadt.
   The drawbridge, which included a roadway and trolley tracks, connected Paterson Plank Road on both sides of the river.

    The bridge was deemed obsolete by the War Department and the State Highway Commission when the Route 3 Bridge was completed a mile to the South.

  Click "Continue reading..." for more info.