Check out almost any mudflat in the Meadowlands these days and you'll see hundreds of peeps and a yellowleg or dowitcher or two...
Click "Continue reading" to see more shots.
Check out almost any mudflat in the Meadowlands these days and you'll see hundreds of peeps and a yellowleg or dowitcher or two...
Click "Continue reading" to see more shots.
If you're in a boat by the Hackensack River's marshes at low tide, keep your eye out along the banks for a tiny critter called a fiddler crab.
One claw is oversized, to the
point it almost looks like the crab is wielding a fiddle -- hence the name.
Very strange. Very cool.
The fiddler crabs pictured here photographed at the Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area.
More on fiddler crabs here.
A recent Jersey Birds report by birder Michael Britt reflects the avian diversity and abundance in the Meadowlands:
My son and I birded the Hackensack Meadows Saturday evening.
"Highlights"
Semipalmated & Least Sandpipers (mixed flock of 5000+)
Great Egret (30+)
Snowy Egret (30+)
Great Blue Heron (3)
Black-crowned Night Heron
Green Heron
Northern Harrier (adult female)
Osprey
Click "Continue reading..." immediately below for more.
Every year, Ramapo College and the Meadowlands Commission sponsor a survival camp for kids.
This was the big canoe race. All survived.
More on the camp here: Download students_survive_meadowlands_experience.pdf.
On its Web site, the Meadowlands Commission just posted an informative video on its many trails and greenways.
Click here, then click on "NJMC video clip" to view.
(Pictured here is Mill Creek Point Park in Secaucus.)
It's not too early to mark your calendar for the 5th annual Meadowlands Festival of Birding, sponsored by the Meadowlands Commission.
The event is set for Saturday Sept. 13 and Sunday Sept. 14. (Above photo was taken at the Kearny Marsh.)
Click here for more information.
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
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.
Welcome to the Meadowlands Blog, a celebration and exploration of the natural wonders to be found in North Jersey's 30.4-square-mile Meadowlands District. We at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission want this blog to be as informative as we can, so if you have a significant bird sighting or any other noteworthy event, contact Communications Officer Jim Wright, who tends to this site Mondays through Fridays.
We welcome your suggestions for the blog. ©
Several shorebirds were zipping around the impoundment by Meadowlands Commission headquarters at Dekorte Park on Monday and Tuesday morning.
The star of the show was a black skimmer, whose bill cut through the surface of the water like a knife. Great views were available from the boardwalk by the Environment Center on Monday.
More on black skimmers here.
Mill Creek Marsh is a little hard to find, but it is definitely worth the effort.
It is the one place I'd go if I had to get a photo of a snowy egret in a hurry.
They are abundant and are typically in range of a decent telephoto lens.
Mill Creek Marsh is also amazing because it is home to a "forest" of cedar stumps -- including some that are hundreds of years old.
Click here for directions and more information.
I was there at low tide the other day and took a bunch of shots.
Click "Continue reading" for more photos.
Out by the Amvets memorial carillon on Disposal Road in Lyndhurst, a pair of Baltimore orioles have been hanging out on a regular basis.
In the video below, they are taking a bath in a puddle near the base of the memorial. Best played with the "volume" on.
More about Baltimore orioles here.
A blog about the nature of the Meadowlands, in northern New Jersey.
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