The Meadowlands Blog

Ron Shields: Disposal Road Report

Ron Shields reports:

"Attached please find a sampling of images taken from the growth surrounding the "puddles" along Disposal Road before the drought wiped them out.  If you look real close, you'll note that the female indigo bunting (left) is banded.  [See link from earlier this week; must have been a double ring ceremony.]

"In addition, raptor action continues to heat up with Peregrine Falcons perching on the towers and hunting over the landfills. As many as four kestrels have been spotted in the fields as well."

Two more pix follow.

Tuesday Teaser Deciphered

A big thanks to Tom Shinskey for IDing the Tuesday Teaser fungi as "Bird's Nest Fungi."

More on these fungi here.

Don't forget: Mill Creek Marsh Bird Walk Next Tuesday

   

   We have several nifty upcoming walks throughout the Meadowlands, beginning next Tuesday at Mill Creek Marsh in Secaucus.

Click "Continue reading..." for more info and directions to this unusual jewel, plus other upcoming walks.

North Arlington: Meadowlands Slide Show Thursday

    Jim Wright, who runs this blog for the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, will be speaking about the Meadowlands, Past, Present and Future  tomorrow night (Thursday, Nov. 5) at the North Arlinton Library

    The free talk will feature some nifty nature photography taken in North Arlington -- like the rare Black-necked Stilt pictured here.

   The talk, which begins at 6:30 p.m., runs about 40 minutes, so you will have plenty of time to see Game Seven of the World Series, if the yankees don't win in six games. The talk is open to the public.  We hope you can attend.

    Contact Jim here if you would like more information.

Sneak Preview: 40th Anniversary Gala Slide Show

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     There's a big black-tie event tonight in East Rutherford to celebrate the Meadowlands Commission's 40th anniversary, and we were asked to put together a slide show (mostly of nature shots) that will appear on video monitors at the event.

   But you don't have to wear a tux or pearls to see the show. A preview is here.

   We hope you like it.

Sunday's Walk and Talk

 
    We had great weather and great birds for our "First Sunday of the Month." Among the highlights: Hundreds of egrets, a few Pectoral Sandpipers, an immature Little Blue Heronand several Black-crowned Night Herons.

   We did not see a Sora or the Least Bittern, but both were seen over the weekend. 

     Topping off the day was a most-informative talk on salt marshes by Rutgers Professor Judith Weis, who covered such topics as new invasive species, climate change, Phrags vs. Spartina, and the Meadowlands' amazing environmental recovery.

   The talk was part of the Meadowlands Commission's 40th anniversary celebration.

   If you missed Professor Weis' talk, copies of her new book "Salt Marshes" are available at the Meadowlands Environment Center's Gift Shop.

  Our next walk is Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 10 a.m. at the Ridgefield Environment Center. We'll also visit Ridgefield's amazing Monk Parakeets and the Skeetkil Marsh.

   More information in the coming days on this blog.

Reminder: Kevin Karlson Day is Saturday!

A Day at DeKorte

with Kevin Karlson

Brought to you by the N. J.  Meadowlands Commission as part of our 40th anniversary celebration

The event is Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

E-mail Jim Wright here to register.

Click here for earlier post with directions and more information.

Click continue reading for full schedule.

Noted Photographer Kevin Karlson Coming to DeKorte: August 22

  The Meadowlands Commission is pleased to announce that noted birding photographer and author Kevin Karlson will be at DeKorte Park for three free special events on Saturday, August 22, starting with a Shorebird Walk at 8:30 a.m.
   The events are part of the Meadowlands Commission's 40th Anniversary Celebration.
  We will post the details about Kevin's Meadowlands Shorebird Extravaganza on this blog next week, with examples of Kevin's amazing photography, so stay tuned.

Reminder: Butterfly Walk on Sunday at 1 p.m.

     We are expecting a solid turnout for Sunday's Butterfly Walk at DeKorte Park at 1 p.m., so please register ahead of time (by day's end Friday).

    Click here for details and how to register.

    The butterfly above, by the way, is a Delaware Skipper, photographed at the AMVETS Carillon in DeKorte Park.

Happy first anniversary to us!

    Hard to believe, but today is the Meadowlands Nature Blog's first anniversary, and it's our opportunity to thank you for your interest in all the neat birds and bugs and critters and plants that make their home here.
   Thanks to you, in the past 12 months, this blog has had  more than 63,000 hits. We are  averaging 175 hits a day. (When the blog started, we had 140 hits total over the first five days.)
   We were going to compile a whole bunch of links to earlier posts over the past year that would bring your attention to some of greatest hits, but we thought we'd keep it simple.
   Just click here to see previous posts on Snowy Owls, Black-necked Stilts, Tri-colored Herons, butterflies, dragonflies, flora and other wonders. That's what you've been missing if you haven't been to the Meadowlands  or haven't followed the Meadowlands Blog.

    For nostalgia's sake, here's the first post we did when the blog was officially launched. 

A Walk To Remember: The List

   We had at least 30 species over just less than two hours on our first summer Sunday nature walk at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst -- including Black Skimmer, Osprey (W/ fish), Peregrine Falcon (distant), and Forster's Tern.

   (For more on this walk and other summer's Meadowlands nature walks sponsored by the Meadowlands Commission and  Bergen County Audubon Society, read the next post.)

  Click "Continue Reading..."  below for a semi-complete list from Sunday. Because our 30-some group spread out, some birders saw species that others may have missed.

New Meadowlands Oral History Blog

  The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) is bringing the rich and colorful history of this region to life through its newly launched Oral History Blog, www.meadowpast.net.

    The blog, featuring recollections of longtime Meadowlands residents, is part of the NJMC’s 40th Anniversary Celebration.

   Click "Continue reading..." for more about the new blog.