The Meadowlands Blog

Three Active Osprey Nests!

On Friday and Monday, we surveyed the three known Osprey nests in the Meadowlands.

All three, we are happy to report, are active.

At the nest in Carlstadt, we saw the female on the nest and the male nearby.

 At the nest in Kearny, opposite laurel Hill, we saw two adults on the nest (above).

At the Jersey City nest, by the PSE&G generating plant, we saw one adult on the nest with two babies.

The Jersey City nest, the oldest of the three, played a key role in Tom Yezerski's new children's book, "Meadowlands."

Tuesday Teaser 100609

    NJMC naturalist Brett Bragin netted this finny fellow over the summer.

    What is it?   

    Click here for more Tuesday Teasers.

   Click "Continue reading..." for the answer and more information about this amazing fish.

Crabs Du Jour

     We saw this Fiddler Crab (and an entire bluegrass festival's worth) along the Hackensack River recently. (We thank  Erik Kiviat for letting us tag along.)

    As we are learning, there are more than one type of Fiddler Crab around. According to NJMC naturalist Brett Bragin:

   "The diagnostic features to look for would be: 1) were there grooves on the carapace behind the eyes?  2) was it over 7/8" long?, 3) Did it have an oblique row of tubercles on the palm of the large claw?, and 4) did it have red joints? 

   "If yes, I would say it was Uca minax, the brackish-water fiddler crab (sometimes called the red-jointed fiddler crab).  If not, then it was probably the mud fiddler crab (Uca pugnax)."

   We are thinking the latter.

     More on Fiddler Crabs here. 

   Click "Continue reading..." for a photo of another kind of crab -- photographed this week at the Visitor Center.

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.

Neat stories and video on the Meadowlands' comeback

    Colleen Reynolds of The Leader Newspaper did an informative article on the wonders of the region's wetlands -- with some photos by her Leader colleague Alexis Tarazzi.

   "It was high tide as our watercraft ventured along the Hackensack River, and we were treated to an avian show of splendor," she writes. "Ink-black double-crested cormorants perched regally atop wooden pilings, northern harriers swooped past and graceful snowy egrets waded at water’s edge. Tree swallows, a type of aerial feeder, were munching on midges while gliding through the air...."

   The link to story is here.

   The Star-Ledger did a solid video on the river's comeback, here.

   And Celeste Regal of The Observer did a fine story on the palliative powers of spending time on the river. Link is here.

   Link to post about the Meadowlands Commission's Pontoon Boat Eco-Cruises is here.

Peregrine Falcon on the Hackensack River

  We saw this Peregrine Falcon having a late afternoon snack today under the eastbound Route 3 Bridge by East Rutherford. 
   We have seen them all winter, but this was the first time we saw one perched at one of its favored river haunts.

DUCK FEST on the Hackensack

    We saw quite a bit of duck action on the Hackensack River Thursday near the New Jersey Turnpike's eastern spur bridge just south of the Saw Mill Creek Marsh and the Conrail Swing Bridge.

     Our favorite performers were female and male Red-breasted Mergansers.

     These ducks are amazing. We timed the pair of diving ducks when they dived, and they could stay underwater for 35 seconds and more a time in the bone-chilling Hackensack.

   At left, the female takes the plunge.

       Also on view were several Northern Pintails and Hooded Mergansers. 

   And some very cold Mute Swans were hunkered  down on the ice so as to almost appear invisible.

 Click here for more info on Red-breasted Mergansers.

    Click "Continue reading..." for photos of the other other mergansers, pintails and swans..

  

HACKENSACK RIVER

        It was a good morning to be on the river, with a harrier and osprey early by Carlstadt, and great blue herons and egrets later by Laurel Hill.

HACKENSACK RIVER: Peregrine Falcons

   A pair of Peregrine Falcons has been hanging out near the Route 3 Bridges over the Hackensack River all summer.
   These shots were taken in August.
   With any luck, these amazing raptors will hang around for the Meadowlands Festival of Birding this weekend.

SALTMARSH BULRUSH

     The Meadowlands Commission is adding another weapon in its battle to increase biodiversity in the 30.4-square-mile district.
     This week, Commission naturalists  reintroduced saltmarsh bulrush, a valuable wetlands plant, at several sites in the Meadowlands.
    The sites included the the Mill Creek Marsh in Secaucus and Harrier Meadow in North Arlington, with more sites planned down the road.

   Click "Continue reading ..."  for more  information and photos.

MARSH MADNESS: Fiddler crabs

  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.
 

HACKENSACK RIVER: Aerial views

   One of the many cool and useful projects done by the Meadowlands Commission's scientific arm, MERI (the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute), is aerial photography done from balloons.

 The photo above was taken last Thursday along the Hackensack River looking north between the Upper Hackensack lift bridge and the HX drawbridge. The two railroad bridges cross the Hackensack between Lyndhurst and Secaucus.

   More on MERI here.
   More on the aerial photography here.
   
    Click "Continue reading..." for more images.