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."

Kearny Marsh Sora

Ron Shields reports: "I have sighted individual Sora at the Kearny Marsh on Saturday and Sunday. Attached are images taken Saturday evening in low light conditions.  In addition, with water levels extremely low at the marsh, Peregrine Falcons have been targeting resting shorebirds on a daily basis."

Scenes from Kearny Freshwater Marsh

 
  Spent about 45 minutes walking along the trail at Kearny Marsh by Gunnell Oval on Thursday afternoon.
   Was looking for Common Moorhens and Americans, but no luck. Instead, saw an Eastern Kingbird (left), Red Admiral (above), and Baltimore Oriole (below).
   Also had a Black-and-white Warbler and a Yellow Warbler, plus two Eastern Tiger Swallowtails.
   Had too many Tree Swallows to begin to count.  

The Kearny Cedar Swamp

 

      Interesting post on our sister blog, the Meadowlands History Project blog, about the remains of an old white cedar forest in Kearny.
    Link is here.

Small-Mouth Bass in the Kearny Marsh

   When we were kayaking in the Kearny marsh last week, we saw many great examples of nature on the rebound.

   Now that the Meadowlands Commission has spent tens of millions of dollars to overhaul the old Keegan Landfill, leachate no longer seeps into the marsh, and catch-and-release fishing is thriving.

  The fish are not safe to eat yet, but they are another indication that the marsh --and the Meadowlands are  coming back strong.

  We watched as the gentleman who caught this fish gently released it back into the marsh.

   We also saw another angler broke his reel when he tried to catch one of these big boys -- the old "one that got away."

Touch-Me-Not

     Jewelweed is blooming all along the trail by the Kearny Marsh at Gunnell Oval.

   The plant is also called a "Touch-Me-Not" or Popper.

   The reason: When you touch the seed pod  (lower right), the pod pops and the seed goes flying -- an ingenious way to transport seeds away from the plant.

   Jewelweed is native, and very popular with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

  It is used to treat Poison Ivy.

  More Jewelweed here and here.

  

Kearny Marsh

   Kearny Marsh is looking pretty awesome these days. This is probably the best place in the entire disrict to see Hibiscus, which seem to be peaking.
   We took a kayak into the marsh on Wednesday morning and got great looks at a Least Bittern (flying), Blck-crowned Night Heron (perched and flying), a Great Blue Heron (flying) and the Great Egret at right.
   Best place to launch your kayak is at the norh end of Gunnell Oval.

Record article on Ravens and a new Osprey nest

                                                                           NJMC photo by Angelo Urato
    As Environmental Jim O'Neill of The Record writes in today's editions, there appears to be a very good chance of a successful Osprey nest in Kearny this spring -- the first in recent memory, and only the second along the lower Hackensack in decades. The other is in Jersey City near the PSE&G plant.

     The Record's story, which also goes into fascinating detail about the Common Ravens of Laurel Hill in Secaucus, is here.  It's an excellent read.

BLACK HISTORY WEDNESDAY 022509: Ruby Dee, Kearny

                                                                                                            Photo credit: AT&T Archives.

   

The Meadowlands Commission is honoring Black History Month with a weekly post on this blog. Today the topic is  Ruby Dee -- pictured above working in Kearny. We would like to thank Tammy Marshall, librarian of the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, for her help in these Black History Month posts.

    Actress and civil rights champion Ruby Dee, who was born in Cleveland in 1924 and raised in Harlem, worked at the Western Electric Company’s Kearny Works during World War II, soldering wires on an assembly line.

   She graduated from Hunter College and got her first Broadway role in a play called "Jeb," about a black GI war hero. The star was Ossie Davis, whom she married two years later.  

   Both Davis and Dee were active in the Civil Rights Movement throughout their careers. Dee has been involved with the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).

   Dee starred in "American Gangster," set in part in Bergen County, in 2007.

   For more information on Ruby Dee, click here.

   For more information on Kearny's Western Electric plant, click "Continue reading..." 

The Coots of Kearny

    We did this very short (34-second) video for tonight's talk at the Kearny Library. We made the video a week or two ago at the Gunnell Oval. The water segment was videoed at the nearby Kearny Marsh.
   We don't see American Coots out of water too often, but there they were -- walking around  by the ballfield, acting almost like chickens.
  These red-eyed little birds are often mistaken for ducks, but as you might see from the video, their feet are not webbed.
    If you scroll down the blog to this week's Tuesday Teaser, you can see what a coot's foot looks like and click on a link for more info about these odd birds.

TUESDAY TEASER 012009: Count the coots!

 
   The Kearny Marsh at Gunnell Oval was teeming with waterfowl late last week -- Mallards, Canada Geese and a Northern Shoveler or two.
    Some American Coots were hanging out as well.
   How many are in this photo?
    Click "Continue reading ..." for the answer.
    Click here for more Tuesday Teasers.
     E-mail us here if you would like more of this sort of Tuesday Teaser.

GUNNELL OVAL: Coots and more

   

  A great birding spot, if you hit it right, is the Gunnell Oval area of the Kearny Marsh.
    The other day the marsh was chock-a-block with American Coots (above), Canada Geese, Mallards and Northern Shovelers.
   We also caught a glimpse of the Common Moorhen and what we suspect was a Cackling Goose (below) -- the smaller cousin of the Canada Goose.
   This guy was smaller, and shorter-billed than his companions, but it was a tough call.
   Any thoughts?
   More on Cackling Geese here. More on American Coots here.