Bob Cannon was nice enough to share this amzing shot of a hawk with its prey -- a rabbit -- photographed at the McFaul Environmental Center in Wyckoff. All part of the food chain, though definitely better to be the hunter than the hunted..
(Thanks, Bob!)
For some reason, I have not seen any Viceroys this summer -- anywhere.
Finally, today, at the Celery Farm Wildflower Garden, I saw this beauty and lots more, including a Summer Azure and some skippers I couldn't ID off the top of my head.
The Celery Farm is unbelievably beautiful today -- pay it a visit if you can!
Marsh
Warden Mike Limatola and I are doing our first-Saturday-of-the-month
walks again in September and October -- beginning this Saturday at 8 a.m.
The first 500 people who sign up (just kidding) will get a brand-new, first-time-ever, full-color Celery Farm brochure!
The September walk will also be followed by an optional half-hour tour of the historic Fell House nearby.
We'll have a spotting scope or two, but bring binoculars if you have them.
Note: We suggest wearing long sleeves, long pants, socks and shoes to reduce the chances of ticks.
The 90-minute walk, open to nature lovers of all ages and abilities, are designed to acquaint more people with the 107-acre Celery Farm -- and the 250-year-old Fell House.
The walks begin at the end of Green Way (a right turn off of northbound Franklin Turnpike, just before Crescent Avenue). (Directions are in the left-hand column.)
The walks are sponsored by the Fyke Nature Association, which helps maintain the Celery Farm, and the Concerned Citizens of Allendale, which saved the Fell House and its 2.8-acre property from becoming a townhouse development.
E-mail Jim Wright here to rsvp or get more info. Check this blog, celeryfarm.net, for updates, last-minute weather advisories for the walk, and directions to the Celery Farm, Green Way and the Fell House.
We hope to see you on Saturday. Listing follows.
Continue reading "Our Next Celery Farm Walk is Saturday!" »
Sometimes bird IDs are especially tough without a point of reference...
Monday's mystery brd is larger than a peep....
Don Torino's latest column for wildnewjersey.tv is a funny look at the perils of bird identification. Here's a preview:
"A few weeks ago a friend, very excitingly, sent a photo around of a bird he later realized he misidentified. He felt very badly about his slipup and saw a need to apologize for it.
"I explained to him that there was really no need since every birder makes mistakes; only nowadays our blunders make it all over the World Wide Web.
"A wise old birder once told me that the only difference between an experienced birder and a beginner is that the expert has misidentified more birds.
"But my friend’s apology got me thinking. What if I had to apologize for every bird I misidentified?" ...
The link is here.