Preying Mantis (Not for Squeamish)
July 28, 2016
Sandee Faust of Fair Lawn writes:
Sandee Faust of Fair Lawn writes:
Tonight (Thursday night) is the rescheduled fifth annual Moth Night in the Meadowlands.
It's free, and runs from 8:30 to 10 p.m. in DeKorte Park.
(Butterfly Day at DeKorte Park is this Saturday. Both are nifty events.)
My latest column for The Record is all about that Jersey Shore favorite, the American Oystercatchers and features the insights of freelance naturalist, writer, photographer and blogger Don Freiday.
The link is here.
Don's excellent birding blog is here.
Mike Flom, a friend of the Celery Farm, writes:
I found this Ruby-throated Hummingbird in my garage by the Celery Farm this morning, making distressed chirps while fluttering against a closed window.
What is it about Celery Farm Marsh Warden Emeritus Stiles Thomas that inspires folks to poetry?
Teppy Sojander is an artist and naturalist who was one of the original Celery Farm crew and long-time Fyker. She did lots of drawings for the Fyke newsletter for years.
She created this back in 1980.
In case you can't read the words to this four-verse limerick, here they are:
1. There once was a man with a gun
who kept hawks and ducks on the run.
In a strange about-face
He gave up the chase.
His fowl shooting days are now done.
2. Stiles traded his gun for binocs
And enjoyed feathered friends in great flocks.
He's now cheek by jowl
With any old fowl
That lurks in the marshy boondocks.
3. A defender of wildlife is he --
An ardent and true devotee
Of the owl and the hawk
And the Razor-billed Auk
And the bluebird that nests in the tree.
4. In Allendale where he took root,
At present it seems absolute
That the Celery Farm
Will come to no harm.
This bird man deserves a salute!
(You don't see many poems where the rhymes include "binocs" and "auk." )
(Great job, Teppy!)