Following up on Thursday's butterfly post...
For those unfamiliar with Mourning Cloaks, Jill Brown, a friend of this blog, passed along this photo taken in her Raritan yard last spring -- on apricot blossoms. (Thanks, Jill!)
Every time I pick someone up at the Waldwick Train Station, I marvel at the beautiful restored station and tower.
Here are a couple of photos of the tower.
Or enjoy Joyce Kilmer's poem about riding "The Twelve-Forty-Five" to Suffern, with stops in Mahwah and Allendale and elsewhere along way.
Here's a sample:
Subtly and certainly I feel
That Glen Rock welcomes us to her
And silent Ridgewood seems to stir
And smile, because she knows the train
Has brought her children back again.
We carry people home—and so
God speeds us, wheresoe’er we go.
Hohokus, Waldwick, Allendale
Lift sleepy heads to give us hail.
In Ramsey, Mahwah, Suffern stand
Houses that wistfully demand
A father—son—some human thing
That this, the midnight train, may bring.
You can read the whole poem here.
You can learn more about the train station and tower here.
A group of us saw a beautiful Mourning Cloak butterfly along the Yellow Trail to the summit this afternoon.
The butterfly would not pose long enough for a cellphone pic, but it was there, and I have witnesses to prove it. Earliest sighting I've ever had for one of these guys.
Spring is just around the corner, or over the ridge.
We had lots of cool photos submitted for the Birdy 30 contest, including the one of a Red-tailed Hawk looking into a Hackensack window, taken by Arlene Romoff.
My caption for the photo didn't make the newspaper, so I thought I'd share it here, for better or worse.
This Red-tailed Hawk apparently competed in a “Human 30” competition in Hackensack -- he looked in a window to see how many mammal species he could identify in 30 minutes.
The photos below are:
European Robin by Ned Mueller, Wild Turkey by Dave Kaplan, female Northern Cardinal by Susan McTigue, Blue Jay by Laraine Fergenson, Blue Tit by Ned Mueller, and Tufted Titmouse and male Northern Cardinal by Susan McTigue.
An earlier post on the winners, including a link to the column online, is here:
http://www.celeryfarm.net/2017/02/announcing-the-2017-birdy-30-winners.html.
A big thanks to all!
The results of the fourth annual Birdy 30 are in -- The Record today.
This could have been the best yet in terms of participation and pix -- including some from as far away as Italy. (I thought all the photos were great, though I also especially love the photo of the Tufted Titmouse and Nothern Cardinal pictured above, by Susan McTigue and played big on the front.)
Also featured was a photo by Ned Mueller, of a Blue Tit from Italy (below).
The link to the column and lots of photos is here.
A link to a photo gallery of Birdy 30 shots is here.