For the better part of the summer, a Back-crowned Night Heron has been hanging out on the edge of Lake Appert by the Norman Bench, not that far from the Warden's Watch.

It sits on a branch for hours on end and doesn't seem to mind humans -- which has made him a real crowd-pleaser.

Gotta love those red eyes!  Not scary at all, unlike an American Coot's. (Just sayin'.)

The Black-crowned Night Heron is also a threatened species in New Jersey. Good thing there are places like the Celery Farm for him to call home in the summer.

Johanna & Tom Archer took these photos of our neighbor. (Thanks, Johanna and Tom!)

More on Black-crowned Night Herons here.

If you knew John Brotherton, one of the best friends the the Celery Farm and the Fyke Nature Association ever had, you'd have to laugh at the name of this New Jersey-brewed stout.

John was fair-skinned, fairly gentle and not particularly stout.

The Brotherton brew was on draft this past Sunday at the Shepherd and the Knucklehead in Haledon, a stone's throw from High Mountain.

Here's a toast to John's memory.

Saw this caterpillar on the High Mountain entrance sign at William Paterson University.

When I got home, I Googled the caterpillar for an I.D. I think it was a Luna Moth caterpillar.

The color should have been a clue, but I have seen some bright green hornworm caterpillars in recent years. Never having seen a Luna Moth caterpillar before, I took a photo with my iPhone and let it be.

Should I have moved it off the post, made of composite materials, or left it be? It is a Luna Moth caterpillar, isn't it?

The Nature Conservancy installed the sign last year; caterpillar arrived this month.

More on High Mountain here.

With this photograph last week, Walt Staab completed a rare Celery Farm raptor trifecta.

What was the trifecta, and what kind of fish does this bird have?

(Thanks, Walt!)

Last week I asked folks to guess how long the Meat Goose (now nicknamed Meaty McMeat Goose by someone, not me ) would stay. (Not sure if it can fly.)  Wrong question.

I guess folks were actually wondering when it would leave.

(Walt Staab shared this photo of Meaty. Thanks, Walt!)