Registrars: Suzanne Zywicki and Christina Black
Participants: 12
Weather: Mostly sunny in the 70s and 80s, with wind gusts up to 20 mph
Bird Species: 40
With sunny, windy weather following a stormy Memorial Day Monday, the group met on Tuesday afternoon in Richard W. DeKorte Park in the N.J. Meadowlands. As we learned from both Christopher Takacs (our trip leader and Bergen County Audubon Board member and field trip coordinator) and Don Torino (Bergen County Audubon President and former recipient of Linnaean’s conservation award), the park was once slated to be a landfill. We walked the Marshland Discovery Trail, and some highlights included a chorus of many Marsh Wrens, some sweet Least Terns, several Ospreys swooping around, and Great Egrets hunting.
Next, the group caravanned to River Barge Park, the launch site for a 5:30-7:30 p.m. NJSEA (NJ Sports & Expo Authority) pontoon ride. We boated under the train bridges and through the marshes of the Hackensack River, also part of the Meadowlands. Highlights included a young Bald Eagle, two Yellow-crowned Night Herons, a Peregrine Falcon pair guarding their nest, and Spotted Sandpipers on the shore. The slightly choppy water and deep green marshes stood out against such backdrops as the American Dream Mall Ferris Wheel, passing NJ Transit trains, and, further away, the Manhattan skyline.
Species Lists
Richard W. DeKorte Park, Bergen, New Jersey, US
28 species
Canada Goose
Mute Swan
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Mallard
American Black Duck
Ruddy Duck
Mourning Dove
Herring Gull
Least Tern
Great Egret
Osprey
Tree Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Barn Swallow
Marsh Wren
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
Cedar Waxwing
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
Song Sparrow
Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Northern Cardinal
River Barge Park, Bergen, New Jersey, US
23 species
Canada Goose
Gadwall
Mallard
Ring-necked Duck
Mourning Dove
Clapper Rail
Spotted Sandpiper
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Black-crowned Night Heron
Snowy Egret
Great Blue Heron
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Red-tailed Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
Tree Swallow
Marsh Wren
Northern Mockingbird
Red-winged Blackbird
