Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Meadowlands Festival of Birding

Join the NJ Audubon Society, the NJ Meadowlands Commission, and Hackensack Riverkeeper for a fun-filled weekend of birding and other festivities! There will be both field and boat birding tours, butterfly walks, a raptor presentation, a lecture by Dr. Robert DeCandido on bird migration, plus much more. On Sunday the weekend continues with paddling tours of nearby birding spots. Tickets are $40 for the two-day festival and include just about everything, including breakfast and lunch on Saturday. Check out their site here and sign up quickly! The boat and paddling tours require reservations in addition to tickets.

Friday, August 7, 2009

International Vulture Awareness Day 2009


That's right, vultures have finally received their own day in the spotlight. Check out the official IVAD09 website and join in on September 5th by blogging about vultures. That could mean photos, video, a short story about a close encounter...anything you want!

http://www.ivad09.org/wp/

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Updates

Hey readers,

I have to apologize for the lack of updates. This past Saturday I returned from a week of birding and hiking central Panama, and next week I leave for Reno, NV. A day after I get back, I'll be driving up to Maine! And while those places have little to do directly with "New Jersey Outdoors", I should have some great photos to post here soon!

On the NJ front, banding has continued at HMF in my absence. Some new birds have been banded including Scarlet Tanager, House Wren, Carolina Wren, Hairy Woodpecker, and Red-Bellied Woodpecker.

With the breeding season drawing to a close, our hope is that this banding will continue next summer and beyond so that abundances and species composition can be monitored. Trends in these numbers will hopefully reveal causes of decline and perhaps increases in certain species of birds. With the potential control of invasive plants looming on the horizon, it will be interesting to see how that affects the bird communities of Hutcheson Memorial Forest moving forward.

The forest is a unique ecosystem for the area, and it's a great place to visit and explore. Check the website for upcoming tours at http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~hmforest/


Bird's Nest Fungi



Stay tuned! Starting this fall NJ Outdoors will be commencing a Species Profile series for the different types of wildlife in the Garden State. An interview series is also in the works featuring sit-downs with prominent members of the community. Scientists, photographers, and many others with their hands in our natural world.