Richard W. DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, NJ offers amazing birding and wildlife viewing. The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission has a beautiful headquarters just past the park entrance. The wetlands are definitely the forte of the park, however, there are several other habitat types including a small upland woods and prairie meadows on what were once city landfills.
The last few weeks in August and up until recently have been some exciting times. A pair of Least Bitterns raised a few young in a patch of phragmites less than a hundred feet from the entrance of the Marsh Discovery Trail. Hundreds of people came to DeKorte to see these bitterns along with a juvenile Tricolored Heron. A few weeks ago a Sora was discovered on the same trail. Lastly, a Virginia Rail was spotted on the very same trail making this a hotspot for birders and photographers alike!
I was lucky enough to see three of the four highly sought after species.
Pictures of the Least Bittern juveniles and adults on what was coined "Least Bittern Island". The juveniles have the fluffy white down feathers on the tops of their heads. The adults lack that down and have dark green primaries.
The Short-billed Dowitcher is one of the other more common visitors during recent months.
Pictures of the highly sought after Sora.
This Tricolored juvenile has spent the good latter half of the summer at DeKorte.
Waiting for the winter to come, which means DUCKS at DeKorte!
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