The extreme northeastern part of New Jersey, the part exactly opposite New York City, may not seem like a likely destination for an NJ OWL outing at first. But on July 15th, we ventured to the town of Edgewater and then Lyndhurst to learn about exotic and urban wildlife in New Jersey. As usual, we were under the guidance of Mike Bisignano, NJ OWL's expert birding guide.

In Edgewater, we learned about monk parakeets, an exotic bird in New Jersey. An exotic species is one that was introduced, or not native, to an area. Monk parakeets are from South America and now have colonies established throughout the northeastern US. The colony in Edgewater is believed to have come from birds that were accidentally released when a crate broke open at JFK Airport in 1967.

After the trip to Edgewater, OWLers ventured over to Lyndhurst to learn about the wildlife of Dekorte Park in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Within eyesight of the New Jersey Turnpike, members observed a wide array of birds and other wildlife. Included on the sighted list were black skimmers, Forster's terns, mute swans (another exotic species), Baltimore orioles, gadwall and others.

Thanks, as always, to Mike Bisignano for helping NJ OWL members learn about another feature of New Jersey's outdoors.

NJ OWL members in front of Memorial Park in Edgewater, NJ, home to a colony of Monk parakeets.

A pair of Monk parakeets perched in a London plane tree. They blend in very well with the leaves.

Monk parakeets build large, bulky stick nests that have several individuals nesting at once.
They frequently rearrange the twigs in their nests. This bird just emerged from its own nesting hole.

Observing a nest in a London Plane tree.
The nest is the large bunch of sticks positioned at about 1 o'clock.

Monk parakeets sometimes build their large stick nests on utility poles.
This can be a problem because it creates a fire hazard.

Monk parakeets resemble mourning doves in flight except that their heads are bigger and more blunted.

Walking along the Transco Trail.

Dekorte Park has a number of observation blinds to help conceal
the presence of observers from birds and other wildlife.

An interesting feature of Black Skimmers is that the lower half of their bills is longer than the top half.
To feed, they fly low over the water's surface with their lower bill in the water to catch fish.

A Forster's tern, one of the breeding bird species at Dekorte Park.

Susan looks through a spotting scope, while Mike uses an ID book
to show Diane the differences between various species of terns.

Looking for birds on the marsh. You can see the NJ Turnpike in the background.

Mute swans also breed at Dekorte Park. They are an exotic species
(introduced to North America) and often kill native waterfowl.

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