“Drop out” Zone in the Meadowlands

Drop Out

The second week of October I had the pleasure of visiting a landfill in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Sounds weird right , "the pleasure of visiting a landfill." Who would ever want to visit a land fill. Well if you're a lover of nature this place is a "Drop Out" Zone for fall migrating birds within the Mid-Atlantic Flyway. The day I was there a mass visitation of Yellow-rumped Warblers (Setophaga coronata) descended onto this restored landfill. These guys were everywhere their was a red cedar with berries - which was everywhere - therefore when I say they were everywhere - they were everywhere. All pigging out on ripe cedar berries. A free-space in bingo if you're a wildlife photographer trying to get an image of a bird with a berry in its beak.

To put an exclamation point to this natural event the scientist who provided me with access to the land fill told me the next day a team of academics doing long term bird migration banding captured in their mist nets the most birds they ever had in one day 200+, of which 162 were yellow rumps!