Little Blue Heron, Lincoln Park, NJ, July 24, 2014 (photo by Jonathan Klizas)

A juvenile Little Blue Heron joined the 21 Great Blue Herons, 5 Green Herons and 17 Great Egrets at the Lincoln Park Gravel Pits this morning. The throng was at the southern end of the main lake. The photo above is from a distance and heavily cropped.

It was mentioned in an earlier post on July 13 how the invasive Water Chestnut (allegedly Trapa natans) is blanketing most of the lake and will cover it entirely in the next year or two. Interestingly, numerous Wood Ducks, especially ducklings, are using the vegetation mat for cover and Cedar Waxwings and Red-winged Blackbirds are standing on the mat hawking insects.

This space has previously stated the following and will say it again: there is no easy way to visit the Lincoln Park Gravel Pits. Street parking is all that is available. The legal entry is from the northwest end where there is a very small, easy to miss trail on Lincoln Park Rd. near Kamm St. slightly west of the Knights of Columbus facility. You can find a vague trail that eventually traverses a berm separating the swim club from the rest of the pits. People use this area for fishing. A hunting club is leasing the rest of the property, so this author is told. In other words, you are on your own if you wish to explore the property further .

An adult male Blue Grosbeak made an appearance in Hillsborough today at Hillsborough Road near the Rt. 206 bypass (Frank Sencher, Jr.).