Get Outside at the Lawrence Nature Center
by Rick Dutko
The cool, crisp mornings and short-sleeved afternoons are ideal for exploring the great outdoors. I love the fall!
I took a brief walk along the paths within the field behind the nature center on the first evening of autumn. In the setting sun, I was transfixed on the glistening flashes over the brilliant yellow flowers of the goldenrods and the browning pods of the milkweeds. These flashes were the transparent wings of tens, probably hundreds, of dragonflies, zipping back and forth, searching to and fro for a meal.
I didn’t have my binoculars with me, but it really wasn’t necessary as I could see the bright green thoraxes and turquoise-blue abdomens of male common green darners, a.k.a. Anax junius. Green darners are one of our largest dragonflies in New Jersey and as the adjective ‘common’ is used in its name, it certainly was so that evening.
Their presence was evidence of an abundance of small insects, upon which they were rapidly devouring. I wondered what one called a ‘group of dragonflies’? I searched later that evening, only to find a suggestion of ‘a flight of dragonflies’; not very impressive, such as a ‘pride of lions’ or a ‘murder of crows’. Regardless, this natural phenomenon was spectacular. Two days later I returned around the same time of day, and only a handful of darners remained. Perhaps these stragglers were left behind as the others venture onward to another destination, their stomachs full with tiny insect snacks.
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Scout Projects
Ben Campos and his Troop 15 planted a blackhaw (Viburnum pruniflorum) and a cedar post behind the nature center in his proposed birding feeder station area. Ben and the scouts in his troop will construct the platform feeder and a second hanging feeder, plus four bird houses, in the upcoming months. The feeding station will enhance the beginner birding programs scheduled in January and February of 2012.
Scouts working on Phase I of Feeder.
In late November and early December, girl scout Delia Monken completed her Silver Award project, a wood duck box. The wood duck box was constructed with cedar wood, included a predator guard and is about twelve feet high in a tree along the Shabakunk Creek. It looks absolutely wonderful! In December a pair of wood ducks was observed nearby on the Shabakunk Creek. How can the wood ducks resist such a beautiful nesting box this spring?
Duck Box on Shabakunk.
Past Articles
Spring Has Arrived by Rick Dutko
A New Life for Old Wood by Rick Dtko
The Nature of Weather by Rick Dutko
GeoCaching In & Around the Lawrence Nature Center by Rick Dutko
Science and Nature Games by Rick Dutko
Reptile and Amphibian Study by Rick Dutko
Bridge Construction by John Gaskins
This site is sponsored by The Township of Lawrence. For webpage comments or questions,
please contact Steve Groeger. Web site design by Monica Zhou and Castle Haven.