index

EAST BRUNSWICK NATURE NOTES

— Hotlines & Resources —

"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."

-Carl Sagan

Bats
Birding Locations & Maps
Birding Hotlines & Resources
BLOGS
Butterflies, Moths & Caterpillars
Environmental Commissions and Organizations
Fish and Sea Life
Frogs & Toads
Fun Stuff
Gardening/Trees
General Science Resources
Government Contacts
Insects
Maps
Marine Mammals (turtles, whales, dolphins, etc.)
Organizations & Magazines
Parks, Forests, Refuges
Salamanders
Science, Space & Astronomy
Travel Sites
Weather/Tide Links
Web Only Sites
Webcams
Wildlife Rehabilitation

We invite you to take advantage of this ever expanding list of wonderful resources on a very wide range of subjects.

Do you feel there should be additional resources listed? Please e-mail your suggestions for organizations or websites to be added to this page.

Last updated: 10/7/2007

If you find a broken link or one that needs updating, please tell us.

Do you know of any other sites that others could use as a resource?
Please let us know.

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Become involved. Don't just stand on the sidelines, complain and feel helpless.
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Make a difference!

You'll feel better and the world will be better off.

NATURE & ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS & MAGAZINES National Earth First! News, Issues and Events. Garden State Greenways National Audubon Society National Geographic Society News National Resource Defense Council National Wildlife Federation Science News Magazine Sierra Club stopglobalwarming.org (from the National Wildlife Federation) The Nature Conservancy - Back to Top -	Regional New Jersey Audubon New Jersey Audubon-Conservation Efforts New Jersey Audubon Regional Sites: Plainsboro Preserve Sandy Hook Bird Observatory Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary Other units of New Jersey Audubon can be reached through their main site. Edison Wetlands Organization Highland Park Environmental Commission Lawrence Brook Watershed Partnership NATIONAL PARK SERVICE-Gatweay National Park. Use this link for general information and directions. See the latest schedule of events at the 3 main units below. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Staten Island Unit Sandy Hook Unit New Jersey Community Water Watch from NJPIRG. See specific projects here. Rutgers Gardens (a gem, right in our own backyard) Sierra Club-RARITAN VALLEY GROUP area (Somerset and Middlesex Counties (meets in East Brunswick) The Great Swamp Watershed Association The Raptor Trust (with additional information regarding injured birds) - Back to Top -
STATE, COUNTY & MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT CONTACTS New Jersey State Government NJ Office of Emergency Management New Jersey Directory of Local Health Departments-(use if you locate a dead bird and suspect west nile virus) Middlesex County East Brunswick Edison Franklin Township Jamesburg Milltown Monroe Township New Brunswick North Brunswick Old Bridge Piscataway Plainsboro Sayreville South Brunswick South River Spotswood - Back to Top -	WILDLIFE REHABILITATORS PLEASE USE THESE WHENEVER YOU FIND A SICK, INJURED OR IMMATURE BIRD OR ANIMAL THAT CANNOT CARE FOR ITSELF! New Jersey, Central (Taken from: U.S. Wildlife Rehabilitator Contacts by State (N-W): New Jersey, Central region, Mercer County (Hopewell)..... 609-466-1311 Dave Purdy, Mountain Wildlife Refuge, Inc. Contact: Purdd1@aol.com New Jersey, Central region (Lawrenceville)..... 609-538-1933 Timothy Steinbeiser, Redbud Avian Rehabilitation Center, Inc. Contact: tsteinbeis@aol.com Specialty: lots of experience with mourning doves of all ages, care and feeding of songbirds New Jersey, Central region (Medford)..... 856-983-3329 Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge jeannewoodford@earthlink.net Specialty: Permanent resident GH owls for surrogating owlets. Comments: Our facility is part of a 175 acre Refuge which borders N.J.'s Wharton State Forest so releasing at our site is most appropriate. New Jersey, Central region, Philadelphia area (National Park)..... 609-845-4581 Carol Martino, Wildlife Rehabilitation and Rescue Service Contact: kota@home.com Wildlife Species: eastern gray squirrels, skunks, opossums, raccoons Harriet Forrester Turtle Rescue of New Jersey New Jersey State Licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator - (Turtles only) Hardwick, New Jersey 908-362-7747 email: Harriet@Eclipse.net - Back to Top -
BUTTERFLIES, MOTHS and CATERPILLARS East Brunswick's very own Butterfly Park. Map here. (The map is centered exactly on the entrance to the park. Parking is found just below and to the right of the entrance on the map and may be accessed from Rues Lane.) Anita Gould's excellent Flickr Moth page. Backyard Nature - Good beginner site for moths. Butterflies and Moths of North America - we left this one set to begin with a 'phylogenetic order' of sorting. This gives you family-type groupings. You can alter this as you wish. Very comprehensive moth site. USGS-Butterflies of North America Very detailed. Discover Life Butterfly Identifier (not yet complete but still a very good resource at times to help with the difficult task of identification). Discover Life Caterpillar Identifier Furman University moth site. Monarch Watch (a major site about Monarch and other butterflies). Moths of Maryland-close enough to be of use. Natural Resource Management, another Monarch tagging site. North American Moth Photographers Group. Digital Monarch Watch, for Monarch tagging too. What to do when moths invade your pantry. Try a Safer Trap. What's This North American Caterpillar? New and growing site with good information and images.	SALAMANDERS A Field Guide to the Reptiles and Amphibians of New Jersey - from the NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION , DIVISION OF FISH & WILDLIFE , ENDANGERED & NONGAME SPECIES PROGRAM North Coventry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania Amphibian Preservation Alliance Community "Frog & Salamander Watch" page. Salamander Life Cycle page. USGS salamander page for Spotted Salamanders USGS Red-backed Salamander page USGS Eastern Newt, Red-spotted Newt page (the familiar bright orange salamander) BATS Bat Conservation International-Great site! How do bats navigate? Interesting! All about bats.
BIRDING LOCATIONS & MAPS New Jersey Allaire State Park, Farmingdale, NJ-Directions/Map Clayton-Glassboro Woods WMA- Directions/Map/More Dallenbach Lake (East Brunswick Community Park/Crystal Springs)-East Brunswick, NJ-Map DeKorte Park (Lyndhurst, NJ, near the Meadowlands) Map, directions and information. DeLea Sod Farm (near Pilesgrove, NJ) Directions/Map Forsythe (Brigantine) NWR-Directions/Map Garrett Mountain-West Paterson, NJ-Directions/Map Johnson Sod Farm (Cumberland County, NJ-excellent for short grass shorebirds, particularly in fall)-Directions/Map (map centers on a rectangle of roads that surround the sod farm.). Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ-D irections/Map The Celery Farm, Allendale, NJ-Directions/Map, additional directions and map from the Fyke Nature Association who co-manages the Celery Farm. The Great Swamp NWR, Basking Ridge, NJ-Directions/Map Sandy Hook, (Gateway, NWR) NJ-Directions/Map Watchung Reservation-Directions/Map * Also see the NJ Audubon sites (under Regional Birding Locations, above). New York City Region Breezy Point Unit (Gateway NWR), Rockaway, NY-Directions/Map Forest Park, Queens, NY-Directions/Map Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge (Gateway NWR), Queens, NY- Directions/Map Local Hotspots in Brooklyn, and Queens, NY (Courtesy of the Brooklyn Bird Club) Delaware Valley Region Index of Birding Locations in the Delaware Valley region. Covers, NJ, PA, and DE. VERY comprehensive! Adirondack Mountain Region If you love to bird and love the Adirondack Mountains, this is THE site for you. Areas Outside our Region The lower Rio Grande region. Amazing diversity! From National Wildlife Magazine. HELPFUL HINT: Print out directions and a maps to study prior to your trip and keep them with you for reference when traveling. —— Please let us know of any other sites to add to this page. MARINE MAMMALS (Whales, turtles, dolphins, etc.) Cape May Whale Watch Cape May Whale Watcher Marine Mammal Stranding Center - Back to Top -	BIRDING, HOTLINES, RESOURCES & BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY Birding Hotlines New York Rare Bird Alert (through the Linnanean Society of NY) Rare Bird Alert (national coverage) Voice of New Jersey Audubon (sightings) Resources Arthur Morris - Birds as Art (excellent photo and technical resource) Avibase - the world bird database (checklists for almost any place in the world you can think of) Bird Checklists of the United States - through the United States Geological Survey and the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. Links to all states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Birding America- Check out the Index of Birding Spots Birding on the Net (Amazing, comprehensive resource) Birding.About.com a very comprehensive site with links to an extremely broad range of related topics COUNTING BIRDS-Like to participate in bird counts? This is a site that may help hone your skills. It's addictive and good practice. While the site is Finnish, the game is in English. Birds of the Boreal Forest - An excellent site for this specific branch of birds. Fat Birder's Top 500…a website that lists the top 500 birding sites on the Internet. If you can't find it here, it doesn't exist. BirdSource (Birding with a Purpose-great resource!) Birdwatching.com (extremely comprehensive and beginner friendly) Cornell Lab's Citizen Science Page (wonderful for participating in real science projects…from home) Cornell Lab of Ornithology and here, too (excellent resources) Digiscoping-major resource! DVOC (Delaware Valley Ornithological Club) Amazing site! Familiar Birds-Excellent site with a wealth of highly diverse information about North American Birds. Fledging Birders-a website to help youngsters become interested in birding. Gull Photography (primarily from the Delaware Valley) - incomplete as yet, but with some very excellent photography to help with IDs. Hummingbird migration map (dynamic). Great fun to watch the progression each year. IVORY BILL WOODPECKER Search Updates-Fieldnotes of those involved in the search through The Nature Conservancy. Mike's Birding & Digiscoping Blog - Mike Danzenbaker's Bird Photography MObirding-birding in Monmouth and Ocean counties, New Jersey. Lots of useful and current information. New Jersey Birding (Wonderful!) New Jersey Bird Records Committee New Jersey State List. This is a list of EVERY bird recorded in NJ. North American 4 Letter Codes (used to ID birds. For the very serious birder). Operation RubyThroat-for educators and individuals interested in the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Lots of resources. Owling.com-a very comprehensive resources for all things 'owls'. Phonetic and Mnemonic Calls and Songs - learn bird sounds and calls (somewhat different from the one above.) Photomigrations (amazing for information on nature photography) The Owl pages-Extremely comprehensive site devoted to owls, with recordings to help with learning calls for each species. The Virtual Birder (Real Birds) Top birding sites throughout the year from New Jersey Audubon VIREO - Virtual Resources for Ornithology-Huge database of bird photographs. Excellent for learning or to help ID a bird. WHATBIRD-The Ultimate Bird Guide - Lots of very useful data including help in identifying any of the 881 species of North American birds in their database. Where to Bird in New Jerse y Woodcreeper.com-with radar information about bird migration. Learn Bird Songs and Calls-Birding by Ear Bird Song Mnemonics & Phonetics - learn bird sounds and calls Bird Songs-From SUNY New York. While this covers NYS birds, most are common to our region as well. Cornell Lab or Ornithology-Macaulay Library. Here are the few free bird songs they offer. eNature Bird Audio Page Guide to North American Bird Songs and Sounds. A unique and very useful approach to identifying what you heard. Learning Bird Calls and Songs. About.com's comprehensive site with many additional resources. Learn Bird Songs NatureSongs-North American Bird Songs Phonetic and Mnemonic Calls and Songs - learn bird sounds and calls (somewhat different from the first one listed.) The Owl pages Sound Page-(see above for a more complete explanation). Watching Birds with your Ears. A beginner's guide to how to identify birds by their sounds. Regional Birding Locations Plainsboro Preserve Sandy Hook Bird Observatory Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary - Back to Top -
FROGS & TOADS NJDEP field guide to frogs and toads (with pictures and sounds of those in our region) A good .pdf brochure of frogs and Toads of New Jersey from the New Jersey DEP. USGS Checklist of Amphibian Species and Identification Guide - very comprehensive with excellent descriptions, photos and distribution maps. The Center for Global Environmental Education has a nice page about frogs and toads. Frogs and Weather Although from British Columbia, Canada, this page has good information on the common Green Frog that is abundant in our area. This page from Rhode Island contains a wealth of resources relevant to our region.	ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSIONS, ORGANIZATIONS, RECYCLING AND RELATED INFORMATION ANJEC - The Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions, and their direct list of Environmental Commissions throughout the state (including websites). Bureau of Recycling and Planning-information about where to find top quality goods that contain recycled content. Do your part! Clean Water NJ is an important site that lets us know what we can to to help maintain the high quality of New Jersey water. Friends of the Earth-"Our Mission: Friends of the Earth defends the environment and champions a healthy and just world." Garden State EnviroNet-a resource for environmental news in New Jersey Stormwater and Nonpoint Source Pollution website from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. (Information about storm water permitting and management programs and other useful ideas on how you can help keep our state's waters clean.) Environmental Defense Action Fund-Global Warming UNDO IT. - Back to Top -
FISH, SEA LIFE & THE OCEAN The American Littoral Society-An environmental organization concerned about issues that affect the littoral zone: that area on the beach between low and high tide. StriperTracker - Interesting site to track Striped Bass originating in New Jersey Seafood WATCH is a site run by the Monterrey Bay (California) Aquarium that "A program of Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources. " Enjoy good seafood and save the environment at the same time.	INSECTS For information about mosquitoes and controlling them, see: Mosquito Control Page The Firefly Files - Really nice site about our beautiful summer friends. BugGuide.net - very interesting and comprehensive. Dragonfly website from British Columbia. Has many useful links for us on the right coast. Dragonfly Anatomy page, and here Damselfly Anatomy page Princeton University has a website that covers the research of our very own Dave Moskowitz and his colleagues as they investigate dragonfly migration. (Additional photos on The Back Page). MangoVerde - a diverse site with extensive information on birds, butterflies and dragonflies/damselflies. njodes is a thorough site that covers both dragonflies and damselflies in New Jersey. Perhaps the best dragonfly and damselfly site for NJ. Abundance, location and more are presented on this comprehensive website. This is the Middlesex County page in particular. Very helpful.
SCIENCE, SPACE & ASTRONOMY Asterism.org the website of Amateur Astronomers Inc. (AAI). You can visit Sperry Observatory which is open to the public every Friday night except when there is a member meeting (the meetings are on the third Friday of the month from September through May). Astronomy Picture of the Day (a NASA site) Atmospheric Optics. Sky phenomena. I occasionally speak of sun dogs, or moon dogs, or double rainbows. this is a sight that displays excellent photos of such happenings. CNAH-The Center for North America Herpetology for those who like to dig deeper). Excellent and very broad resource. Cosmic Evolution-from the Big Bang to Humankind Exploratorium-the (San Francisco) museum of science, art and human perception. Great for students and adults. History of the Constellations International Dark Sky Association, An organization dedicated to reducing the negative effects of light pollution. Light pollution has effects that go on beyond astronomy including interfereing with the behavior of nocturnal creatures as well as potentially causing problems for migratory birds. LiveScience.com The National Biological Control Infrastructure NASA Planetary Science Research-Discoveries Space.com Space Daily The Constellations- an very comprehensive, alphabetical listing of all constellations with explanations and charts. The Elegant Universe-from the acclaimed PBS series. The Planetary Society - a major resource! U.S. Naval Observatory sunrise/sunset and moon data calculator - find sunrise, sunset and moon date for any area of the U.S. United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey (UACNJ) is an umbrella organization consisting of 17 astronomy clubs, including AAI. The organization maintains an observatory complex at Jenny Jump State Park where a number of the member clubs have set up observatories and telescopes - Back to Top -	WEATHER/TIDE LINKS AccuWeather.com Watches & Warnings for our region. Excellent map with great customizability. NEW! ebweather.com-this site specifically for East Brunswick. Incredibly comprehensive! National Hurricane Center-with links to long range movement projections NOAA Tides and Currents for the Raritan River, Old Bridge and South River for 2006. NOAA/National Weather Service Doppler Radar for New Jersey The Weather Channel for East Brunswick Weather Underground Weather for East Brunswick Special LIVE updated weather (Rapid Fire System). This is beta software but lets you know what's happening right now! Regional MesoMap (beautiful and informative!) This month's climate summary. Major resource page with dozens of excellent weather links. Tide generator-covers mid-Atlantic through New England States. Wind Chill Chart (from Mount Washington, NH. Useful from temperatures of 50° F and lower.) - Back to Top -
WEBCAMS Some sites offer multiple webcams of animals and animal activity. Some may be off for the season but will return when the time is right. Be patient. Some cameras refresh( update the picture) every 30 to 60 seconds). exzooberance.com-with many, many webcams of animals of all sorts. Aquariums Birds (there are many here) Manatee Cam from Florida Sea Lions (from San Francisco) Turtle Cam (from Japan…good video) WildWatch Cams (eagles, other birds, salmon, and seals, from Washington State) - Back to Top -	GARDENING/TREES National Arbor Day Foundation-wonderful resource for anything about trees, along with their Tree Identification Page, and their General Tree Guide. Great and comprehensive resources! National Gardening Association Tree Leaf Key from About.com. Another good resource for helping to identify trees in our region. - Back to Top -
WEB-ONLY SITES e-nature: a very rich and diverse site for all ages. The Green Center page from yahoo.com is an excellent resource for deciding on your next car. Natural Resources Defense Council online publication "Nature's Voice" Science & the City-Science events throughout NYC.	FEDERAL GOVERNMENT National DO NOT CALL Registry (not nature or environmentally related. Consider this a public service). - Back to Top -
GENERAL SCIENCE RESOURCES Discovery.com's Discovery News-great! Categories below: Animals Archaeology Dinosaurs Health Human Interest History Planet Earth Space Technology Travel Environmental Working Group-Investigating environmental issues. Science Blog-good reporting of general science. Science Daily-vast and very useful resource of an amazing array of topics. Worldometers-find out what is happing to and with our planet in real time. - Back to Top -	FUN STUFF Big Trees fun worksheets you can print and do. Geocaching - a great activity to do alone, with friends or family. Getting hooked on this is very easy. There are links to plenty of resources to get started. NASA for KIDS - This is a website that has received very good reviews. Great for K-4 students. - Back to Top -
PARKS, FORESTS, REFUGES IN OUR REGION Hutchinson Memorial Forest Center-One of the few remaining uncut forests in the Mid-Atlantic region. Spring/Summer tour schedule. Directions, Map Hutchinson (William L.) Memorial Forest homepage.	BLOGS-on related subjects Patrick Belardo's Blog "The Hawk Owl's Nest"-dedicated to birding, bugs, plants and other random nature stuff.
MAPS About.com site with lots of maps of our region and links to many other types and locations. East Brunswick topographical map. Interactive! Garden State Greenways GSC Interactive Map-amazing and powerful!	RELATED TRAVEL SITES Excellent interactive map of both the U.S. and British Virgin Islands with myriad links. Ecotours-guided tours of the Mangrove Lagoon (St. Thomas, USVI) wildlife and Marine Sanctuary.

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– East Brunswick Nature Notes –