In Boonton Township, in rural Morris County, we are prepared for the denizens of the wild; from coyotes to black bear to fox and the ever present herds of deer, we share our backyard and gardens with any number of creatures.

But when Master P showed up, we were all thrown for a loop.

Master P is what the kids named the peacock who visited our backyard deck about ten days ago, pecking at our screen window and shedding his big colorful peacock feathers (and other fowl souvenirs) all over the place.

Master P appears to be an Indian Blue Peacock , fanning his elegant plumage, and is clearly not native to our New Jersey wilderness. According to our research, the species inhabits India, Florida, Hawaii, and Central Nevada.

We called the local police for advice, and on this sunny Sunday afternoon, two patrol cars showed up for the viewing. We asked whether the animal control authorities were advised of the situation.

The response? “They can’t catch it, and won’t chase it. They said let it go back where it came from,” said one of the officers.

But, we worried, wouldn’t the peacock—which does not fly– be vulnerable to attack by other predators? The police –and the animal control people—didn’t seem as concerned as we were. This peacock patrol left the bird to his own devices.

Where is Master P from? We don’t know. But apparently, he’s homeless. The peacock has since been spotted around the neighborhood and has everyone buzzing on Facebook.

A few days ago we saw Master P about a half mile from our house. He was strutting up and down the driveway. Nearby, a neighbor mowed the lawn, and another walked the dog. The peacock settled nicely into town, and no longer attracted another glance.

After all, this is the wilderness, New Jersey-style. Where wild animals hang out in our yards, and everyone—even the animal control folks –prefer to mind their own business.

Want to take a walk on the wild side? The Lakota Wolf Preserve (www.lakotawolf.com) in Columbia might just be the place.

The twice daily Wolf Watch lets you come face to face with the pack, plus you’ll learn loads of cool facts about these intelligent creatures.

There are Tundra, Timber, and Arctic wolves at the preserve. They are friendly, raised on premises, and will approach visitors willingly. There’s a bit of a hike—about a half mile, from the office to the Preserve- you’ll go by foot or by bus. You can get a taste of the tour at www.youtube.com/watch?v=enVxLo14GWI.

You can bring home some amazing pictures of the wolves, and help support the cause.
Preserve co-founder Dan Bacon has photographed the animals and other wildlife found on the preserve, and he’s even launched his own website to promote and sell his photography and a children’s book. (www.wildbacon.com).

Bacon’s prints are also on display at Made to Order (www.madetoorder.net), a gift and jewelry shop in Clinton.

Consider a day trip to the Preserve as the weather gets warmer. It’s a fun day and a good way to teach your kids about the ways of wolves.

This special area of rural Warren County is an ideal place to walk on the wild side, without going too far from home.

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Every year, there is a huge parade over New Jersey — raptors riding the chill breezes of autumn. There are hawks, thousands of them, migrating south. And one of the best places to catch them in action is State Line Lookout, the observation point high above the Hudson in Alpine.

This annual show draws bird watchers and hobbyists to the Lookout, the highest point on the cliffs of the Palisades. From there, they watch hawks, ospreys, vultures and eagles soar from the steep tree line and dive into the river, feeding and flirting with the stiff breezes.

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There was also a compelling sideshow this past weekend. Jonathan Wood and The Raptor Project, a traveling display starring live birds of prey, supplemented the natural migration with a chance to see these magnificent creatures close up. The Mad About Hawks show featured falcons, eagles, hawks and owls. Many of them were injured by hunters and rehabilitated by Wood.

The program was sponsored by the New Jersey section of the Palisade Interstate Park, and attracted several dozen on-lookers. It formed a backdrop to the real show on the side of the cliffs, as serious bird folk pointed out Red Tails, Coopers, and Sharp Shinned varieties of hawk.

Beyond the hawk pageantry, the view of the river north along the Palisades, south to New York Harbor, is one of the most spectacular in the state. In a few weeks, with leaves turning, this will be a prime fall foliage watching location.

The Lookout is an easy turn off the Palisades Interstate Parkway, and well worth the short diversion. Bring your binoculars– and don’t let this parade pass you by.

by Daniel Santacruz

Rule No. 1: Wear hiking boots.

Rule No. 2: Drink lots of water.

If you hike the Appalachian Trial to Sunfish Pond wearing sneakers, in violation of Rule No. 1, guaranteed your feet will be sore for days.

But you will also remember the stunning views of mountains, valleys, clear streams and pristine Sunfish Pond.

The New Jersey leg of the Appalachian Trial — it measures some 72 miles — runs from the Delaware Water Gap to High Point State Park, at the northwestern corner of the state.

The easiest way to get there is to take Route 80 West to the last exit in New Jersey, at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Stop at the Kittatinny Point Visitor Center to get brochures if you need them, then drive a few feet to the Dunnfield parking lot to leave your car.

You will be in Worthington State Forest, where 10 trails of varying length, altitude and difficulty connect to the Appalachian itself. One path climbs 700 feet in two miles. If you are out of shape, rest as often as you need — and follow Rule No. 2.

The actual Appalachian Trail takes you up to Sunfish Pond. The hike is almost four miles long and climbs 1,000 feet. It takes about four hours, up and back — which is considered moderate and good for inexperienced hikers. The terrain is rocky in some locations and you need to navigate the stones carefully to avoid spraining an ankle (that’s when you’ll regret not following Rule No. 1).

Getting to Sunfish Pond is the highlight. It’s a glacial lake of pristine waters that invites sweaty hikers to dive in. There are no signs forbidding swimming.

If you still have energy, circle the lake. The left shore is strenuous, with boulders that make walking extremely difficult and a path about a foot wide. The right shore offers a smooth, flat surface. From any angle the pond offers beautiful vistas. There is deer and bear in the area.

Measuring more than 2,175 miles, the Appalachian Trail was completed in 1937 and stretches through 14 states between Georgia and Maine. There are official sites at the National Park Service and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and a guide to the New Jersey section.

Next time, NJ My Way contributor Daniel Santacruz will remember the hiking boots.

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By Daniel Santacruz

Just a few yards from the junction of routes 80 and 95, at a former dumpsite where household garbage and tons of debris from the construction of the highways some 40 years ago ended up, lies one of the state’s best kept environmental secrets.

It’s the 46-acre Teaneck Creek Conservancy — a hidden world for nature watching and quiet meditation.

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Its main feature is the Turtle Peace Labyrinth, designed by eco-artist Ariane Burgess and built from concrete rubble as a tribute to the Lenape Indians, who once lived in the area.

Shaped in the form of giant turtle, the labyrinth is a path of stones that circles inward. The designer intended it to be conducive for mediation. Start at the T-stone on the perimeter, walk toward the center, sit down there for as long as you want, then retrace your steps.

The park is ideal for bird watching. Chunks of discarded concrete were transformed into milestones that indicate the distances traveled by seven migrating birds (common redpoll, common yellowthroat, rose-breasted grosbeak, red knot, dark-eyed junco, American goldfinch and osprey) that stop there on their journeys between the Artic Circle and South America.

There are also three trails, several bridges — the most recent, measuring six feet long, was inaugurated three weeks ago — and outdoor art exhibits.

Start your tour at one of the three entrances (Fyke Lane, Puffin Way or Frank Burr Boulevard), but don’t expect to find picnic tables or marked trails. It’s just raw nature. A tour won’t last more than two hours, including a leisurely stop at the labyrinth. The park is open to the public from dawn to dusk all year round and there is no fee.

Teaneck Creek Conservancy is a project of the Puffin Foundation, also located in Teaneck. It offers ecological programs and art classes for both children and adults.

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“That looked like a Savannah,” Scott Barnes said. “The Grasshopper is going to fly up like a helicopter.”

And so it did, bursting straight up then dropping down over a grassy meadow in Sandy Hook. But this was no insect. Barnes, senior naturalist for the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Sandy Hook Bird Observatory, was talking about two uncommon species of sparrow that the group he led was trying to identify during this weekend’s World Series of Birding.

“I never knew birds until about ten years ago, when I went on a bird watching trip in Sandy Hook,” said Georgia Dempster, a member of Barnes’ group. “It was cold, a February day, but we saw lots of ducks and they didn’t fly away.”

It was an inside joke for birders, who know it gets a lot harder than just sitting ducks. Like that Grasshopper Sparrow, most birds stay out of sight. Working your skills to identify the species, and the easy camaraderie of being outdoors with fellow lovers of feathered beings, is what makes birding fun.

Barnes’ group moved from the meadow to a salt marsh to a bay to a beach, visiting diverse habitats to see different species. Or hear them: identifying an unseen bird by sound counts too. Click here to watch Scott Barnes call out a Barred Owl.

At the World Series of Birding, the fun helps fund environmental non-profits. More than 1,000 birders from across the United States, Europe and Asia were in New Jersey for the event (the cardinal rule is that each bird must be sighted from the Garden State); they or their corporate sponsors pledged a donation for each bird a group identified over the 24-hour period starting midnight Friday. The WSB has raised $8 million for bird conservation since it was founded 25 years ago by noted author and birder Pete Dunne, director of the Cape May Bird Observatory.

This year’s winning group, Nikon Lagerhead Shrikes, totaled 229 species, seven more than the two runners-up but short of the record 231 set in 2003. Birders altogether spotted a cumulative 271 species, just one shy of the record from 2004.

Barnes’ group of about 30 people had an easygoing philosophy. They stayed within the confines of the Sandy Hook peninsula (serious competitors start in the forests of northern New Jersey and work their way down to Cape May) and birded “only” from dawn to dusk. Lunch was leisurely, too.

But even then people picked up their binoculars in between bites of their sandwiches. The group ended up with 117 species including the Osprey in the photo. They had pledged a buck a bird. That’s about $3,500 for bird conservation. Not a bad haul for birders who spent a day out in the field, doing what they love to do.

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Saturday morning, two large deer, startled by the sound of the porch door opening, leaped one after another from behind the garbage shed. They rushed across the driveway and joined the herd of eight or so that was feasting on the lawn.

On Thanksgiving, a big bear cub clung to a tree high above a busy local road, photographed by neighbors as drivers underneath sped to dinner. 
 
Last week, we reported multiple sightings of a mountain lion—who’d apparently killed a neighbor’s cat in Kinnelon (www.njmyway.com/content/view/300/77).

A few months back a scarred and angry looking coyote, the color of tree bark and big as a Labrador, skulked by the window stalking a squirrel. Often at dawn and dusk, we hear
yips from the woods across the road. There are some 3,000 coyotes in the state.

Has anyone told our un-tamed neighbors that this is New Jersey? Not a nature preserve, but the wealthy land of supranoburban cul de sacs, crowned with malls, boarded by boardwalks, connected by deer-slaying, SUV-laden highways?  

There is no fence between the thousands of acres of Highlands to the west, and the developments that press against these wooded hills. The more we live with deer, bears, coyotes and maybe even mountain lions, they more they live with us. It’s easier to plunder a pizza box or maul a domestic cat than to hunt down running prey.

The debate over the fate of this wilderness frontier is bubbling again as the New Jersey Highlands Council releases its revised plans for managing the huge tract of undeveloped land (http://tinyurl.com/35ze2rm). Should we be allowed to slice further into the woods, building bigger homes on still larger lots?     

Who would you rather have, as your neighbors?

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The bar at the Smoke Rise Village Inn in Kinnelon last week was buzzing with talk  about a big cat. A really big cat. 

“It was as long as a deer with no ears and a long snaky tail,” said a friend who nearly ran down the creature one night last month. Then, to her shock and horror, she saw the huge animal maul and kill her neighbor’s beloved house cat.
 
Others at the bar quickly chimed in. There was one more witness to another sighting. The  mountain lion—that’s what everybody believed it to be—was spotted skulking along a road, and in a driveway. Nearly everyone around the bar had heard of the Kinnelon cougar, or knew someone who’d seen the animal.

Smoke Rise (www.smokerise-nj.com) is vast and upscale—a gated community bordering thousands of acres of undeveloped Highlands. Bears are commonplace. Residents trade their black bear photos like baseball cards. Coyotes live there, too.  

But mountain lions? Our friend snapped a photo of the big cat’s paw print, knowing that her story would need to be documented.  Smoke Rise security sent over a patrol, but at last check the experts have not responded.

New Jersey’s coyotes arrived a few decades ago from their original habitat out West. Mountain lions (they’re also called cougars or pumas) have been expanding in our direction too. But they have not reached beyond the Great Plains,  wildlife experts say (www.easterncougar.org). Official word from the state Division of Fish and Wildlife (www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/index.htm) is that there is no native New Jersey cougar population. 

Still, for years there have been sightings (Google: http://tinyurl.com/32xtle). Don Freiday, a naturalist with New Jersey Audubon and expert tracker, went to check one big cat rumor in the Sourland Mountains of Central Jersey ten years ago, and found a footprint left by what he is convinced was a mountain lion.

Biologists say any puma wandering in New Jersey is an escapee—some people keep them as pets.  Small comfort to the residents of Smoke Rise who are keeping their pets inside, and hoping this really big cat stays away.

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Autumn is here and we’ve fallen for the beautiful foliage in the Garden State. This holiday weekend, spend some time enjoying the best views.

We recently hiked a Skylands trail through the forests of Stephens State Park along the Musconetcong River in Hackettstown.  With the river bubbling right next to us, we felt like we had walked into a picturesque autumn postcard.

For fast fall foliage facts we turned to expert Tom Drake, publisher of Skylands Visitor.

As he explained to us “Unlike New England where foliage is dominated by sugar maple trees, the Skylands of Northwest New Jersey have a wider variety of trees and therefore more brilliant, vibrant colors to take in.”

The Skylands are home to NJ’s most elevated site, High Point State Park, which, according to our expert, “offers a spectacular view, especially of the fall foliage.”  

You can join a Fall Foliage hike that will take place on Monument Trail there on Saturday, October 20 at 10:00 am. The 3.5-mile hike is designed for adults and kids over age nine to see the breathtaking views. Renee Bonham at High Point recommends wearing comfortable shoes and bringing lots of water!

You can check out the Foliage Network for current reports on fall foliage conditions throughout the United States.

The unseasonably warm temperatures have slowed peak colors, so you’ve got a little longer this year to enjoy the autumn. Strap on your walking shoes and take a hike!

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When it comes to picking your own apples, we’ve got a few picks of our own.

At Riamede Farms in Chester (www.riamede.com) apples are the main attraction. Owner Debbie Post says the farm tries to maintain the ambiance of an old time orchard The quiet farm has apple trees that are half a century old and produces 30 varieties of apples including heirlooms such as Baldwins.

We enjoyed the free hayride into the orchard and were thankful for Debbie’s “meticulous maintenance” when we bit into clean, healthy apples straight from the tree.

Debbie says this year’s crop is huge. Apples are so bountiful that Riamede recommends more than one trip, to be sure and catch each variety at its tree-ripened best.

At Terhune Orchards in Princeton (www.terhuneorchards.com/) it’s Apple Day all weekend!

In case you long for more than plain apples, they have a jug band, fresh apple pies, a pork roast and, our personal favorite, cider doughnuts. There’s also a farm with live music, a barnyard, pony and wagon rides and food.

Fall Family Fun weekends at Terhune run from September 29 through the end of October. Owner Pam Mount said this year’s festival features The Legend and Lure of Corn, a fun, educational “corn-y-copia” barn and the popular corn stalk maze.

Both Riamede and Terhune also have pumpkins to pick, but we’ll cover that in the near future. For now all you’ll have to do is pick a date—and get ready to bite into nature’s harvest!

Contributor Sandra Kenoff wrote this story