Visiting New Jersey in late March, spring was not yet taking hold at Lord Stirling Park. The deciduous forests looked delicate and crisp with their bare branches, all shades of brown and cream from the mud to last years leaves to the tree bark. Still, some moss, some bulbs, and a fern here and there were peeking through, and then a beautiful blue sky above added color.

We were sharing the NEX 5n. I took the robin and swamp picture. Mike did the photo conversions.

This is a lowland park, marshy with sections that are seasonally flooded near the Passaic River. There are boardwalks in some places. Trail maps are posted at intersections. There was quite a bit of damage remaining from Sandy. The holes left from uprooted trees had filled to make small ponds. There northern trails were still closed.

Tussocks in the Woodpecker Swamp

When researching the park, we found reports of seeing bluebirds. We were lucky to see one too.

Several times we heard croaky choruses, which we figured were far off geese, but as we came nearer to some of the calls, it sounded more like frogs to us. We thought it must be too cold for frogs (I think it was in the upper 40s). At Earwig Bridge we decided to stay still for a few minutes, and probably a dozen frogs popped up.

Walking past the pond almost back to the parking lot, there were more geese and swans.