New Jersey State Parks, Forests & Historic Sites

#wildlifewednesday CICADAS Fall is my favorite time of year. Besides the gorgeous fall color, there are other surprises, like the jewel like cicada I found. I was able to take amazing close-up photos of the chilled sluggish insect, something that would have been impossible to do in the warmth of the summer. Cicadas are amazing creatures. I love the males buzzing mating calls. The calls are made by stretching drum-like structures (called tymbals). Cicadas spend most of their life, 1 to 17 years (depending on the species), underground sucking the sap out of tree roots. When the time is right, the mole like insects come above ground. They climb up their tree, their backs crack open and the winged adult pops out. If it is a male, it climbs to the top of the tree and begins its buzzing serenades. Cicadas are summer bugs. Most of us associate their calls with hot summer afternoons. Cold fall nights slowly, but surely silence the cicadas, as well as the grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids, as they peacefully die from the cold. The big black field crickets, that chirp at night, are usually the last to go. Usually, you can still hear them as you escort the kids Halloween night. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Park Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

#NotesFromOurNaturalists GHOST PIPES I first saw ghost pipes, also known as Indian pipes, when I was a young man studying at Stockton State College. Ghost pipe is a parasitic plant. Ultimately it spends most of its life underground, feeding on the roots of trees. The ghost pipe lacks chlorophyl, the green pigment that enables most plants to manufacture their own food during photosynthesis, hence its ghostly appearance. Periodically, the ghost pipe shoots up its ghostly white flowers so insects can pollinate them. The flowers resemble the simple white clay pipes used by early settlers and Native Americans, hence the name “ghost pipe.” Article by Matt Pelligrine, Park Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

#NotesFromOurNaturalists MONARCHS MADE IT On Monday our maintenance man Dave asked, “Matt when are the monarchs coming?” I answered, “Friday, there is a cold front coming.” And sure enough, Friday, September 23, 2022, the monarchs arrived, although the numbers were a bit disappointing. Hawks, eagles, songbirds and bird watchers by the hundred also arrived. I even got called to rescue a red bat (yes, some bats migrate as well). Fortunately, the bat was OK and flew off. Remember, the formula for a great fall migration is: COLD FRONT + NORTHWEST WINDS = MIGRATION Monarchs prefer gentle NW winds, as strong winds may play havoc with their flight. Enjoy their visit. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

#WildlifeWednesday MONARCH MIGRATION Soon monarch butterflies will be migrating down the New Jersey coast and concentrating in Cape May Point before flying across the Delaware Bay. Monarch numbers may be down, but they are still coming. The big push usually happens between late September and mid-October. The monarch fall migration is very weather dependent. Watch for a cold front, followed by gentle Northwest winds. Regardless of the monarch numbers, the wild sunflowers (a butterfly favorite) are gorgeous so be sure to bring your camera!

#WildlifeWednesday PREDATORY WASPS It’s obvious that nature inspires science fiction and horror movies. Lots of people have insect phobias. Knowledge of their bizarre ways could easily cause nightmares! Take the hunting wasps, for example. The most famous is the tarantula hawk, a wasp that battles tarantulas larger than itself! The female wasp stings the tarantula, paralyzing it. The wasp then drags the tarantula to her burrow, where she lays an egg on the tarantula’s body. The wasp larva then feeds on the living tarantula! New Jersey does not have tarantula hawks, but we do have cicada killers and steel blue cricket hunters. These wasps don’t have to battle dangerous prey but are still impressive due to their size. Fortunately, these wasps avoid people, so stings are rare. Incidentally, when not killing tarantulas, cicadas or crickets, these wasps feed on a normal diet of flower nectar, helping with pollination. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

#NotesFromOurNaturalists FALL MIGRATION Its starting: the FALL MIGRATION! Cape May is world famous for south bound birds. Visitors come from all over the United States and all over the world. South pointing peninsulas, such as Cape May, Cape Charles, and Florida, all concentrate south bound birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and bats. If you want to see the most south bound birds this fall, please consider visiting Cape May mid-September through October. Watch the weather. The best flights happen with NW winds following a cold front. Most small birds move at night, but hawks, eagles and vultures are visible during the day. In fact, Cape May Point is often the best place to be in the US to see migratory raptors. Over 30,000 birds of prey are seen each Fall. The migration is not over in October. The ducks arrive in November, at least 10 different species. Tundra swans are also occasionally seen. Lucky visitors might see migratory owls sleeping in the pines and cedar trees in November. The grand finale does not happen until winter with the appearance of a snowy owl or two. To learn more, please visit Cape May Point State Park and consider joining us on one of our free weekend Nature Walks. SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER SCHEDULE: SATURDAY: 9:00 & 2:00 SUNDAY: 9:00, 11:00, 2:00 NOVEMBER SCHEDULE: SATURDAYS: Nov. 5, 12, 19 @ 10:00 and 2:00 Article by Matt Pelligrine, Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

💪🏻Week 2 in the works! 💪🏻 The New Jersey Youth Corps of Camden is currently working diligently at Brendan T Byrne State Forest creating a new bridge along the Green Trail. Funding from the National Recreational Trails Grant program has given the New Jersey State Park Service an opportunity to partner with The Work Group and we are beyond proud of their hard work 👀Stay tuned for their next project!

#WildlifeWednesday INCHWORM When we were clearing vines, my new assistant found an inchworm. The caterpillar was long, green, and thin. He was stretched out diagonally on a scrap of honeysuckle vine. At first, I could not see him; his camouflage was perfect. He finally got comfortable and started to move about on the bit of vine in his characteristic looping, inchworm way. There are over 1,200 species of inchworms, but they all have amazing camouflage. When frightened they freeze, looking like little twigs. All turn into moths. And all are fun to observe. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Park Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

#NotesFromOurNaturalists SEASHELL FORMATION Most summer visitors take seashells for granted. Some folks don’t understand what seashells are. Seashells are made by animals called mollusks (snails, clams, oysters, scallops). Seashells fall into two categories: univalves and bivalves. Univalves or snails have one shell. Clams, scallops, and oysters are bivalves and have two shells. Mollusks hatch from eggs. Snails are born with a tiny shell. As they grow, they add to the shell. They thicken the shell and add to the mouth of the shell. Their primary building material is calcium carbonate. Marine snails get the calcium from seawater. Land snails and freshwater snails must find calcium and eat it. Hence land and freshwater snails are most common in locations that have limestone (calcium carbonate). In fact, limestone often is composed of layers and layers of seashell turned to rock! Snail shells usually grow in a spiral, which is why they are so pretty. The point of the spiral is the snails original baby shell! Snails can repair minor injuries to their shells. Incidentally, the process of converting limestone to snail shell is called biomineralization. The shell gets its color from a protective protein layer that contains pigments. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Park Naturalist, Cape May Point

#NotesFromOurNaturalists KATYDID Some insects have amazing camouflage. Walking sticks and inch worms, for example, slowly parade through the branches unnoticed, as they closely resemble the twigs of their host tree or plant. We have Asian leaf bugs feeding on multiflora rose in a tank at the Nature Center. Their camouflage is so perfect that we have accidentally thrown them away when we freshen up the roses. In the United States, our “leaf bug” is a cricket called the katydid. Katydids have green flattened wings that resemble leaves. Their camouflage is so perfect that I only see them when they are climbing on man-made structures such as deck rails. Male katydids call at night. Someone with good hearing and an overactive imagination thought the call sounded like “Katy did, katy did, she didn’t!” They can be quite loud and annoying if you live on a wooded lot. Although katydids eat plants, they rarely cause any real damage to your garden. However, they occasionally bite, HARD, so don’t let your kids handle them, just enjoy them, photograph them, and listen to their night calls. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Park Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

💪🏻 Week 1 Completed! 💪🏻 Following the success of the New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg, today we are giving a shoutout to the New Jersey Youth Corps of Camden (The Work Group) for the completion of Hepner’s Field Kayak Access project at Parvin State Park last week. Funding from the National Recreational Trails Grant program has given the New Jersey State Park Service an opportunity to partner with two New Jersey Youth Corps organizations. Find out what The Work Group members accomplished despite the high temperatures and humidity, for the public's enjoyment! 👀 Stay tuned for more projects in the upcoming weeks! #NJStateParks

#NotesFromOurNaturalists ATLANTIC WHITE CEDAR Atlantic white cedar is an evergreen tree in the cypress family that may grow 60 to 80 feet tall. The foliage is scale-like and green to blue/green in color and remains on the tree year-round. The Atlantic white cedar prefers sandy, peaty, moist to wet soil in full sun to part shade and tends to grow on small mounds. Atlantic white cedar once occupied approximately 500,000 acres along the East Coast, from Maine to the Gulf states. Less than 125,000 acres remain. In New Jersey, Atlantic white cedar once occupied over 125,000 acres. That acreage is now down to less than 25,000, mostly in the southern part of the state. Atlantic white cedar forests provide tremendous benefits to the water quality of the Pinelands, a region specifically protected for its ground and surface water resources. Similarly, Atlantic cedar forests provide excellent habitat for threatened and endangered plant and animal species. Commercially, Atlantic white cedar has been deemed one of the most important timber trees in southern New Jersey. Its durable and straight grain is rot resistant and has long been used for a variety of outdoor building products. Learn more about restoration efforts- https://www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/forest/atlanticwhitecedar/

Update: The New Jersey Youth Corps of Phillipsburg has concluded their 5-week trail maintenance program in Worthington State Forest. Through the National Recreational Trails Grant program, the State Park Service was able to partner with the Phillipsburg Youth Corps tackling much needed trail projects and maintenance. These projects included erosion control, trailhead/parking area improvements, invasive species control and boardwalk construction. Despite the high temperatures and high humidity, these young adults worked hard to improve our trails for everyone’s enjoyment. Let’s give a big thank you to the Phillipsburg Youth Corps, Worthington State Forest’s park staff and volunteers from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference! A similar project with the New Jersey Youth Corps of Camden will be taking place in southern New Jersey state parks and historic sites in the coming weeks. Stay tuned! #NJStateParks

#NotesFromOurNaturalists OTTERS One of the disappointments about working at a park is that you rarely get to see the wildlife other than songbirds. The exciting critters, like fox, coyotes, and otters, always seem to go out of their way to avoid people. However, they all leave poop on the trails. Otter poop is obvious. First, it usually smells fishy. Otter poop is full of fish scales and crab parts. River otters LOVE places like Cape May Point State Park, freshwater ponds on the beach. Otters can play and hunt in the surf, then take a bath and get a drink in the ponds. Bathing in fresh water is very important to river otters as the salt can damage their luxuriant fur. After all, even an otter can get split ends! The fur must be in good shape so the otter can stay warm in the winter. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Park Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

#WildlifeWednesday PURPLE MARTIN The purple martin has a long history of living with people. They were first “domesticated” by the Choctaw Indians (and possibly other tribes). The Indians ingeniously took large surplus gourds and turned them into bird houses! Martins quickly learned that it was safer to live in the Indian village as the tribe going about their routine business and the children playing provided plenty of disturbance to keep predators away! Today, martins still prefer to live with people. In fact, it is believed that every martin in North America now lives in a man-made martin house as opposed to a woodpecker hole! Farmers like the fact that martins repel crows and homeowners appreciate the insect control or just love to hear the martins calling. A martin house does need care. A successful martin landlord has a means to raise and lower the house for annual cleaning, essential to the health of the baby martins. At Cape May Point State Park, our hoses are attached to a trailer winch so we can lower the houses for fall cleaning. This also enables us to rescue any babies that fall out of the nests! Article by Matt Pelligrine, Park Naturalist, Cape May Point State Park

Let’s give a round of applause to the Phillipsburg Youth Corps! Funding from the National Recreational Trails Grant program has given the New Jersey State Park Service an opportunity to partner with two New Jersey Youth Corps organizations: the Phillipsburg Youth Corps (featured here) working in central and northern New Jersey and soon the Work Group of Camden will begin projects in southern New Jersey. These Youth Corps members are tackling much needed trail related projects such as erosion control, trailhead/parking area improvements, invasive species control and boardwalk construction. Despite the high temperatures and high humidity, these young adults are working hard to improve our trails for everyone’s enjoyment. Park staff and volunteers from the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference are working side by side with the Youth Corps. Sharing their knowledge about New Jersey’s natural and history diversity, careers that could be pursued in these fields and taking advantage of unique trail experiences, such as coming across the endangered timber rattlesnake at Worthington State Forest. #NJStateParks

#NotesFromOurNaturalists HICKORY I love hickories golden fall foliage. Unfortunately, I have had a lot of trouble growing hickories. The trees are tricky to transplant. They seem to require a squirrel to plant the nut! Hickories also take forever to grow. They spend years developing a strong tap root before working on the sapling. Perhaps people should learn a lesson from the hickory tree. It pays to build a strong foundation! Hickory nuts are eaten by bear, deer, turkey and of course squirrels. People rarely eat hickory nuts as most species produce small or bitter nuts. Shagbark, shellbark and pecan are the exceptions. Hickory leaves are eaten by the caterpillars of many of the big spectacular moths, such as the luna moth and the regal moth. Hickory leaves turn a lovely shade of gold in the fall, making for pleasant fall hikes. Due to its slow growth, hickory wood is strong and makes great ax handles. The slow growth also results in great firewood (high BTUs). Article by Matt Pelligrine, Park Naturalist Cape May Point State Park

Painted turtle

#wildlifewednesday Painted turtle Its hard not to like painted turtles. These medium sized freshwater turtles were the most common turtle in New Jersey until the pet shop red-eared sliders were released. The red-eared sliders were larger and laid more eggs. The sliders are believed to out compete the painted turtles for food and space. The painted turtle is a black turtle. They LOVE to bask and black heats up fast in the sun. Basking enables the turtles to control their body temperature. Since turtles are cold blooded, they must warm their bodies to digest their food properly. Painted turtles have red and yellow markings on their legs, neck and the edges of their shells. They look like a child painted them. Male red-eared sliders and painted turtles have LONG claws on their front legs. The males use these long claws to “tickle” the females face during courtship just below the water’s surface. Despite their love of basking, painted turtles are very cold tolerant and are often seen basking on warm winter days. I’ve even heard tell that they have been seen swimming under the ice! In fact, the fall hatchlings do not leave the nest, but winter over underground. Since the nest is very shallow the babies freeze and then, amazingly, thaw and dig out in the spring! Article by Matt Pelligrine, Resource Interpretive Specialist, Cape May Point State Park

#wildlifewednesday Snapping Turtle

#wildlifewednesday Snapping Turtle Seeing a snapping turtle is probably as close as a New Jersey kid will ever come to having a Jurassic Park experience! They can get huge, 30 pounds being common, 80 pounds being possible! Snapping turtle are not mean and nasty, but they can give a painful bite to people foolish enough to bother them! Most people encounter female snappers crossing the road looking for places to lay their eggs. Those snappers are particularly moody as they are out of their comfort zone, being the water. Remember snappers have long necks, 19 inches on a big one, that they can shoot out at high speed so look but don’t get too close! In the water, snapping turtles feel much more comfortable and tend to swim away from people rather than bother them. Surprisingly, the skunk is the snappers biggest enemy! Skunks have an excellent sense of smell which they use to find buried turtle nests. They then dig up the nests with their powerful claws and enjoy scrambled eggs. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Resource Interpretive Specialist, Cape May Point State Park

"Empty Sky" is the State of New Jersey's official memorial that honors the memory of the 749 people that lived in or had ties to New Jersey that lost their lives at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Located within Official: Liberty State Park, the brushed stainless steel twin walls are 210 feet long, the width of each side of the World Trade Center Towers. They rise 30 feet, standing parallel to each other with a 12-foot wide paved path of bluestone between them. Like the World Trade Center, the stainless steel reflects the constantly changing light of day. The memorial invites visitors to literally and metaphorically look toward the empty sky in memory and look forward as a community. The memorial, designed by Jessica Jamroz and Frederic Schwartz, was dedicated on September 11, 2011. #NJStateParks #EmptySkyMemorial #EmptySky #LibertyStatePark #neverforget

#NotesfromNaturalists - Wheel Bug

The wheel bug is an impressive insect over an inch long. The wheel bug is one of the assassin bugs, and like all assassin bugs, they have an impressive fang-like stabbing beak. Wheel bugs also sport half a cog wheel on their backs which gives them a somewhat prehistoric, dinosaur like appearance. Like many insects, females are larger than the males. Wheel bugs eat many insects, including many pest species, like Japanese beetles. Like spiders, wheel bugs stab their prey with their fang, injecting it with killing venom and digestive juices. The prey is predigested by this toxic mix, then the wheel bug sucks its prey dry like an alien vampire! Wheel bugs are not aggressive, but please don’t pick them up. Their venom gives them a painful bite! Like a wasp sting, the pain may last quite a while. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Resource Interpretive Specialist, Cape May Poin

Dragonfly Migration

On July 20th, 2021 thousands of blue dasher dragonflies appeared at Cape May Point State Park. We are uncertain whether the dragonflies are passing through, or if huge numbers emerged from the pond overnight. Dragonflies are amazing, ancient insects. Before the dinosaurs, some dragonflies were the size of small hawks. The dragonfly life cycle is tied to water. All dragonflies lay their eggs in the water. In fact, most of the dragonfly’s life is spent as an aquatic, predaceous larvae. Seen under a magnifying glass, the larvae look like a monster from a horror film. Adding to the alien effect are harpoon like retractable lower jaw that spears aquatic prey. Large dragonfly larvae can even eat minnows! At the proper time, the dragonfly larvae crawl out of the water. Their backs crack open and fragile adult dragonflies emerge. The adult is soft and wet. It takes about an hour for his wings to expand and dry and his body to harden. Once the dragonfly takes flight, he begins a life of catching bugs on the wing. In fact, huge flights of dragonflies are good news for NJ residents suffering from mosquitoes and flies! Male blue dashers are blue, females are slightly smaller and are brown and yellow. At least five North American dragonfly species are known to migrate. The blue dasher is not currently on the list, but that does not mean much as insects are so MYSTERIOUS! Dragonfly migrations happen in the summer and fall. The dragonflies may migrate from Canada to Mexico and the West Indies. Like monarch butterflies, the migrations take several generations to complete. Article by Matt Pelligine, Resource Interpretive Specialist, Cape May Point State Park

House Wren in the house

The Americas are the land of the wren: more than 80 species live in North and South America, but only one wren occurs in the rest of the world (the Eurasian Wren). Though these small brown birds are usually camouflaged against the leaf litter of the forest floor, the house wrens in this video are conspicuous as they advertise and defend their territory with their distinctively loud rush-and-jumble song. Wrens will gladly use nest boxes, or you may find their twig-filled nests in old cans, boots, or flowerpots lying around your property. This pair of wrens is using this box for the second time as they already raised a set of young earlier this spring. As the season progresses, their nests can become infested with mites and other parasites that feed on the wren nestlings. Perhaps to fight this problem, wrens often add spider egg sacs into the nest materials. Once the spiders hatch, they help the wrens by devouring the nest parasites. Article by Lynn Groves, Naturalist, Kittatinny Valley State Park Video by Gina Provenzano, Naturalist, Spruce Run Recreation Area

Rose Mallow

Late July through mid-August Cape May Point State Parks Fresh water wetlands are covered in huge white and pink hibiscus, the CRIMSON-EYED ROSE MALLOW! They bloom in the morning. Each flower lasts less than a day, so visitors should come before lunch to see the flowers at their best. Rose mallows are so abundant that they have their own specialized pollinator, the rose mallow bee. This specialized bee nests underground. They make little tunnels in hard packed dirt, including the Park trails. Although it looks like a colony of bees, each tunnel is home to a single mom and her precious larvae. The bees do not sting to defend the colony. When a bee stings, its stinger is ripped out, killing the bee. A dead mother bee is no use to her young. Rose mallows are locally called “marshmallows”, and it gets better. The original marshmallow confection was made from the roots and stems of European marshmallow plants! Originally a medicine for sore throats and upset stomachs was made from the marshmallow. When sweetened it became marshmallow confection. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Resource Interpretive Specialist, Cape May Point State Park

Baby northern water snake

#wildlifewednesday Recently Cape May Point had the good fortune of hiring my long term volunteer Hadassah Steele. Hadassah has started volunteering when she was only 6 years old! Now she is an amazing young lady full of surprises, like walking into the Nature Center with a baby water snake. Technically, it was not a new born. It looked about two months old. But it was small, comfortably curled up in her hand. Water snakes, like their cousins the garter snakes, give birth to live young. Live birth is believed to be an adaptation to the cold northern hemisphere. This way, the babies can be born fairly early in the spring. Adult females are much larger than the males. Females are heavy bodied and usually reach a length of three feet, while males are small and slender. Water snakes, like garter snakes participate in mass mating frenzies. A dozen or more males will writhe all over the female pushing and shoving until the strongest male wins the rights to mate. Water snakes, as you would guess, typically eat fish and frogs. They are not poisonous, but are aggressive if handled, so please do not pick them up. Bites are prone to infection. And by the way, Hadassah just proof read this article, and as she walked out, she said, “I love working here!” Article by Matt Pelligrine, Resource Interpretive Specialist, Cape May Point State Park

Red bellied turtle

#wildlifewednesdays New Jersey is home to quite a variety of sea, land, fresh water and salt marsh turtles. Of the hard shelled, fresh water turtles, the dinosaur like snapping turtle is New Jersey’s largest. The mild mannered red bellied turtle is our state’s second largest. The introduced red eared slider and the salt marsh loving diamond backed terrapin are a close tie for third. The painted turtle and northern map turtle are tied for fourth, followed by the spotted turtle, mud turtle and musk turtle. The endangered bog turtle is the smallest. All summer, expect to find New Jersey’s various aquatic turtles wandering about looking for the perfect place to dig their nests. Please help them cross the street (when you can do it without endangering yourself). Remember to put the turtle on the side of the road that they are heading towards, as turtle are very stubborn. If you put a mother turtle back where she came from, she will simply turn around and attempt to cross the road again! Also, do not be tempted to take these turtles home. Its not fair to interrupt their nesting! The sun’s heat incubates the eggs and the babies take about 60 days to hatch. Most fall prey to predators or fail to find their way back to the pond. A lucky baby red bellied turtle might live to be 60 years old Incidentally, the bizarre introduced spiny softshell turtle is sometimes longer (but not heavier) than the red bellied turtle. Female softshells occasionally reach 18 inches long while red bellied turtles max out at 16. Like the snapping turtle, softshells have long necks, powerful jaws and bad tempers. Due to their flat, leathery shells, they look like swimming pancakes! Article by Matt Pelligrine, Resource Interpretive Specialist, Cape May Point State Par

Paper wasp nest

#WildlifeWednesday Paper wasps are famous for producing nests made of paper. The nests are usually the round or oval and hang in the tree branches. Nests are usually about the size of soccer balls but can be as large as beach balls! A LARGE HIVE CAN HOUSE 15,000 WASPS! The nests are truly made from paper. The wasps create paper by chewing up rotting wood. They then spit it out to create the nest. Each spring, the large queen emerges from her underground burrow and begins the laborious task of building the nest. She creates several combs, laying an egg in each one (technically they are not honey combs as only bees produce honey). The eggs hatch into wasp larvae that the queen feeds caterpillars. After her first brood of daughters mature, they take over nest construction, hunting and care of the young, freeing the queen to concentrate on laying eggs. Most eggs mature into workers, but a few eggs mature into sexually active “princes & princesses.” These special wasps mate resulting in new queens that fly off and start their own hives. In the fall, the queen abandons her subjects and her hive and retreats underground to hibernate. The workers die, and the nest is battered by winter wind, rain and snow until it falls to the ground and cracks open allowing a detailed examination of its fascinating layers of combs. In the spring, the queen emerges and begins the amazing process over again! Although wasp stings are painful, they are considered beneficial gardener’s friends eating caterpillars that destroy the vegetables. Article by Matt Pelligrine, Resource Interpretive Specialist, Cape May Point

fireflies

#NotesFromOurNaturalists - Baby Praying Mantis are Hatching all over New Jersey!

#NotesFromOurNaturalists - Baby Praying Mantis are Hatching all over New Jersey! This Wednesday, June 2, they were everywhere! Baby Chinese praying mantises! Each one a perfect little mantis about ¼ inch long. The babies are emerging from the golf ball sized nests found on sticks and weeds all over New Jersey. The eggs cases were laid last fall by the huge female mantises. Each female laid several egg cases each containing as many as 400 eggs before she died in October or November. The Chinese mantis is an exotic, controversial species, both loved and despised. Gardeners love all mantis species as they eat insect pests. Unfortunately, Chinese mantis females are huge, often 4.5 inches long. Their large size enables them to pray on tree frogs, baby lizards and even hummingbirds. Many birders now crush them on sight. Unfortunately, the smaller native Carolina mantis is often killed by mistake. Regardless of your point of view, the Chinese mantis is an impressive insect. Also, it currently is the only known predator of the lantern fly, a serious new pest. #NJStateParks