As David Wheeler surveyed New Jersey's natural spaces, it was not so much the wildlife itself that impressed him.
It was the unlikeliness of it all -- majestic creatures making their comebacks in nooks and crannies and at the edges of suburbia and industrial developments. He was enchanted by the fact that someone waiting in traffic on the Bayonne or Newark Bay bridges, for instance, might easily spy a peregrine falcon.
Wheeler, a naturalist, authored the just-released "Wild New Jersey: Nature Adventures in the Garden State" (Rutgers University Press, $19.95) -- a guide, of sorts, to the untamed bits of our state and the creatures that inhabit it.
Here, Wheeler shares his top picks for wild places to explore in northern New Jersey:
Liberty State Park, Jersey City
Why? For the seals. Yes, seals.
"In the winter, you have harbor seals commonly spotted there," says Wheeler. "To me, that's fantastic."
The founder of the nature blog WildNewJersey.tv and director of operations at the Edison Wetlands Association, Wheeler was shocked to learn the aquatic animals often hang out on the shoreline, let alone near New Jersey. You might have a chance of spotting one lone seal, or to up to dozens of seals, Wheeler says. Plus, you might spot some of those peregrine falcons, considered the fastest animals on Earth for their high-powered dives.
"You have these mighty birds of prey now thriving," says Wheeler -- which would have seemed ludicrous 30 years ago, when the falcons were almost wiped out east of the Mississippi River, he says.
Mill Creek, Secaucus
"The most unlikely entrance to a nature preserve that you can imagine," says Wheeler of the Mill Creek Marsh Nature Trail.
Accessible through, of all things, the Mill Creek Mall, the natural area is "really, really beautiful," he says, but most notable for its landscape of tree trunks, that appears "almost like an archipelago of islands."
Legend has it that settlers burned down the cedar forest there to chase pirates out, says Wheeler. Damning of the water caused the trees to never regrow because of the salt content in the location, creating a graveyard of large stumps.
"I couldn't think of anything else like it," says Wheeler.
Watchung Reservation, Mountainside/Union County
"One of the suburban gems," says Wheeler of the 2,000-acre space. "You have some very neat trails."
Expect hills, changes in elevation and a range of wildlife, he says, including beavers, red foxes and a wide range of bird species that live in the Watchung Mountains.
"You have this really nice, semi-wild area in this densely populated region," says Wheeler.
Rahway River Park, Rahway/Union County
Surrounded by suburbia, here you can nonetheless find rare woodpeckers and even witness a bald eagle flyover, says Wheeler -- "a nice reminder that wildlife is continuing to thrive around us."
A photo of peregrine falcon on a Jersey City skyscraper by naturalist David Wheeler, author of "Wild New Jersey."
NJ.com
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