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The sky’s the limit Ornithologist talks about numerous opportunities for avian advocates in the area By Dan Aubrey
Edith and Anna Perrine of Dutch Neck who travelled the country with Elsie the Cow, mascot of the Borden Dairy Company. Elsie’s home was the Walker Gordon Dairy Farm in Plainsboro.
Remembering Borden mascot Elsie 80 years after her death Iconic advertising symbol lived and died in Plainsboro By WILLIaM HarT
Her real name was You’ll Do Lobelia. She changed it and became a star. Long before there was Cher, Madonna, or Beyoncé, there was Elsie. Elsie the Cow was an American icon. She is also an American story. Today, only those
above a certain age or consumers of Borden Condensed Milk will know her. More will know her “husband,” Elmer, whose drawing is on the label of every bottle of Elmer’s Glue-All. But with apologies to Olympic Champion Rebecca Soni and movie star John Lithgow, Elsie the Cow is Plainsboro’s most famous citizen. At the height of her career Elsie was noted as the most famous icon in America, not
an easy feat when you are up against such formidable competitors like The Campbell Soup Kids, the Marlboro Man and The Jolly Green Giant. According to Ad Age magazine, Elsie ended up being one of the top 10 advertising symbols of the twentieth century. This national figure lived and died right here in Plainsboro. In fact, she died 80 years ago on April 20, 1941. Elsie’s Plainsboro story See ELSIE, Page 6
Those looking to find the “just right” type of activity between the vaccine-softening quarantining and full public exposure, the place to go may your actual backyard or neighborhood. And since bird watching has a seemingly limitless number of game to catch by eye, it’s an activity where the sky — along with everything under it — is the limit. “I think just getting out of doors,” says regional ornithologist Charles (aka Charlie) Leck about bird watching as a pursuit. “And there are few animal groups you can see at any time, beautiful colors.” The author of two Rutgers University Press books, Birds of New Jersey: Their Habits and Habitats and The Status and Distribution of New Jersey’s Birds, and professor emeritus at Rutgers University, where he led classes in animal behavior, ornithology, and ecology, Leck says in April “everything is bursting in song. Wrens are singing away. That’s the sign we’re really getting into spring.” During a recent telephone conversation, Leck, a West Windsor native who now lives ion Kendall Park, advises people to get out and find “cavity nesters looking for a nest site — a hole in the tree. That includes a lot of woodpeckers
and nuthatches, chickadees — they’re always courting already.” Additionally, he says look for bald eagles. “The numbers are fantastic this year. There have been 30, up to 40 or 50 wintering on the Delaware River, from Ewing south to Bordentown.” Since eagles mate during the winter, people on the lookout may be able to spot the chicks that began hatching at the end of March. “It’s good now. The young ones will be flapping around trying to fly for the next month or so.” Other bird activities include the arrival of the migrating Carolina wrens “and woodcock courtship is pretty big. Take walks at sunset. The birds are making noise and flying. There are many other things this time of year. Loons will be calling soon.” Leck says that bird watching is an easy pursuit that requires “just a curiosity about the outdoors, binoculars, and some kind of guide book. The Peterson one was famous for years.” But it works best if the novice goes with a few others who have some birding knowledge. “If it is just one other person, it helps a lot.” He also says that it is good to be in a group and points to the Audubon Society, the Friends of Abbott Marshlands and Mercer County Parks. “Small numbers of people are good,” says Leck, referring to both COVID and effectiveness — too many people will scare the birds away. “A lot of things are good in small numbers, anything smaller than 24.” See LECK, Page 4
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