The Meadowlands Commission has been trying to draw down the Shorebird   Pool at DeKorte Park for a few weeks now, but has encountered several challenges that hampered the effort.

   All that changed this afternoon. The Shorebird Pool is mostly mudflats now, and we are getting a slew of waders and shorebirds. We only wish we could have gotten the water levels down sooner.

  The water has been pumped out so that repairs can be done to the pilings that support the Meadwolands Commission's water's-edge buildings.

   With a little luck, mud levels should be like this for a couple of weeks. Come see for yourself!

    Bergen County Audubon Society and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission would like to thank everyone who turned out on this beautiful September day to participate in our monthly third-Tuesday Walk.

    We did not see the Wheatear, nor were we looking for one, but we had plenty of good birds, including great views of this Caspian Tern fishing in the Shorebird Pool.

  We will post the full list when it becomes available, along with a lot of pix of neat birds and bugs.

    Pete Bacinski of NJ Audubon's Sandy Hook Bird Observatory writes: 

   "A friend of ours here at SHBO was birding by herself yesterday near DeKorte and encountered a Wheatear.  The bird was seen on the dike that separates the Kingland inpoundment and the large tidal flat.

    "She had taken the recycled boardwalk across the marsh and got to the dike and made a right toward the parking lot and had the bird in a short distance in front of her.   She gave a good description and described its habits.  Hopefully, someone could go out today to take a look. Please let us know if you find the bird."

   Please call the NJMC's Jim Wright at 201-7855-6604 if you see this bird.

   We saw this beautiful Parakeet flying around DeKorte Park near the Lyndhurst Nature Reserve. It is still hanging around, as far as we know.

   If you've lost a Parakeet, e-mail jim.wright@njmeadowlands.gov.

   DeKorte Park seems to be a popular place for escapees and, heaven forbid, released birds. 

   We have had other releasees and escapees in the past including Chukars and Parakeets.