Anything unusual in this pic?
Clue below.
Monthly Archives: February 2012
Don’t Forget: Freee Harrier Meadow Walk Tomorrow
Our next guided walk is tomorrow (Tuesday) at Harrier Meadow in North Arlington at 10 a.m.
With this wacky weather, who knows what we'll see. We did have a couple of Killdeer and yellowlegs there last week, along with tons of Common Mergs and other duckage. Dress warmly if the forecast indicates — can be very windy in Harrier Meadow. Full info on Tuesday's walk follows.
Not Just Another Pretty Face
Dennis Cheeseman passed along this shot of a Groundhog near the Kingsland Overlook Trail. When it comes to keeping up appearances, this is one rude dude.
One theory is that it probably just broke hibernation and has been curled up in a burrow for the last few months, which would give him that "just got out of bed" look, but this might go well beyond that.
(Thanks, Dennis!)
Friday’s Bird Walk List
Yesterday's Great Backyard Bird Count Walk at DeKorte Park came up 28 species and 1107 individual birds – including a Bald Eagle and 11 species of duck.
A big thanks to Bergen County Audubon Society for leading the walk and to Marie Longo for compiling the list.
Full list follows.
Next Free Guided Walk: Tuesday at Harrier Meadow
Our next guided walk is Tuesday at Harrier Meadow in North Arlington at 10 a.m. With this wacky weather, who knows what we'll see. We did have a couple of Killdeer and yellowlegs there last week, along with tons of Common Mergs and other duckage.
Here's the (snowy) list from our Harrier walk two years ago (not expecting a shrike this year).
Full info on Tuesday's walk — brought to you by the Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society — follows.
Neat New Bird-finding Website
Neil Maruca writes:
"From the eBird techtalk blog, an interesting new birding tool showing
rarities in your area. Looks like it would be useful for planning day
trips… You can change the center of the search at the top of the map tab."
Also handy for seeing what's hot at DeKorte and elsewhere in the region. Just play around with it a little, and you'll get the hang of it.
The link is here. (Thanks, Neil!)
DeKorte Bird Report
As a little scouting trip for tomorrow's (Friday's) guided walk at DeKorte, I walked along the Transco Trail and Marsh Discovery at lunch yesterday. Highlights were a Black-crowned Night Heron in the back of the Shorebird Pool and 11 species of duck.
Birders I talked with reported seeing Ruby-crowned Kinglets and the fairly reliable Great Blue Heron. Did not see the Orange-crowned Warbler or American Bittern — please let us know if you do.
Full list follows.
Don’t Forget: Free Guided DeKorte Walk Tomorrow
The Meadowlands Commission and Bergen County Audubon Society are offering a free guided bird walk at 10 a.m. tomorrow (Friday) in DeKorte Park.
We’re doing the 90-minute walk in conjunction with the Great Backyard Bird Count, so we’ll try count every bird we see.
We hope to get an unusual bird or two along the way — from American Bittern to Orange-crowned Warbler.
Meet inside the Meadowlands Environment Center. Dress for the weather.
Full details follow.
This Week’s ‘Focus on the Meadowlands’
This week’s “Focus on the Meadowlands” post on the wildnewjersey.tv blog includes the mystery photo above, a full moon, and that Disposal Red-tail with jesses (seen as recently as two days ago).
Link is here.
If You See an Escaped Chicken…
Following last week's post about the chicken roaming Mill Creek Marsh, a reader wrote in to say that if you see an escapee chicken, consider calling the town's animal control officer instead of letting it become a sitting duck for local hawks – as this hen apparently did. The reader said that all she found the following day were feathers.
"Every town has to have an animal control officer and they are very aware that chickens can't survive in the wild," she wrote.