NY1 did a great segment on Francisco Artigas, head of the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute.

  See it here.
  For more on MERI, click here and here.

This weekly feature is brought to you by the Meadowlands Commission's Parks Department to give you some historical background on how local places, landmarks, and geographical features  got their name.

 Mehrhof Pond and Mehrhof Road, Little Ferry

    During the late 19th century, Little Ferry was the second-largest brick making center in the U.S., producing 100 million bricks annually. 

    One of the Mehrhof Brothers clay pits remain – Mehrhof Pond, a freshwater pond at the end of Mehrhof Road.

   The pond is a great birding site, and the winter home of hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of Ruddy Ducks.

              (Reference: The Hackensack Meadowlands   — Kevin W. Wright)

   The Record ran a story on the Hackensack/Ridgewood CBC yesterday, which included Mehrhof Pond and Losen Slote Creek Park in Little Ferry.

   The story is here.

   More information on Great Egrets (yes, there are still some in the Meadowlands these days) here.
   More information on Rails here and here.

    Today is officially the first day of winter.

   The weather could have been better, but the birds did not seem to mind.
   We had 31 species on yesterday's 90-minute walk, including a Barn Owl flying, a Sharpie, a Cooper's and a Redtail or two — plus a whole lot of ducks.
    Click "Continue reading …" for the full list.

Continue reading →

John Beetham has a solid New Jersey birding blog with an unlikely name — "A D.C. Birding Blog."   

   Click here for John's report. It offers some great perspective on Sunday's Lower Hudson count — which included the Meadowlands.

  Click the button above for more information on the Christmas Bird Count nationwide.