On Friday, on the heels of reports of Dolphin sightings on the Hackensack River, we set out in a small outboard boat to repair a water-quality monitor by Kearny Point.
   Although we did not see any Dolphins, we did see a dozen Black-crowned Night Herons (across the river from the Laurel Hill Boat Launch), Common Mergansers and Great Cormorants.
  On Monday, we got the monitor up and running again. The solar-powered monitor measures six different sets of water data, including dissolved oxygen, and then sends the information by modem to the Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute.
   Click here — Download 2009DOupdate — for last year's encouraging 1-page report on dissolved oxygen trends  in the river. Dissolved oxygen levels are increasing, which is good for the entire food chain.
   Click here for the very informative MERI Web site.

   Click "Continue reading…" immediately below for a photo of a Dolphin who visited the Meadowlands last year.

    All-time great Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino visited the NJMC last year.
   Think of this as this week's Tuesday Teaser.