Amazing photos of great blue herons, butterflies, ospreys and other wildlife by photographer Douglas Goodell will be featured at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s Flyway Gallery during February and March. 

   The free exhibit, “Portraits of Nature,” runs now through Friday, March 26.

   A Ridgewood resident, Goodell is the co-author of “Jungle of the Maya” (a coffee-table book about the Central American rainforest) and “Duck Enough to Fly” (a photography-driven children's book). He also was a major contributor to “In the Presence of Nature” (a coffee-table book about a nearby natural area).  He is currently working on a book about photography in Costa Rica. 

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  When the good folks at Bergen County Audubon Society realized that the next bird walk they're doing with the NJMC is Super Bowl Sunday, they realized we needed to put some added pizzazz into our marketing.

    So get ready for "Super Bird Sunday," on February 7, from 10 a.m. to noon — a way to get some fresh air and exercise on what has become National Couch Potato Day.

   We'll look for Ravens, Eagles, Cardinals, Falcons and Seahawks — none of whom will be playing in the big game later in the day — as well as other super birds.

   Any person who is the first to see one of these five birds receives a goody bag packed with great stuff like two free passes to a Meadowlands Commission eco-cruise on the Hackensack River next summer, a limited-edition Peter Max Meadowlands poster and unbelievably useful DeKorte Park bookmarks — all compliments of the NJMC.

  This free two-hour guided nature walk starts outside the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst and runs from 10 a.m.

   We’ll walk around the square-mile park as time allows, looking for wintering waterfowl and other birds of interest.

    The walk is run by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.  To rsvp, contact Don Torino of the BCAS at greatauk4@aol.com or 201-636-4022.

   Chris Takacs found this American Pipit at the entrance to Losen Slote Park in Little Ferry this afternoon. (Thanks, Chris!)

   More on American Pipits here.

   Pat O'Shea took this shot Saturday at low tide — we're wondering if a proxigean spring tide also produces an abnormally low tide…

   Who said DeKorte can look a tad bleak in the winter?

     We found this nest under a conifer in Harrier Meadow. At first it looked like a coconut shell.

    Upon closer examination, it was made of mud, with twigs on the exterior.

      What kind of nest is it?

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In honor of Groundhog's Day today, here's a video we did a while back, before the blog was really up and running.

The one-minute video features a woodchuck looking out of its den on a path in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, when Junior butts in. (Best played with audio on.)

For more information on this abundant Meadowlands mammal, click here.

     Note: We realize that it is a bad idea to take hang out in front of birds' nests or mammals' dens in an effort to get a family portrait. The animals feel threatened and cannot escape.   For this video, we used a trick we learned minutes earlier from a professional cameraman: You put the video-cam on a tripod not too far from entrance, hit "record," and walk away.    Later on, you come back, retrieve the camera  and see what you caught on video. :- )

      Here are some NJMC nature highlights from February 2009 (The Eurasian Green-winged Teal has not been back this winter):

    February 2: Groundhog Video for Groundhog Day

    February 3: Ducks Galore ( & two kinds of Green-winged Teal)

    February 6: Raptor update

    February 9: Raven's Nest, Secaucus

    February 19: The Coots of Kearny (Video)

    February 23: About the Cedar Stumps