The NJMC's Jim Wright is giving a free talk and slide show, The Birds and Critters of the Meadowlands" — including the Monk Parakeets of Rudgefield – tonight at 7:30 p.m. the Real Macaw Parrot Club in Paramus.
The public is invited. The club meets at Paramus VFW Hall, 6 Winslow Court, Paramus, across from Ikea on Rte 17.
Ray Duffy reports: "I was scouting Mill Creek Marsh for the Meadowlands Birding Festival on Saturday. While passing the first fork along the paths, I came across a sparrow I am very confident was a Clay-colored Sparrow.
"It was by a Song Sparrow and the color difference were very clear. It had a well defined milar and a very obvious gray patch on the back of the neck. It got flushed a number of times by joggers but kept in the area. When I completed my loop it was in the same general area around 7:15 p.m.
Link to a pic is here. (Thanks, Ray!)
Birding at DeKorte will be showcased this Saturday with the Meadowlands Festival of Birding, but as the NJMC's Jim Wright points out in his latest column for The South Bergenite, the benefits of BirdFest could linger past Saturday.
His column is here.
This Saturday is the big day for the seventh annual Meadowlands of Birding, headquartered at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst.
It promises to be a great event, with programs ranging from guided bird walks and bird-banding demonstrations to pontoon-boat cruises and butterfly seminars. (To register or get more information, log on to www.HackensackRiverkeeper.org.)
If, heaven forbid, you don’t have enough time to attend the festival or you’re just a very casual birder, I have a bit of advice. DeKorte the-day-or-so-after ain’t chopped liver either.
You won’t be able to borrow loaner binoculars or get all those great birding tips from experts, but you will be able to take advantage of a bit of their expertise – just a day or two later.
The rest of the column follows.