And now for something completely different…

What is this, why is it unusual, and what do the images on the bottle have to do with the Meadowlands?

Answer follows.

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Mike Newhouse and his band of bird-banders banded tons of birds last week, including this endangered Vesper Sparrow.

(Thanks to Ray Duffy for providing the photo above.) 

More pix from Ray are here.

We had a great walk at Mill Creek Marsh, with 20 folks divided into two groups. All told, we had 40 species. The full list is below.

Two photographer/birders — Sandy Sorkin and Jeff Nicol — shared some images with us, which we are posting here, along with a link to Sandy's Picasa Web page here, which has some shots of a Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow that Sandy photographed at Mill Creek on sunday morning.

Thanks to all who participated, with a special thanks to Sandy (for the partial group shot and Osprey shot) and Jeff (for the Green-winged Teal and Gadwall shots). The event was sponsored by the Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.

Full list follows.

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The Cape May Bird Observatory has an outstanding blog, with great pics and info. That info includes 16 ways to tell a Sharp-shinned Hawk from a Cooper's Hawk,

This info was featured in a post earlier this month. To read it, click here.

To see the blog itself, View From the Cape, click here.

(A big thank you to Don Freiday of CMBO for the information, and a thank you, too, to Edna Duffy and Julie McCall for passing along the link.)

Name that flower.

When we walk in Harrier Meadow, we like to check to see if any of the Northern Mockingbirds are banded.

We usually see at least one, regardless of the time of year. Here's last week's banded beauty.

Nice weather, nice turnout, nice birds, and a Comma butterfly.

Full list later this week.

Dennis Cheeseman took these shots last week of a Dark-eyed Junco, moving into our region, and a Golden-crowned Kinglet, passing through.

(Thanks, Dennis!)

Sandy Sorkin shot this shoveler at Mill Creek Marsh on Friday (with his digital camera).

Sandy writes: "The ducks at Mill Creek were all huddled up with the cold this
morning, and the Shovelers were looking for places to stand that were
not already occupied by the Greater Yellowlegs."

The Meadowlands Commission and Bergen Audubon are sponsoring a free nature walk at Mil Creek on Sunday. Scroll down for details. (Thanks, Sandy!)

Don Torino of Bergen County Audubon loves Mill Creek Marsh so much he talked the Meadowlands Commission into co-sponsoring a free "bonus" walk this month.

The two-hour walk begins at 10 a.m. this Sunday (Oct. 24)at the entrance to Mill Creek Marsh. Directions are on the left-hand column of this blog.

Details follow.

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