Ray Duffy says: "I had a female Hooded Merganser at Clay Ave Marsh this a.m. as well as 8 Greater Yellowlegs and a Lesser Yellowlegs." (Thanks, Ray!)

A blog called the Mindful Walker recently posted a thoughtful commentary with great pix on Mill Creek Marsh.

The link is here.  Photos can also be seen here.

If you're at DeKorte Park today, please stop by the AMVETS Carillon on Disposal Road (at the beginning of the Transco Trail) and spend a moment in silence to honor our veterans and their contributions to our nation.

The carillon, which sports brand-new flags honoring our armed forces, sounds every 15 minutes.

Our next free walk is next Tuesday morning at Mill Creek Marsh, a former Phragmites marsh in Secaucus that the Meadowlands Commission remediated more than a decade ago.

The park offers comfortable walking trails, some nice views of Manhattan and lots of birds.

The Green-winged Teal are back big-time, occasionally harassed by a Northern Harrier, and Northern Shovelers other waterfowl are gaining numbers as well.

The walk is sponsored by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.

Details follow.

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Ron Shields took this photo of a male Bufflehead last week at Kearny Marsh. He was hanging with two females and some Ruddies.

With the help of Julie McCall, we have compiled a list of 36 bird species seen on our Harrier Meadow Nature Walk on Sunday. 

As so often happens, the walk was noteworthy for some birds we expected to see but didn't — including a Belted Kingfisher and a Great Blue Heron. Also forgot to check the distant telephone poles in North Arlington for Rock Pigeon, but so it goes.

We did get some great views of raptors, including this Northern Harrier photographed during the walk.

We compiled the list through eBird, which made the process simple. "Meadowlands IBA," by the way, stands for "Meadowlands, Important Bird Area."

The walk was sponsored by the Meadowlands Commision and the Bergen County Audubon Society.

Full list follows.

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Name that bug!

Answer follows.

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We know that Ospreys are thriving in the Meadowlands, with the first successful nest in decades in Bergen County (in Carlstadt) and another successful nest in Kearny along the Hackensack River.

But it turns out the success has been statewide.

Read a report by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation here.

Another amazing turnout for the nature walk at Harrier Meadow today — two Bald Eagles, several Northern Harriers, American Kestrels, a Sharpie, Redtails a-plenty and roughly 50 people.

A good time was had by all.

We will post the full list during the week.

As luck would have it, as we were checking our stats for The Meadowlands Nature Blog" earlier this week, the blog tabulated its 200,000th lifetime pageview.

To all who enjoy this blog, we'd just like to say: Thanks for your support!