Sunset from last Wednesday is here.

With his confirmed sighting of a Rough-legged Hawk this morning, raptor whiz Mike Britt is on his way to winning two tickets for an NJMC pontoon boat eco-cruise on the Hackensack River and adjacents marshes next summer.

(Sure would like to get a photo of one of these guys — the photo at right is from Feb. 6, 2009.)

The blog post with the contest rules is here.

A few earlier posts on Rough-legged Hawks are here.

Mike Britt just sent this report to JerseyBirds:

At around 8 a.m. today, I observed two newly arrived Rough-legged Hawks (both light morph) at Mill Creek Point in Secaucus.

Both birds hover-hunted over the MRI tract across the river and one was kind enough to cross the river and hover-hunt over the Secaucus High School Marsh…awesome looks from the raised walkway.

Both birds were perched on small trees, across the river when I left.

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Marco Lips took these shots Monday at DeKorte…

And one at Kearny Marsh (on the jump). Thanks, Marco!

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The year 2010 marked the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission's 41th anniversary and the continued expansion of our nature programs with Bergen County Audubon Society — including an Earth Day Celebration, a Kearny Marsh Cleanup, a Butterfly Day, a "Green Friday" nature walk, and a talk by Scott Weidensaul.

We thought we'd celebrate by looking back at 2010, month by month.    

Here are some October highlights:

Oct. 1: Bird-Banding Totals for September

Oct. 8: Kestrel Eating Prayiong Mantis in Flight

Oct. 11: How To Photograph a Grasshopper

Oct. 15: Snapping Turtle, Disposal Road

Oct. 21: All About the Transco Trail

Oct. 22: Red-tail, Up-close

Oct. 27: New Meadowlands Documentary Project

Oct. 29: DeKorte Rainbow

This bird is in the NJMC taxdermy collection, labeled "sandpiper." 

But it doesn't look like any sandpiper we know. So we e-mailed the image to shorebird expert Kevin Karlson, who says:

"Since the eye is fake and obviously oversized, it makes an ID of this bird tough.

"However, the bill size and shape combined with a few salmon colored feathers on the neck and breast and the medium-length greenish legs point to Red Knot.

"I know this is an uncommon migrant to the Meadowlands, but I suspect that there were much greater numbers in the old days, with some birds moving just slightly inland to the Meadowlands.

"This is the only bird that makes sense with the shape, bill size and shape and posture of this mount."

What do you think?