Dennis Cheeseman got this shot of a Golden-crowned Kinglet at DeKorte Park earlier this week. (Thanks, Dennis!)

*Your duckage may differ

With the Long-tailed Duck here for nearly a week and more than a dozen duck species seen at DeKorte Park on last weekend's Christmas Bird Count, we thought we'd put together a map pointing out where various species are being seen in case you can vistit DeKorte over the holidays.

We are also getting Green-winged Teal and Gadwall.

Directions to DeKorte Park are in the left-hand column of this blog.

Scroll down for various posts on recent bird sightings.

Download your free map here

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 June highlights:

June 14: Nesting Cliff Swallows at DeKorte

June 17: Mystery Spider Solved

June 18: New Butterfly Guide

June 18: Ringside Seat, Osprey With Fish

June 21: Now That's a Ruddy Duck!

June 21: Studying Swamp Sparrows

June 25: Rehabbed Black Skimmer Released

June 29: DeKorte Butterflies, 11 Species

Quick checks today found the Long-tailed Duck (above) in the cove by the far parking lot of DeKorte Park in the morning and the nearest part of the Saw Mill mudflats around 2 p.m.

We saw the Common Moorhen walking on the ice and swimming in the open water in the Kearny Marsh by Gunnell Oval (below) yesterday morning.

Eighteen brave folks fought the wind and cold for our first Winter Solstice Nature walk, in search of the elusive Long-tailed Duck and equally elusive Orange-crowned Warbler.

We did tally 24 species, with nine flavors of duck, including the Lesser Scaup above.

And we were treated to a Winter Solstice talk and slide show by Laura Venner and her team at the MEC Auditorium, which featured a small-scale version of Stonehenge and lots of interesting info on solstices.

(Thanks to all who attended, and to Laura and her crew!)  Full bird list follows.

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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 May highlights:

May 3: Common Moorhen, Kearny Marsh

May 5: The Kearny Cedar Swamp

May 6: Little Blue Heron, Harrier Meadow

May 12: DeKorte Is Swallow Central

May 14: Ravens of Laurel Hill

May 19: Amazing Kearny Snapping Turtle Pix

May 26: Red Admirals Galore

May 28: Incredible Fish Story

We drew great crowds to our Lunar Eclipse event, which ran from 11:30 p.m. last night to 6 a.m. this morning.

The event featured talks and slide shows  about the sun, moon and solar system, several telescopes trained at the moon, and free hot chocolate, Moon Pies and Milky ways.

We also got some great coverage from CBS Channel 2, NBC Channel 4, and FiOS News Cahnnel 1, and several newspapers.

CBC Channel 2 coverage is here.

The Record's preview story is here.

We did not see the Long-tailed Duck on our free guided walk this morning, but it is still around — seen before and after the walk.

This photo was taken around 2:15 p.m. in the Teal Pool cove nearest the parking lot by the Science Center and Observatory.

We did not see the Long-tailed Mammal on our free guided walk this morning, but it is still around — seen after the walk.

This photo was taken around 2:10 p.m. in the nearest corner of the Saw Mill mudflats. He saw his shadow, which according to local folk lore means six more weeks of Muskrats.