NJMC Staffer Jim Wright writes a nature column for the South Bergenite. His latest column, on sunrises and sunsets, is here:

“The sky broke like an egg into full sunset and the water caught fire."
                                                    — Pamela Hansford Johnson

Although the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s DeKorte Park offers a lot of great nature programs, two daily shows too often get overlooked: sunrise and sunset.

And while it’s human nature to bemoan the fact that the daylight hours are now growing shorter, the good news is that you don’t have to get up as early or visit DeKorte as late in the day to get spectacular shots – weather permitting, of course.

What makes DeKorte a prime spot for great dawns and dusks is the sunlight reflecting off the water. Here are a few tips to get the best shots.

Rule No. 1: You need a nice mix of sun and clouds. No sun, and the sky looks like milk of magnesia. Too much sun, and you’ve got a plain old sunrise or sunset. But get just the right mix and … Bingo.

Rule No. 2: Remember the old saying, “It’s always darkest before the dawn”? While that may be true in a metaphoric sense (especially if you are an eternal optimist), the fact is that sometimes the best sunrise shots occurs before the sun appears on the southeastern horizon. That’s because the as-yet-unseen sun is bouncing off the clouds. 

The rest of the column 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 highlights from January:

January 6: Common Moorhens

January 9: DeKorte Is Named a Birders World "Birding Hot Spot"

January 11: New DeKorte Trail Guide and Map

January 15: Bald Eagle

January 21, Goldeneye, DeKorte Park

January 26: Northern Shrike Video

January 27: New Meadowlands History Blog

January 29: Really Low Tide, Really Full Moon

This Cooper's Hawk was perched near the visitors' parking lot at DeKorte Park's Environment Center yesterday. Judging by size, we think it is a female. She is a frequent visitor.

DeKorte Park, with its square mile of land and tidal impoundments, is open to everyone, including dogs on leashes, from 8 a.m. to dusk daily, but nearby former landfills are off-limits to the public, for all sorts of reasons, from public safety to on-going remediation work.

If you see anyone, incliding ATVs, trespassing:

* on the open property on either side of Valley Brook Avenue (including the old ballfields)

* on the Kingsland Landfill (along Disposal Road on the other side of the road from DeKorte Park and the Carillon)

Don't hesitate to call the remediation site's security office at 201-896-8100. 

Similarly, if you see anyone trespassing on the Erie Landfill or Harrier Meadow (along Disposal Road on the same  side of the road from DeKorte Park and the Carillon), please contact the NJMC's Angelo Urato at 201-638-7064.

Here's a teaser from Harrier Meadow this fall: Name that finch.

We had figured House Finch, but … Purple Finch it is.  Thanks to all who responded!

Photo was taken Oct. 20 on our Third Tuesday walk…

With the winter solstice around the corner (Tuesday, Dec. 21), we thought it would be helpful to mention that the moon will be full that very same day, about an hour after dusk. In fact, the moon will appear full on that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Link to a site that gives daily sunset and moonrise times for Newark, N.J. is here.

Greg Miller writes: "Caught this guy swimming around out in the open with his Coot cousins this past Friday at Kearny Marsh. Figured I'd pass along a picture." (Thanks, Greg!)

These pics are among the latest DeKorte batch from Dennis Cheeseman. The above bird is a White-throated Sparrow. The meal is…?

  We have seen this bird a couple of times now in the district in the past week, including last Thursday, when we took this shot.

We are hoping that it stays around for the Christmas Bird Count this Sunday.

More on Orange-crowned Warblers here.

The bird in the photo is from the Meadowlands Commission’s taxidermy collection from the Meadows in the late 1800s, donated by Mrs. Caroline Geigold of Secaucus many years ago.

When noted author and naturalist Scott Weidensaul gave a talk at DeKorte Park earlier this week, he pointed out the bird and said that it could be a fairly rare specimen.

Sometimes history is staring you in the face and you don’t even know it. The bird above is from the Meadowlands Commission’s taxidermy collection from the Meadows in the late 1800s, donated by Mrs. Caroline Geigold of Secaucus many years ago.

Her grandfather, Karl Zeeb, collected bird specimens in the Hackensack Meadows during the latter part of the 19th Century and had them mounted into a display. Many of these birds would have inhabited the Atlantic White Cedar Forest that grew in much of the Meadows.

You can read more about this bird and its demise here.

As it turns out, the Heath Hen was John James Audubon’s first published engraving. More about that here.

The Meadowlands Commission also has a taxidermy Passenger Pigeon, extinct for nearly 100 years now.