The Kearny Marsh may be freezing over, but Ron Shields is still photographing in the Meadowlands.
Ron writes: "Here are 'demo' shots taken at DeKorte Park last weekend using a 1.4x extender attached to my 400mm lens. The use of this extender transforms the lens to 560mm.
"The downside is that you lose autofocus. Manual focusing can be extremely challenging. The subjects are a Ruddy Duck (below) and a Northern Pintail (above)."
Hung out by Gunnell Oval yesterday to see what was cookin' in the (then) unfrozen Kearny Marsh.
Saw plenty of American Coots and Northern Shovelers up-close, and distant looks at plenty of Green-winged Teal and a pair of Hooded Mergansers.
Also present: Northern Harrier, Great Blue Heron, Red-winged Blackbirds, assorted gulls. No Common Moorhen today that we could see.
Note: Much of the marsh was frozen this morning (Thursday) at 10:30 a.m..
Birsd were congregating in open water near Gunnell Oval — coots, Green-winged Teal, shovelers, a Great Blue, a white domestic duck, a young cormorant, and assorted gulls and Mallards and Canada Geese. 
The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission invites the public to an up-close view of the first total lunar eclipse in nearly three years on Monday, Dec. 20, at the Commission’s William D. McDowell Observatory.
The free, all-ages program begins at 11:30 p.m. with an information session on eclipses. Visitors will have a chance to view the eclipse and the night sky through the Observatory’s state-of-the art 20-inch-diameter telescope.
A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon completely passes behind the earth so that the earth blocks the sun’s rays from striking the moon. As a result the moon is cast in spectacular shades of red and orange.
More information folllows.
Took this photo as a reminder of how neat Lower Manhattan looks from DeKorte Park these days in the afternoon light.
We had this beautiful Fox Sparrow by a marsh in Carlstadt earlier this week. Not bad, as sparrows go.
Disposal Road (near DeKorte 
Park, home to the Amvet Carillon) is a great place to spend a lunch hour. Just ask the Common Raven at the right.
Yesterday we saw this guy hanging out on one of the power-line towers, eating its lunch, and it promptly flew. (You can sort of see the meal in its mouth).
Then again, no one likes having their picture taken while they are eating.
We also had another Red-shouldered Hawk above Disposal Road, although its meal status was unclear.
We now have had more views of Red-shouldereds in the past four days (three), than we had in the past two-and-a-half years (one) in the Meadowlands.
All were seen in the vicinity of Disposal Road.
For a South Bergenite column about Disposal Road, occasional birding capital of the Meadowlands, click here.
Mike Gempp reports: "Stopped down at DeKorte for a brisk walk on the Discovery Trail around 2:30, and within five minutes was rewarded with a Belted Kingfisher, a Great Blue Heron, and various and sundry ducks including Green-winged Teal, N. Pintails, Mallards, N. Shovelers and Ruddies. (A couple of weeks ago I was seeing occasional Buffleheads, but they seem to have moved through.)
"A quick drive around to the Carillon yielded up yet another Red-shouldered Hawk, who hunted through the area for a good five minutes before descending to land on one of the PSEG electrical towers. He made some very close passes, and I had wonderful views of it.
"Still patrolling for that first Shrike or Snowy Owl." (Aren't we all?)
Thanks, Mike!
More than 75 people braved the cold last night to hear prize-winning author Scott Weidensaul talk about the miracle known as bird migration — and some simple steps that any of us can take to make the world around us more bird-friendly.
One statistic was particularly dramatic for us in the Meadowlands.
Although we almost take Northern Pintails (left) for granted — especially on our guided winter nature walks — their numbers have been in steep decline over the past few decades. Their population has plummeted by 77 percent over that time span.
More on Northern Pintails here.
As Scott mentioned, places like the Meadowlands are vital rest stops and destinations for migratory birds.
Scott's website is www.scottweidensaul.com.
(Thanks to Scott for his talk, and thanks to the Bergen County Audubuon Socciety for sponsoring this free event — which also marked the group's 70th anniversary. The Meadowlands Commission was proud to sponsor this event.)
Our Sunday talk and walk featured a double surprise — two Red-shouldered Hawks.
The main group had an adult by the Carillon, and a smaller group had an immature Red-shoulder closer to the main parking lot. Maureen Krane supplied the shot of the adult, above. 
(Thanks, Maureen)
The immature (in the right-hand
photo) also had the Sun at its back, and we photographed it and thought we'd sort it out later. Just downloaded the photo at lunchtime today.
It is a threatened species in New Jersey. Read about it here. More on Red-shouldered Hawks here.
Guess we'll have top add this bird to our Winter Raptors talk.
We also had eight species of ducks (unless someone saw a Green-winged Teal that we missed). Full list follows.