The Record's article on the DeKorte Park Map is now online.

Link is here.

A check of the impoundments this a.m. turned up Ring-necked Duck (new for the year), Canvasback, Bufflehead, Gadwall, Ruddy, Mallard, Common Merg  and Black Duck. Wished we'd brought a spotting scope for the distant waterfowl.

Note: Ron Shields reports that bout 50 Ring-necks are at the Kearny Marsh as well.

Thanks to the Meadowlands Commission's art director, Mimi Sabatino, the crude DeKorte Duck Map we put together in December has been superseded by a spiffy new improved version, and The Record's Environmental Writer Jim O'Neill did a nifty story on it — it's on Page L-3 of The Record and Page C6 of The Record's sister paper, the Herald News.

We'll post a link when it becomes available. 

To help novice birders identify the various species, we have included photos the "Ducky Dozen" — the most-likely-to-be-seen ducks, and what tidal impoundments you are most likely to see them.  As we note on the map, "Your duckage may differ."

Download the map here: Download NJMC Winter Duck Map LR.

Work on Jill's Butterfly Garden in DeKorte Park continues, with a new pergola being put into place this week. Plenty of work remains — including replantings and new plantings — but we are making progress.

Spring is in the air! (For now.)

With spring just around the corner, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission is pleased to play host to "The Joys of Birding," a free six-hour course brought to you by the Bergen County Audubon Society on three successive Sundays in April.

The three two-hour classes will cover optics for birding, field guides, how to better identify birds, and great birding spots close to home.

The classes will take place at the Meadowlands Environment Center on Sunday April 3, April 10 and April 17 from 1 to 3 p.m.

To register, call BCAS' Don Torino at 201-636-4022 or, better yet, e-mail him here.