Our special Valentine's Day Weekend Walk is at 10 a.m. this Sunday.
We will look for wintering
waterfowl at DeKorte and Rough-legs (left, photographed yesterday), Northern Harriers and other raptors on Disposal Road — with a quick optional trip to the Kearny Marsh to look for coots and moorhens.
Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky and see another Bald Eagle, like last weekend.
Word to the wise. Dress warmly. It can get windy.
Details follow.
Greg Gard took this awesome DeKorte Ring-necked Pheasant video on Friday. Thanks, Greg!
The free nature walk originally 
scheduled for Harrier Meadow in North Arlington next Tuesday at 10 a.m. has been moved to a new location — Mill Creek Marsh in Secaucus.
The walk meets at the entrance to the marsh, near the Mill Creek shopping Center (directions are on this blog in the left-hand column).
We’ll walk around the site, looking for wintering waterfowl, raptors and other birds – including a recently seen Eurasian Green-winged Teal. The walk is run by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.
You will have to sign a standard liability release for this event. Check the Maedowlands Nature Blog, meadowblog.net, for last-minute updates.
To rsvp, contact Don Torino of the BCAS at greatauk4@aol.com or 201-636-4022.
We will post the list from Sunday's walk in the next day or so, along with a pic or two.
Sorry for the delay, and congrats to the winners who saw a Northern Cardinal and a Bald Eagle — both are NFL teams, so they win two free eco-cruises on the NJMC's great pontoon boats on the Hackensack River next summer..
Thanks to the nearly 40 folks who participated in "Super Bird Sunday II" at DeKorte Park yesterday. NY1 did some great video coverage…
Link is here.
We hope to post a full list of the birds seen, and a photo or two, later this week.
Jim Wright, who keeps this blog, also writes a nature column every other week for The South Bergenite. Here is his latest column — on extinct birds seen in the Meadowlands more than 100 years ago..
DeKorte Park offers some amazing sights – from spectacular birds to beautiful sunsets – but the rarest of all has been right under my nose all along.
Indeed, I have walked past it dozen of times during my work for the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission without giving it a second look because — truth be told — it gave me the creeps.
The “it” is a Plexiglas case with 35 taxidermy birds of 28 different species. The display is located just inside the auditorium in the Meadowlands Environment Center.
The creatures are all more than 100 years old at this point, and a bit bedraggled. The birds were all killed in the district in the late 1800s, and donated by Caroline Geigold of Secaucus decades ago.
Many of these birds would have inhabited the Atlantic White Cedar Forest that once grew in parts of the Meadowlands.
My attitude about these taxidermy birds has always been dismissive. Why would I look at dead birds in a display case – especially when DeKorte Park offers so many beautiful live birds?
But earlier this winter, prize-winning nature author and historian Scott Weidensaul presented a program in the auditorium. Before the talk, he took the time to study the taxidermy menagerie, and then remarked to me, “You’ve got some amazing birds in there.”
Two species in particular caught his eye – Passenger Pigeon and Heath Hen. The species have two things in common: Both were once commonplace in the Meadowlands, and both have now been extinct for more than 75 years.
More follows.
Don't forget: The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission is offering a free “Super Bird Sunday II” guided nature walk this Sunday — Feb. 6 — beginning at 10 a.m. at the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park.
It's great way to get some exercise, hone your birding skills and win some nifty prizes before settling in to watch the Super Bowl.
The second annual Super Bird Sunday, sponsored by the NJMC and the Bergen County Audubon Society, features a 90-minute bird walk on DeKorte Park’s scenic trails – with an added incentive.
The first person to see a bird species with the same name as an NFL team – cardinal, raven (left), falcon, eagle, seahawk (osprey) or “woodpacker” – wins two tickets to a NJMC pontoon boat cruise of the Hackensack River next summer.
More info follows.
At least the Sun is shining… Several good ducks, including Hooded Mergs, Ruddies and the Canvasbacks. Harrier working Disposal Road.
