We had hoped to hold Sunday's free guided nature walk at Losen Slote Park, but the park is muddy and more rain is expected this weekend. As a result, we are switching to the walk to DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst — 10 a.m. The Birding for Beginners class meets at DeKorte at 1 p.m. the same day. Here's the listing for the walk.

Sunday, April 3, 10 a.m.
First Sunday-of-the-Month Bird Walk with the NJMC and BCAS
This free two-hour guided nature walk starts outside the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst, and runs from 10 a.m. We’ll walk around the square-mile-park, looking for spring arrivals, Bald Eagles and other birds. The walk is run by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society. Check meadowblog.net for last-minute weather updates. You will have to sign a standard liability release for this event. To rsvp, contact Don Torino of the BCAS at greatauk4@aol.com or 201-636-4022.

Most times you see a Common Merganser, it's taking off. But last week at Mill Creek Marsh, we were lucky to watch one come in for a landing.

We are seeing a lot of great suggestions for the name of the Meadowlands Commission/Ramapo Foundation World Series of Birding team — many great candidates, of which one may well be the ultimate choice.

We neglected to include one factoid that may or may not influence your suggestion: We plan to be a Bergen County-only entry, due to a few parole violations (just kidding about the parole part), so that may or may not influence your choice.

To all who have suggested names already, thank you!

Kearny March was hopping this morning, with 250 Ruddies rafting to the south of Gunnell Oval.  Lots of American Coots and Northern Shovelers as well. Ron Shields reports seeing a Pied-billed Grebe chilling with the Ruddies the other day.

The Meadowlands Commission and the Ramapo Foundation are entering a team in the 28th annual World Series of Birding this May, to benefit a bird research project in the Meadowlands. 

We're going to see how many birds species we can see in Bergen County on Saturday, May 14.  Trouble is, we need a name — and we need your input.

So far, two names have been bandied about. Sorry to say, we are not  convinced that either gets the job done. Can you come up with a better name for our eagle-eyed crew?

Here are the choices:

A.) The Great Bergen Herons

B.) The Ramapo Raptors

C. Your choice here.

Please e-mail Jim Wright with your ideas at jim.wright (at) njmeadowlands.gov.  (Not sure why the link did not work — sorry!)

Greg Gard reports: "During my late afternoon visit to DeKorte, I saw 5 Greater Yellowlegs 'working' the Saw Mill Creek mudflats. No Bald Eagles or Horned Grebe for me today." That's Greg's photo above. (Thanks, Greg!)

NJMC naturalists Gabrielle Bennett-Meany and Michael Newhouse installed 20 new Tree Swallow nesting boxes in Mill Creek Marsh by boat earlier this week.

A few Tree Swallows arrived to inspect their new digs but we did not see anyone move in. We did see (and hear) a Peregrine Falcon zip past the boat on a strafing run toward  Green-winged Teal, a Bald Eagle, a Red-Tail and a Northern Harrier.

We also had two Bald Eagles on March 24 last year.

Link is here.

We just had two Bald Eagles over DeKorte Park, including one that flew within feet of the top of the Admistration Building. Naturally, we didn't have our camera with us at the time.

Keep an eye out — this is the third sighting we know of this week. The others were at Mill Creek Point and Kearny Marsh.

There's spring cleaning, and then there's spring cleaning. Last week, with the help of some heavy machinery, the NJMC's Angelo Urato removed a 75-foot-long utility pole that had somehow found its way from the Hackensack River all the way to Teal Pool in DeKorte Park.

Angelo used a pickup truck to position the pole, and then pulled it from the marsh using a backhoe.

The pole had to be removed because it could have damaged the tide gates and wreaked other havoc. The pole somehow got into Teal Pool on one of the storm surges earlier this month.

The grounds are also being cleaned up, and the revamped butterfly garden is taking shape.