It's almost as if Don Torino — who leads a lot of the free nature walks that the Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society offer every month — knew that an American Avocet would show up at Harrier Meadow this week.
Don writes about this amazing place in his latest post for wildnewjersey.tv
Link is here.
Passing the following along from the Hackensack Riverkeeper — the Meadowlands Commission is hosting the event, and the NJMC's Mike Newhouse (above) will be doing a bird-banding demonstration at Harrier Meadow. The festival is a great event for birders of all levels…
We hope you'll join us next weekend, September 10 & 11, at the 8th Annual Meadowlands Festival of Birding at the Meadowlands Environment Center in Lyndhurst, NJ. This is a really nice event that can either introduce you to the wonderful world of birds, or simply be an opportunity to search for migrating birds in a beautiful setting in the company of some of the region's best birders!
Full info follows. Link to Riverkeeper's Festival Page is here.
The American Avocet was again seen at Harrier Meadow this morning (Tuesday) just after 10 and was still there as of 11. (Photo above is from this morning, amid a juvie Forster's Tern and some yellowlegs.) Also seen: Osprey, Falcon sp., Redtail, Gadwall, egrets and peeps. Boblink were seen by some of us.
Anyone interested in a lunchtime look for the bird on Wednesday should contact Jim Wright: jim.wright (at) njmeadowlands.gov.
Someone asked us recently how many species of birds on the state's Threatened and Endangered lists nest in the Meadowlands. Do you know how many, and what species?
What about nesting species on the state's list of birds of Special Concern? (Another nesting species was added this summer.) Do you know how many, and which species?
Answer, and our eternal admiration to whoever gets it right, tomorrow.