The Record had a nice Associated Press story yesterday about the Bald Eagles' continuing comeback in New Jersey. Bald Eagles are also doing well in North Jersey, not mentioned in the story.
Link to the article is here.
Link to the report is here.
Monthly Archives: December 2011
2012 ‘Bird of the Year’ T-Shirts
Just in time for holiday shopping, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) today announced the arrival of its 2012 Bird of the Year T-Shirt, “Ospreys in Flight.”
The attractive, sand-colored shirt features the first pair of successful nesting Ospreys in Bergen County in decades photographed in graceful mid-flight near their home in Carlstadt on the back.
A silhouette of the birds adorns the front. The 100 percent cotton shirt is available at the Tideland Treasures Gift Shop in the NJMC Meadowlands Environment Center (MEC) in DeKorte Park.
The NJMC is offering a special holiday sale through Dec. 31 in which shoppers who buy a 2012 and 2011 Bird of the Year T-Shirt receive 10 percent off their purchase. The 2011 Bird of the Year shirt was unveiled in September and features the NJMC Great Egret logo on the front and a full-color photo of the bird on the back of the navy blue shirt.
Our Next Walk: Tuesday, Dec. 20
Our next free walk with Bergen County Audubon is Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 10 a.m. at DeKorte Park.
There should be an excellent assortment of ducks by then, and — who knows? — maybe we'll see a rarity or two.
We'll also check Disposal Road for raptors and other birds of interest.
Full information follows.
Jill’s Garden, Today
DeKorte Park Video on YouTube
Just came across this video on DeKorte Park — kinda catchy tune, with a little narration by the MEC's Michele Daly in the middle.
Our Latest South Bergenite Column: Christmas Bird Count
NJMC staffer Jim Wright, who keeps this blog, also writes a column every other Thursday for The South Bergenite. His latest, about the annual Christmas Bird Count in the Meadowlands, is posted here.
One of my favorite days of the year is the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count.
New Jersey Meadowlands Commission Naturalist Mike Newhouse and I, along with a couple of other bird-watchers, get to spend 12 hours roaming the wilds of Kearny, North Arlington, Lyndhurst, Rutherford, East Rutherford and Carlstadt to see how birds — and how many species of birds — we can find that day.
Our efforts are part of a larger nationwide effort to do a census of North America’s bird populations in late December of every year — In 2010, 2,215 groups counted more than 59 million birds.
A Must Read: Don Torino’s Losen Slote Column
Don Torino, who leads so many of our Meadowlands Commission walks with Bergen Audubon, has a classic column about Thanksgiving memories and Losen Slote Park on the wildnewjersey.tv blog today.
And it features an awesome Bald Eagle pic (above) by Jeff Nicol.
Not to be missed. Link is here.
Teaser Answered
This Tuesday Teaser is a House Finch, banded this fall by NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse and his crew. Thanks to all who answered correctly.
More on House Finches here.
Sunday’s List
As promised, here's the full list from last weekend's First-Sunday of the month walk.
On this balmy day, we saw several Great Egrets (including the pair above) and a Greater Yellowlegs — felt like spring already (we wish).
Full list follows.
DeKorte Late Afternoon Light
The late afternoon light at DeKorte gets pretty cool this time of year into January. We took this shot last Tuesday.