Doug Morel writes:

"Got the OC Warbler and Brown Creeper, and  added a Peregrine to my year list at DeKorte yesterday."  (Thanks, Doug!)

Greg Miller saw this chicken at Mill Creek Marsh yesterday. We are thinking it is an escapee…  Click here for more on "Poultry in Motion" (We may have spelled it wrong).  

Jim Wright, who maintains this blog, also writes a twice-monthly column for The South Bergenite. Here is the latest — on the Great Backyard Bird Count.

Although the name of this column is “Nature Next Door,” today I’d like to talk about nature even closer to home, and how you can participate in a great citizen-science project called the Great Backyard Bird Count – or GBBC for short.

This four-day nationwide event, sponsored by National Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, begins next Friday, Feb. 17.  

I have participated for several years, and it’s simple. All you have to do is look out your window and count the number of species you see, as well as the number of birds for each species — for as many days as you like — and enter your results through the GBBC website (link is on the jump).

You can spend as much time or as little as 15 minutes a day.

I have just two suggestions — make sure your feeders are filled, and enjoy yourself. The event is for birders of all levels, so don’t feel like you can’t contribute.  

“The GBBC is great because it gets people out looking at birds,” says New Jersey Meadowlands Commission naturalist Mike Newhouse. “It’s one of the best ways to attract young people and new birders, and it promotes bird conservation.”

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Our latest "Focus on the Meadowlands" post for the wildnewjersey.tv features:

* A flock of Snow Buntings

* A lingering Great Blue Heron

* That Elusive American Bittern

The link is here.

Thomas Andres sent in this photo of a daffy duck  from last weekend in Teal Pool.

At first glance it looks like a Ruddy – Shoveler  - Pintail – Mallard, or perhaps an elusive Turduckin…  The prevailing theory so far is that it's a Mallard hybrid.

Can anyone shed some light?  (Thanks, Thomas!)

More pix follow.

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In case you missed this photo on the wildnewjersey.tv blog, Bruce Harman was nice enough to share it with us as well.

The photo, taken at Mill Creek Marsh, is called "The Green-winged Teal Synchronized Feeding Team." (Thanks, Bruce!)

We had a really enjoyable bird walk at DeKorte Park on Sunday.

Not only did we have great birds and great people, 

but the Marsh Discovery Trail is now open end to end again, which meant more time birding and less time retracing your steps.

In fact some of the best birding of the day was in the Lyndhurst Nature Reserve just off the Transco Trail — including the Orange-crowned Warbler (above), Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Brown Creeper.

A big thank you to Jeff Nicol for providing the photos here, to Denise Farrell and Julie McCall for the bird list that follows, and to all who attended on Sunday.

Full list and more pix follow.  (We apologize for the slightly disjointed list but the blog software has been acting up.)

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Mike Britt writes:  "An adult Bald Eagle was at Mill Creek Point earlier this afternoon. I have found that the eagles  in the Hackensack Meadows range as far south as Newark & New York Bays in Bayonne…hunting fish, waterfowl, and gulls."  Interesting to know. (Thanks, Mike!)

We are pleased to announce that on SuperBird Sunday, we had three winners of N.J. Meadowlands Commission two-hour eco-cruises for two.

The goal was to be the first person on the DeKorte Park guided walk to see a bird that has the same name as an NFL team — falcon, raven, eagle, cardinal or seahawk. To that list of target birds we added Orange-crowned Warbler and American Bittern — two rarities seen in DeKorte Park of late.

Linda Matula and Marie Longo simultaneously saw a Northern Cardinal, and Neil Ellman was the first to spot the Orange-crowned Warbler.

Congrats to all.

The cruises begin in late May. Stay tuned to this blog for more info on our two-hour eco-cruises and the opening of River Barge Park in Carlstadt.