The Record had a nice story in today's edition about Tom Yezerski's talk and book signing at DeKorte Park yesterday.

Link is here.

Tom's book "Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story" and a signed, limited edition print of an illustration from the book are available at the Meadowlands Environment Center.

Chris Takacs' awesome DeKorte Bittern video from Saturday is here. (Thanks, Chris!)

Julie McCall reports:

Before or after yesterday's walk:

* About 50 Snow Buntings continuing atop the landfill.

* After a lot of standing around, I finally saw the American Bittern around 4pm.  (notes below)

* A Green-winged Teal, the Eurasian  remix, was hanging out with its brethren between the MDT and the railroad tracks

* An immature Bald Eagle was nice enough to drop by

* American Tree Sparrow between Disposal Road and the Transco Trail

* A handful of Red-winged Blackbirds seen from the Marsh Discovery Trail

Bittern notes:  various birders said that yesterday it worked its way from the "Ruddy blind"and along the phrag edge all the way toward the main entrance. Today, it was seen in mid-afternoon by several birders, and then finally I saw it the same location.   If you look at the Bittern Locator Map posted to meadowblog the other day, the bird was seen against the phrag edge above the "L" and the "A" in "Kingsland."   (Thanks, Julie!)

One of the latest entries on the Smithsonian Magazine blogs is a nifty column about all the neat stuff you can see when you take the train from New York to Washington, D.C. — including the Meadowlands.

Says the magazine: "The New York Jets and Giants play football at the Meadowlands near the mouths of the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers. Passing by on the train you wouldn’t know that the 20,000-acre wetland is infamously polluted, the perfect place for Tony Soprano to dump dead bodies. Instead, you see high reeds and water channels visited by Snowy Egrets and Peregrine Falcons—indications that the natural wonders of the region may get a second chance, thanks to an ambitious plan mounted by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission."

We at the NJMC would like tothink the natural wonders are getting a second chance already. :- )

Link to entire story is here.

We have some tallies from January from eight folks competing in the Meadowlands Big Year.

Congrats to all for competing. We hope you are having fun close to home, and seeing lots of great birds.

Keep in mind that some birders are in the Meadowlands all the time, and others get here occasionally, so their birdage may differ.

(These are unofficial numbers, and obviously change all the time.)

If you're name's not on the list, please e-mail Jim Wright at jim.wright (at) njmeadowlands.gov. It's not too late to participate!

Here is the leader board:

1. Chris Takacs:  67 (lives in district; counting birds within district
        boundaries, not district towns)
2. Julie McCall: 66 species (lives in district)
3. Mike Newhouse 66 (NJMC, setting a target number for competitors)
4. Jim Wright  54 (NJMC staff, ineligible)
5. Doug Morel: 53 (out of district)
6. Ray Duffy: 51  (lives in district)
7. Ramon and Lillian of West New York: 40 species (out of district)
8. Dennis Cheesman: 31 (out of district)
9. Rob Fanning 27   (out of district)

We had roughly 75 folks on the walk, divided into smaller groups, and including and we saw several excellent birds.

Although water levels were to too high to see the American Bittern, we did see the Orange-crowned Warbler, several Brown Creepers, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Black-crown Night Heron and ducks galore.

We will print the full list later in the week — with pix by Jeff Nicol, including the Orange-crown.

Topping off the day was a wonderful talk and signing by "Meadowlands" author Thomas F. Yezerski, with a turnout of approximately 100 book lovers and nature lovers.

If you were unlucky enough to miss the show, you can still see Tom's original illustrations for the book, on display through March in the Environment Center's Flyway Gallery. Not to be missed.

 We saw the American Bittern from DeKorte Park's Marsh Discovery Trail at 2:30 Friday afternoon. Map shows approximate location at the time. Photos below give you an idea of what to look for.

Needle in haystack, or bittern in a Phragmites stack? (Thanks to all who helped find this bird…!)

Several birders saw the American Bittern today by the Marsh Discovery Trail and pointed it out to Dennis Cheeseman, who got this shot…

Says Dennis: "[Saw it from] the blind that goes out towards the turnpike.  On the marsh Discovery Trail.  The one in the middle between the east and north pools, I must say thanks again to the birders that found it." (Thanks, Dennis!)

Rebecca Buck reports:

"Spent a few minutes only at DeKorte [Thursday], the highlight a singing Orange-crowned Warbler at the first bench area on Transco Trail.

"About 200 Canvasback, several shovelers, lots of Northern Pintails, a
couple of scaup and Bufflehead.  A lot more diversity this week than last."

Orange-crowned Warbler was also seen this morning, flying along the Transco Trail toward the grove of trees by the parking lot (where we get the Brown Creepers)…

Rick Wright posted about his recent visit to DeKorte Park (and Western plam Warbler) on his blog. Link, with pix, is here.

For the past week or so, a flock ofSnow Buntings have been hanging out near Disposal Road on the former Kingsland Landfill, not far from the entrance to DeKorte Park. Jana Brusich got this cool shot. (Thanks, Jana!)