Note to birders and photographers: The water levels for Shorebird Pool are lowered again, and there is mud along the shorelines again.

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, one Least Bittern was seen just as you enter the Marsh Discovery Trail, toward the back of that first outcropping on the left, by some dead Phrag stalks (see photo above).

They may be starting to disperse, as one was seen this morning on the other end of the Marsh Discovery Trail. There have also been plenty of American Kestrels and Peregrines on Disposal Road — and Common Ravens in that vicinity as well.

Will be posting more photos and sightings as time allows.

Do you remember when a fire burned a huge stand of Phragmites in Carlstadt, next to the western spur of the Turnpike and Paterson Plank Road. There was nothing left but scorched earth. Not quite.

A photo of the same patch of land, taken last week, follows.

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Start the fall birding season with a free, NFL-themed “Back to Football” Nature Walk at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst on Sunday, Sept. 2, at 10 a.m.

The guided, 90-minute walk, sponsored by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) and the Bergen County Audubon Society, has a special National Football League theme – and nifty prizes.

To celebrate the opening game of the 2012 season between the Dallas Cowboys and Super Bowl Champion Giants at nearby MetLife Stadium on Wednesday, Sept. 5, the NFL is offering a prize to the first person on the walk to see any bird species with the same name as a pro-football team: Cardinal, Raven, Falcon, Eagle, Seahawk (osprey), Giant (great) egret  (above) and Giant (great) blue heron.  

All seven team bird species can be seen in DeKorte Park, the home of the NJMC. 

The walk meets inside the one-square mile park’s Meadowlands Environment Center. Super Bowl XLVIII will be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford in February 2014.

You will have to sign a standard liability release that is good for NJMC/BCAS events throughout the year. To rsvp, contact Don Torino of the BCAS at greatauk4@aol.com or 201-230-4983. The Meadowlands Environment Center’s phone number is 201-777-2431.