Ray Duffy writes:

"I had a Stilt Sandpiper in the Shorebird Pool this a.m. milling around with some Lesser Yellowlegs.  I found its easiest to pick him out by feeding style.  He's the bird that sort of looks like the yellowlegs but feeds like a dowitcher. 

"I also had a least bittern at the second channel bridge (the one past the Red-winged Blackbird blind with the view to the area that's usually a mud flat behind the north phragmite island).  The bittern was standing on that little tire and then hopped into the phrags once he saw me."  (Thanks, Ray!)

It's almost September, and we are asking for Meadowlands Big Year participants to e-mail us their totals so far if they have not done so already. Please send them to jim.wright (at) njmeadowlands.gov and include the words "Meadowlands Big Year" in the e-mail). 

Much appreciated, and good luck to all.  Thanks to those who have updated their numbers already!

Competition details are here.

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.