It's October already, and we are asking for Meadowlands Big Year participants to e-mail us their totals so far through September 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.

The New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC) will celebrate the publication of its new coffee-table book, “The Nature of the Meadowlands,” with a special book talk and signing by author Jim Wright of the NJMC and Governor Thomas H. Kean, who wrote the book’s foreword.

The public signing and talk is on Monday, Oct. 15, from 7 to 8 p.m. at the Meadowlands Environment Center.

The “Nature of the Meadowlands” will be available later this week. The list price is $34.95. Those who reserve the book by today (Oct. 1) will receive a 20 percent discount for a cost of $27.95.

The lavishly illustrated, 128-page book illuminates the Meadowlands’ natural and unnatural history, including its darkest days of a half-century ago and its inspiring environmental revival.

It also celebrates the amazing landscapes and parks to be found here, including DeKorte Park, the home of the NJMC, the Kearny Marsh and Secaucus’s Laurel Hill. Individual chapters are devoted to birds, butterflies, and mammals –with a final photo-essay section that captures the essence of the Meadowlands throughout the year.

At the Oct. 15 talk and signing, Governor Kean will speak about the environmental recovery chronicled in “The Nature of the Meadowlands” and Wright will give a slide show talk highlighting its striking photography.

To reserve a copy of “Nature of the Meadowlands,” visit www.njmeadolwands.gov and click on “The Nature of the Meadowlands” box at the bottom of the page, call 201-460-4637 or email info@njmeadowlands.gov. 

We thought a nice way to see what might be in store for October 2012 might be to look back at what we saw last October.

Here are some highlights from October 2011:

October 3: October Eagles

October 7: Banded Northern Harrier — Amazing Looks

October 10: Warbler Show, Disposal Road

October 14: About that American Avocet

October 24: Ron Shields' Latest Disposal Road Shots

October 27: Storm Over the Meadowlands

October 31: Bird-banding Goes Elementary

The William D. McDowell Observatory in DeKorte Park begins a new month of programming tonight (Monday, Oct. 1).

Free public access is from 8 to 10 on Monday and Wednesday nights  this month — weather permitting, of course.

Dress for the weather; with the dome open, you are basically outside.

Each evening at least two major objects in the night sky will be viewed, plus one or two other celestial objects or events depending on the observing conditions.

For more information about free public viewing nights and to check out the observatory's website, click here.

For a South Bergenite column by the NJMC's Jim Wright about the observatory, click here.