An NJMC staffer or two have been kayaking on the Hackensack River near River Barge Park in Carlstadt the past two days, and wouldn't you know — the one day we did not bring a camera — we had an immature Bald Eagle perched and eating a fish for nearly 90 minutes near the water's edge.
The bird was along the river north of the park on the western bank of the river, a tree or two away from the Red-tailed Hawk's nest of last spring.
At one point, an adult Bald Eagle joined the youngster.
We looked for a radio transmitter on its back and, sure enough, it had one.
The only transmitter eagle we know is Alice, named for the photographer who got the first shot of her. (A post on this is here).
Alice was nice enough to fly directly over head a few times, more beautiful than ever, before flying southward with Junior. We would have kicked ourself for not having a camera but we were sitting in a kayak at the time.
We also had a Belted Kingfisher, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, assorted gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, White-throats and Pine Siskins.
I was watching them too (and the guys in the kayaks)as I did surveys of this site with the large trees, our restored wetland mitigation site the Evergreen MRI3 Mitigation Bank. I’ll send a picture to Jim. Mark Renna