Get out your binoculars! 

It's official: The Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society are sponsoring another Meadowlands Big Year, effective Jan. 1, 2013.

The rules are simple, even if the prizes aren't nailed down yet.

The goal is to see as many different bird species as possible in the 14 towns of the Meadowlands District over the course of 2012 — and also to have fun birding.

The idea is to promote birding in the Meadowlands, and to give area birders a competition that does not require as much travel (and gasoline consumption) as, say, a New Jersey Big Year.

To make this as fair as possible, we will have two divisions: Meadowlands residents and non-Meadowlands residents.

More details follow.

The towns of the Meadowlands District are Carlstadt, East Rutherford, Little Ferry, Lyndhurst, Moonachie, North Arlington, Ridgefield, Rutherford, South Hackensack, Teterboro, Jersey City, Kearny, North Bergen and Secaucus. Either you or the bird must be in one of these towns when the bird must be seen (the Jersey City waterfront is a tad too far afield to be included — sorry!).

As was mentioned last year, to ensure that no birders have a long-term advantage as the contest moves forward,  no birder can win two years in a row. (Sorry, Chris, Doug, and Ramon!)

(Again, the goal is to promote birding in the Meadowlands, and for birders to have fun.)

To that end, we'd love you to e-mail us and let us know if you'd like to enter the contest, and to update us at the end of every month with your tally so far.

This is the second year of the contest, and we are open to suggestions to improve it. Please e-mail Jim Wright [jim.wright (at) njmeadowlands.gov] with your ideas.