Mike Britt, a friend of the blog, posted the following on the JerseyBirds e-mail list last night:

"We could see a second push of Rough-legged Hawks come Wednesday or Thursday.

"This week we are going to get an Arctic blast that is going to be accompanied by significant lake-effect snow in upstate NY and other areas in the Great Lakes region.

"Get out and check your favorite marsh, field, landfill, etc., later in the week!" (Thanks, Mike!)

Two years ago around this time, we had quite a bit of Rough-legged action, and the birds were seen as late as early March. A link to a post with Ron Shields' photos of a Rough-leg and a Red-shoulder are here.

Disposal Road, anyone?

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Greg Gard's Rough-legged Photo on wildnewjersey.tv

Rough-legged Hawks – they are everywhere…

When we looked at our recent dreary-day Bald Eagle photos more closely, we noticed that it had a band on one or both legs, and no transmitter.

Does anyone know if the Ridgefield male Bald Eagle (known as Al) is banded?  (We known that female, known as Alice, has bands and transmitter.) 

Is this a new adult eagle wintering in the area this winter, or is it our pal Al?  (We are thinking that it's a wintering bird.)

(A big thank you to our colleague Mimi Sabatino for cleaning up the pic to the point you can almost see the numeral "5" on the left band.)

Great Egret on Atlantic White Cedar stump, Mill Creek Marsh.

Today's Photographers Showcase spotlights Paul R. Sullivan. Paul writes:

"I've been taking photos for 38 years now. I was 10 when I got my 1st camera, an Instamatic. Now with the Digital Age, my photography has improved & expanded.

"I really enjoy photographing birds with the Meadowlands being one of my favorite spots. Richard W. DeKorte Park & Mill Creek Marsh are where I go most often. It's amazing, being so close to New York City, to have this natural area available.

"Growing up in East Rutherford, I remember riding with my parents on the New Jersey Turnpike & seeing all the piles of garbage. Now that area is home to so many different species of birds. I'm never disappointed when I'm there.

"My web site is http://paulsullivan4photography.com."

(Thanks, Paul!)

Two more pix follow.

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From a purely avian standpoint, wouldn’t it be nice to see the Ravens play the Falcons in the Super Bowl?

If so, we predict both will take to the air — maybe even with a double-wing formation. (Insert your own football/birding joke here.)

That turn of events would make for an even more interesting Super Bird Sunday free guided walk on Feb. 3 — perhaps an extra-special prize for the first person on the walk to see a Raven or Falcon on the walk, if the team is playing in two weeks?  Just a thought.

Incidentally, in case you are wondering, we have had  previous posts about Ravens competing against Falcons — at Laurel Hill.

Post One (a report by photographer Michael Mastropasqua, with pix) is here.

Post Two (a report from NJ Audubon’s Rick Radis) is here. (Rick also has a wonderful post about Ravens on eBIrd; link is here.

(Note: In our three previous years of Super Bird Sunday walks, we have not had a team with a bird nickname involved.)

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Our Next Walk: Super Bird Sunday! (Feb. 3)

Amazing Disposal Road Action on Sunday

Jim Wright of the Meadowlands Commission will present a free slide show and talk on the commission's new coffee-table book, "The Nature of the Meadowlands," on Friday night, Jan. 25, at the Allendale Municipal Building on Crescent Ave.

The talk, part of the Fyke Nature Association's monthly meeting, is open to the public. It will begin around 8:15 p.m., followed by a question-and-answer session. 

Jim will have copies available for sale (and signing) after the talk. The book is also available at the Meadowlands Environment Center gift shop in DeKorte Park, Wild Birds Unlimited in Paramus and Bookends in Ridgewood.

Proceeds from the book will benefit the Meadowlands Commission's environmental education programs.

More on the book here.

Note: If you are attending the ANJEE conference next weekend in Plainsboro, Jim will also be doing a free presentation on the book there at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 26.

For more information on both events, e-mail jim at jim.wright @ njmeadowla.gov.

For other upcoming "Nature of the Meadowlands" events, go to the book's Facebook page, here.

Dennis Cheeseman photographed this Red-shouldered Hawk along the Kingsland Overlook in DeKorte Park today. (Thanks, Dennis!)

If you want to look for it this weekend, best to look from the Disposal Road area — the park is closed except for regularly scheduled events due to storm damage.

Last week, we posted the full list of birds seen by 2012 Meadowlands Big Year Grand Prize Winner Chris Takacs.

Today we thought we would post the lists of our other two winners, Doug Morel (left) and Ramon Gomez — both of whom tallied 171 species, the highest totals for competitors who lived outside the district.

Congrats to both Ramon and Doug, and sorry for not having good photos of them to share.

You can download a pdf of Ramon's list below — Ramon did his Big Year old-school, and it's pretty neat to look at.

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Doug's list follows.

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Yikes, we forgot to print Chris Takacs' grand-prize-winning list of 211 species in the Meadowlands for 2012. 

(Thanks to Jimmy Lee for pointing it out.)

The full list follows, copied from eBird.org, including date and location for each sighting.

2012 Lists for Ramon Gomez and Doug Morel, who had the highest tallies for out-of-district residents,  will be posted later today.

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Kumar Patel was on Disposal Road yesterday morning to see if the Bald Eagle was still hanging around — it was.  But it soon flew toward the south.

We met up with Kumar and found two — count 'em, two — Bald Eagles perched on a tree on the 1-E landfill. Fortunately, Kumar had his Hubble Telephoto lens, and he got some great (if distant) shots. The above shot, for instance, is above 1-E, not Kingsland. (Thanks, Kumar!)

Note: If you see a nearby perched eagle on Disposal Road (or elsewhere), do not get out of your vehicle to look at it or photograph it.

It will more than likely fly away, and others may not get a look or photo  they otherwise may have gotten.

Below: The two eagles in flight. More of Kumar's eagle photos follow.

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The Hoboken Historical Museum is exhibiting all of the original paintings that Tom Yezerski did to illustrate his wonderful children's book, Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story, from Jan, 27 through March 10.

The museum is also hosting a free public reception for Tom on Sunday, Jan.  27, from 2 – 5 p.m., and an artist's talk on Sunday, Feb. 10, at 4 p.m.

The reception is also celebrating the opening of the museum's main gallery exhibit, "Mapping the Territory, Hudson County in Maps 1840-2013."

Tom's paintings will be in the upper gallery.

All the information is at http://www.hobokenmuseum.org.