Rick Wright reports on The Bird Exchange:

"A pair / the pair of Common Ravens at Laurel Hill, Hudson County, was carrying sticks into a hole in the cliffside this morning.

"Old news, I suppose, but those of us who remember looking for ravens in the 80s still gasp at how well that species is doing."

Encouraging news — the ravens did not nest there last year for the first time in years. On the Bergen County Audubon/Meadowlands Commission walk in November, We saw them drive away some Red-tails, then groom each other (above). Link to the November post is here.

When we reviewed the Meadowlands Nature Blog posts from 2012, we realized just how many awesome images we posted from nature photographers.

In an effort to showcase these talents, and to get more folks to appreciate the natural beauty of the Meadowlands, we have started a new feature: "Monday Photographer Showcase."

We invite photographers to send in three of their favorite Meadowlands images, a brief bio, a little squib about why they love photographing here, and a link to their online pages. (A photo of yourself would be great, too!)

Images must be from the Meadowlands, and should be around 150K.

If you don't watermark them, we'll add a copyright for you. Email your photos to jim.wright@njmeadowlands.gov, and feel free to suggest ways to make the showcase better.

We'll give it a try, and keep it going for as long as there's interest out there.

We have two great free walks coming up in the next couple of weeks. First, we'll have a Great Backyard Bird Count Walk at Mill Creek Marsh on Friday, Feb. 15, followed by a Harrier Meadow walk on Tuesday, Feb. 19.

Both walks are at 10 a.m., and are sponsored by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.

Full listings follow.

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