Chris Takacs and Mike Wolfe have seen a Lapland Longspur at the bend on Valley Brook Ave. in Lyndhurst this morning.
Chris had another seldom-seen-around-here sparrow, a Grasshopper Sparrow, on Disposal Road yesterday — will post photos of the latter sparrow later today, taken by Ron Shields. (Thanks, Chris and Mike!)
Today's featured photographer is Regina Geoghan, who contributed two images to "The Nature of the Meadowlands" and who is a familiar figure in Jill's Butterfly Garden in DeKorte park in the summer. Regina writes:
"I have been fascinated with nature since I was a small child when I would sit on the ground in our backyard to watch the ant hill activity or 
sneak into a neighboring garden to snap off a flower or two or help my grandfather weed his vegetable garden.
"My interest in photography began with an old Kodak camera when my own children were babies. I soon graduated to a basic Canon with interchangeable lenses and that was the beginning of a wonderful adventure of a lifelong attempt to learn how to capture the outdoors that I loved through the camera’s eye.
"Over the years, there wasn’t much time to concentrate on building a portfolio but recently, after retirement, I have made it a personal challenge to take and post at least one photo a day to my website that captures something of the beauty and goodness of that particular day. Most often they are local outdoor photos but, at times, a still life or an abstract image created indoors.
More about Regina, two more of her photos, and her website follow.
Regina Geoghan writes:
"A few snow photos from early Saturday morning at DeKorte Park.
"Went back around noontime and between the sun and the wind, the trees were almost bare again."
(Thanks, Regina!)
Another photo follows. More photos by Regina tomorrow in the Photographers Showcase.
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.
Our next talk and slide show on the NJMC's coffee-table book "The Nature of the Meadowlands" is Wed., Feb. 13, at 7:30 p.m., for the Montclair Bird Club in Upper Montclair.
The event is free and open to the public.
For more information, click here.
Ron writes:
"I found this Merlin right at the entrance to the Kearny Marsh on Sunday.
Look closely at the telephone pole as this guy seems to have just finished eating.
"Two more pelican shots are attached from Monday, with one being a 'coming in for a landing' at eye level." (Thanks, Ron!)
Pelican shots follow.
Frank Muscara posted the following on JerseyBirds:
"Five Bald Eagles seen Feb 6th 8:30 am at Mehrhof Pond in Little Ferry. One first-year eagle and two adults perched in tree along the pond and two third-year eagles in a fly-by over the pond. "
(Thanks, Frank!)
Don Torino, one of the leaders of our Bergen County Audubon Society/N.J. Meadowlands Commission walks, has a new column on wildnewjersey.tv about the Sweetgums of Losen Slote Creek Park and the amazing birds they have been attracting.
Here's the beginning:
"Last Sunday, birders from all over New Jersey descended upon Losen Slote Creek Park to see if they could get a look at some White-winged Crossbills that were generous enough to stop over and give us local folks a thrill.
"As a multitude of binoculars gazed skyward, I could hear a nice young lady cry out, 'There they are on the itchy balls!'
"I couldn’t help but laugh. I hadn’t heard the tree referred to by that name for a very long time. Of course, the tree that she was so happily denoting is a Liquidambar styraciflua, the Sweetgum tree."
The link is here.