This photo is called “Foggy Morning, Freedom Tower,” by Michael Maddaloni, a.k.a. “Sunset Mike.”

Mike writes: “Here’s a sunrise from Monday. It was foggy all around Valley Brook — been waiting for a day like that to catch WTC1.”   (Thanks, Mike!)

Charley West and a couple of other crack birders did a “Gilligan’s Island”  (three-hour)  tour of DeKorte and  environs, including the Clay Avenue Wetlands, from 8 to 11 a.m. this morning. They came up with an awesome list of 54 species, which follows.

We joined them for a  few minutes on the Kingsland Overlook, and saw lots of Golden-crowned Kinglets and Cedar Waxwings in the Junipers, a Brown Thrasher, umpteen Yellow-rumps and Palm Warblers, plus several other nice birds.  Thanks, Charley! (And thanks to Dennis Cheesman for the shot of the Golden-crowned Kinglet, taken at lunchtime today on Kingsland — a Kingsland kinglet.)

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Dr. Ross Feltes, the Meadowlands Commission’s Supervisor of Natural Resources Management, pointed out last week that several Dogbane Moth Caterpillars were going to town on the Indian Hemp in Harrier Meadow.

He sure was right. There had to be at least a dozen caterpillars devouring the leaves. Here are some pix of same. The Indian Hemp seed pods resemble milkweed seed pods.  (Thanks, Ross!)

What kind of warbler is this? We think the photo above says it all, except that yesterday’s teaser asked what other kind of warbler it was. Literally speaking, the bird in yeserday’s photo is also a palm warbler.

(Please, no need to groan. It was a toughie, and no one answered correctly — though Dennis Cheeseman did mention something about a bird in the hand.)

You may be interested to know that this lucky warbler is also part of our new avian literacy program (below). This bird can’t read yet, but it can speak a form of pigeon English.

Congrats to all who answered the Blackburnian part correctly — this was a tough question to start out Tuesday Teaser-palooza with — some will be far easier. Sorry about that!

We are thinking that this is a migrating Osprey that stopped by the Shorebird Pool for an early lunch yesterday. Even Ospreys like Disposal Road.

Get out your binoculars — and send us your Meadowlands Big Year totals as of Sept. 30!

The goal is to see as many different bird species as possible in the 14 towns of the Meadowlands District over the course of 2013 — and also to have fun birding.

To ensure a level playing field, all birds must be seen in areas open to the public, or on guided walks or banding events in such places as Harrier Meadow or the back of the Kingsland Landfill.

The William D. McDowell Observatory in DeKorte Park has an exciting month of programming in October.

Free public access is from 8 to 10 on Monday and Wednesday nights this month — weather permitting, of course.

Dress for the weather; with the dome open, you are basically outside.

Each evening at least two major objects in the night sky will be viewed, plus one or two other celestial objects or events depending on the observing conditions.

For a South Bergenite column by the NJMC’s Jim Wright about the observatory, click here.

For more information about Observatory programming, click here.

This is the first of nine Tuesday Teasers generated by the NMC’s Mike Newhouse and his crew at their bird-banding station — and the start of an exciting new contest.

The rare double-species warbler above was banded last week by the NMC’s Mike Newhouse and his awesome crew. What are the two species?  (It is a tiny bit of a trick question.)

To give you an added incentive, we are offering a prize to the person who correctly identifies the most birds over the nine weeks. (In the case of a tie, the winner’s name will be drawn from a cap.)

The prize? Rick Wright of WINGS Birding Tours is graciously donating a copy of “The Warbler Guide” by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle.

Some of the nine total birds will be easy, some tough. Please e-mail your bird-ID to Jim Wright each Tuesday by midnight (just click” e-mail us” in the left-hand column). The “comments” section of each of the nine Tuesday Teasers will be closed (formatting willing) so that no one can post their answer.

To ensure a level playing field, the contest is closed to NJMC employees and banding volunteers.

Let the IDing begin.