The answers to yesterday Teaser-o-rama are Purple Finch and Pine Siskins. They are both winter visitors to Losen Slote Creek Park in Little Ferry, and they both wish you a happy holiday.

Roy Woodford writes:

There are (at least) two Gray Ghosts hanging around in the past week… I’ve seen both at once.  The one I got shots of has more streaking … I guess it’s a younger bird.

The action has been really good lately … the birds are close enough I can shoot with my full frame body without the teleconverter and only crop to frame the image.  If you’re patient, they’ll get within 50 feet.

Add  a Peregrine coming after my lens and a Light-morph Rough-leg (above) to the list…

It’s so busy out there … I don’t know what to point the camera at …

(Thanks, Roy!)

We thought we’d look back at some Meadowblog highlights from 2013, and showcase some of the great photography that folks have contributed.

Here’s June. (Thanks to all!) Just click on the text to link to the post.

June 4: Meadowlands Marsh Sounds Website

June 5: Oriole Jamboree at DeKorte Park!

June 10: Mickey Raine’s Awesome Black Skimmer Shots

June 11: Polyphemus Moth in the Meadowlands

June 13: All About the Rare Meadowlands Treehog

June 16: Angelo Marra — Clapper Rail in Flight at MCM

June 25: Chris Takacs’ Wily Coyote Shot!

June 25: Regina Geoghan’s DeKorte Shots

June 27: Our Latest South Bergenite Column: Black Skimmers

Welcome to the fourth in a series of Tuesday Teasers devoted to Losen Slote Creek Park, the site of our fifth annual Super Bird Sunday Walk on Feb. 2.

Between now and then, we will offer a different Losen Slote-based Teaser presented by the Bergen County Audubon Society. To participate, just e-mail your answer to the Teaser each week to Jim Wright at jim.wright@njmeadowlands.gov by each Tuesday at midnight, with “Teaser” marked in the subject field. The person with the highest number of correct answers will win something or other.

Today’s Teasers are pictured above. What are they, and what do they have in common? (Yes, finally a bird-related Teaser-o-rama.)

Answer appears tomorrow.

We are kicking off 2014 with a free guided walk at one of our favorite spots — Mill Creek Marsh in Secaucus. Might even see a Northern Shoveler scraping some ice  (photo from a previous Mill Creek Marsh walk is above).  Or that rail that Ray Duffy recently reported.

The event is sponsored by the Meadowlands commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society.

Details follow. Continue reading →

Ray Duffy writes:

On Saturday at Mill Creek, I had a rail run across the corner with the platform where the Nelson’s Sparrow was found.  It looked dark and I think it was a Virginia, but didn’t get a good enough look when it was there as it bailed into one of the briars and I never saw it come out and it didn’t respond to any of the calls I played.

I did find one of its footprints and it looked to be a little bigger than a quarter (photo at right).  I’m not really up on my rail foot print sizes,  Any idea?

On Sunday, I had the Peregrine eating something in the Osprey nest on the Swing Bridge next to Laurel Hill County Park.  No sign of great corms yet.  I don’t know if they’re not here yet or the Peregrine has run them off.  (Thanks, Ray!)

We thought we’d look back at some of blog highlights from 2013, and showcase some of the great photography that folks have contributed.

Here’s May. (Thanks to all!) Just click on the text to link to the post.

May 3: Mill Creek Marsh from the Air

May 5: Severe Outbreak of Warbler Neck @ Losen Slote!

May 6: DeKorte Park in Bloom

May 8: Unusual Mill Creek Mammal

May 9: An Early Happy Mother’s Day! (Above)

May 12: The Marsh Hawks Win! The Marsh Hawks Win!

May 14: Ridgefield Mother’s Day Walk: The Full List

May 16: Losen Slote: Warbler Capital!!

May 25: Look Out for Snapping Turtles!

May 31: Industrious Barn Swallows @ Disposal Road

Mike Britt and a friend did a sweep of the Meadowlands on Saturday.

His report is here.  (Note: The Kane Natural Area and the 1-E Landfill are off-limits to the public…)

Also, Al Sanford reported two Light-morph Rough-legs on Disposal Road Saturday afternoon. They have been seen for a few days now.  (Thanks, Mike and Al!)

DeKorte Park, including the environment center and the observatory, is closed on  New Year’s Day (Wed., Jan. 1). River Barge Park in Carlstadt is open, weather conditions permitting. Season’s greetings to all!

DeKorte Park is featured in the brand-new book “Hike of the Week,” by Daniel Chazin of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.

Subtitled “A Year of Hikes in the New York Metro Area,” the book leads off with none other than DeKorte Park, with a write-up of the birds of DeKorte Park by the NJMC’s Jim Wright.

The 358-page book features 52 walks in all — one for every week of the year.