2013 was our most successful Meadowlands Big Year ever, and we’d like to thank the winners and all the other great participants.

The top three winners in district are:
1.Ray Duffy 
2. Oliver Stringham
3. Julie McCall

The top three winners out of district are:
1. Dennis Cheeseman
2.  Jackie DeMarco
3. Zach Batren

Here are the prizes: Ray Duffy, the overall winner, will have $220 donated by the Bergen County Audubon in his name to the NJ Meadowlands Commission to buy native plants. (Thank you, BCAS!!)

First-place-in-their-category winners Ray Duffy and Dennis Cheeseman will each receive: An amazing NJMC pontoon boat trip for two; their choice of the NJMC’s coffee-table book “The Nature of the Meadowlands” (signed by the author) or Tom Yezerski’s children’s book: “Meadowlands, a Wetlands Survival Story”;· a year’s membership in the Meadowlands Environment Center, featuring an amazing array of nature programs;  their choice of an awesome NJMC cap or T-shirt, and the eternal admiration of their peers.

All six winners will receive a certificate from the Bergen County Audubon Society and a Tom Yezerski Meadowlands Osprey print.

The award ceremony is this Wednesday night, Jan. 16, at the BCAS meeting at the Teaneck Creek Conservancy, 20 Puffin Way, Teaneck.  Meeting starts at 7:30; presentation begins at 8.

The complete results are here.

Again, congratulations to all!

DeKorte Park is open but the Meadowlands Environment Center is closed on Monday, Jan. 20, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Marco Van Brabant writes:

I went on an early morning walk through DeKorte before work on Tuesday.

Thoroughly bundled up, just a slit of about one inch uncovered so I could see where I went.

My greatest fear was that my two hats would be blown off my head, as I’d be in serious trouble then.

The wind was severe on the Transco and Saw Mill trails, but is was a great experience to be out in the elements, and it was interesting to see how our beloved DeKorte looks covered in ice.

Very little open water. While still in the car before going out, I had set the binoculars to an average distance, as in this kind of cold it is very difficult to turn the focusing wheel. Bufflehead, Mallards and Geese, is all I could see through these binos.   (Thanks, Marco!)