The Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society have two exciting events on Tuesday:

*A free Earth Day nature walk is Tuesday, April 22, at 5 p.m. in DeKorte Park.

*A free Earth Day Concert with Spook Handy in DeKorte Park begins at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 22, in the Meadowlands Environment Center.

More on Spook Handy here. Details follow. Continue reading →

It’s great to see Ron Shields in action. Here’s a selection of his latest from the Kearny Marsh.

Can you ID them all?  (Thanks, Ron!)

Today is a state holiday. DeKorte Park is open but the Meadowlands Environment Center is close.

Dennis Cheeseman writes:

This guy has moved into the hill just across from the offices at DeKorte Park.”

We hope he won’t being seeing his shadow anytime soon.

To say we saw it at a distance is an understatement, but … we definitely saw the Snowy Owl in a marsh by the Hackensack River again today.  The photo above is a huge enlargement from an image taken with a 400mm lens. (A big thanks to NJMC staffers Drew McQuade and Amanda Iveson and a distant Muskrat for finding the bird.)

The owl was also seen near there on Monday. Link to those (better) photos is here.

It’s a beautiful Garter Snake, but you have to scroll down to see it, in deference to those who dislke snakes and photos thereof.

Schmidt’s Woods, of course, is in Secaucus, and a great place to see spring warblers.

(Thanks, Ray!) Continue reading →

We saw quite a few of these catkins on the free guided Harrier Meadow walk on Tuesday, but could not figure out what kind. Somebody suggested feral catkins, but that just seemed wrong. Can you help?

Allan Sanford writes:

I parked on disposal road Friday after hearing the honk of several Ring-necked Pheasants. Knowing they hide very well, I waited for an hour to see this guy come out and do his crows.

I saw a couple more during this time. They are great to see. Add the sound and it is amazing. I’ve always heard them but never witnessed their display until now. It was worth the wait.  (Thanks, Allan!)

The Jersey Journal has a nice article on the Jersey City Peregrine Cam.

Here’s a sample:

A pair of peregrine falcons, the fastest bird in the sky and also a state endangered species, have returned to 101 Hudson St, to prepare for nesting season.

“It’s easy to lose sight of the extraordinary wildlife that’s all around Jersey City,” said David Wheeler, executive director of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

For the 15th season, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) will be operating the popular Jersey City FalconCam — a webcam embedded atop the Jersey City skyscraper

The webcam captures the intimate moments of the falcon pair during its nesting season, which generally lasts from April to July.

A link to the cam site is here.

A link to the story is here.

(Stay tuned for the announcement of an exciting new joint project between CWD and the Meadowlands Commission.)

This is most of the group who joined us on our Third Tuesday of the Month walk at Harrier Meadow.

We set a new record: 43 species seen by  nine people, or more than four birds per person. Imagine if we had a better turnout!

Full list, including some impressive birds, follows. (As you can see from the photo, the birding was intense that one birder did not stop to have his picture taken. Also impressive, just a tad less so Continue reading →