George, the American White Pelican, has now been seen for the past 59 days in the Saw Mill Creek mudflats area of DeKorte Park — far out, as usual.
So far, nine folks have been eliminated from the “Guess When George the Pelican Leaves” contest, and more than 30 are still in contention.
Zach Batren took this shot as the banding station this morning. It was the first time the band of banders banded one of these guys. What is it?
The William D. McDowell Observatory in DeKorte Park is closed this week. We regret the inconvenience,
Our next free walk is Sunday, Sept. 7, at 10 a.m. in DeKorte Park, and it features a special football theme — and nifty prizes.
We’ll walk around parts of the park, looking for shorebirds, raptors and other birds, and we’re offering prizes to the first people who see any bird species with the same name as a pro-football team: Cardinal, Raven, Falcon, Eagle, Seahawk (osprey), Giant (great) egret and Giant (great) blue heron. All seven team bird species can be seen in the park.
The walk is run by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society. Check meadowblog.net for last-minute weather updates. You will have to sign a standard liability release that is good for NJMC/BCAS events throughout the year. To rsvp, contact Don Torino of the BCAS at greatauk4@aol.com or 201-230-4983.
On July 27, Ray Duffy reported (and photographed) a leg-flagged Semipalmated Sandpiper at Mill Creek Marsh and reported it to USGS.
Last week he heard back from USGS, who said that KE2 was banded in 4/5/2012 in Suriname.
We have confirmed that the bird was banded by David Mizrahi of New Jersey Audubon.
For more information on NJ Audubon’s important research on migrating Semipalmated Sandpipers in South America, click here. It even has a map of eight South American banded sandpiper resightings in New Jersey — they can now add two Meadowlands sightings to the map. :- )