Jim Wright, who keeps this blog for the NJMC, also writes a monthly column for the South Bergenite. His latest is on the legendary pelican that has now been at DeKorte for at least 97 days. If George sets sail on Columbus Day, it will be Day 100.

How rare can a bird be if people have been coming to DeKorte Park to see it daily for three months?

That’s how long folks have been viewing an American white pelican on the park’s Saw Mill Creek mudflats. In fact, it’s a safe bet that hundreds of birders who live within 50 miles of here  — including many who need this species for their life list — have made at least one pelican pilgrimage to the Meadowlands.

According to eBird.org, the go-to website for bird-watchers, an American white pelican “is rare for this date and location.”  Yet this huge white bird with black wing tips, usually seen out West or along the Gulf Coast, has become such a familiar sight that it even has acquired a name — “George” (after the famous crime novelist George Pelecanos) — and a contest.

By late August, when I briefly mentioned the pelican in a column for this paper, the bird had stayed here so long that the N.J. Meadowlands Commission started a competition to see who could correctly guess when George will leave. Continue reading →

Bird-bander Chris Takacs saw this cool dude on one of the mist-net poles earlier this week.

We are guessing that it’s not this large in real life (unless you are viewing this on a cellphone).

I.D. help would be appreciated. (Thanks, Chris!)

Don Torino, the president of Bergen County Audubon Society, has a new column on wildnewjersey.tv — about why he loves October,

Here’s a sample:

The last Warblers of fall still grace us in October, some as confusing as attempting to calculate your credit card rates.

The Yellow-rumps and Palms are still flitting around the trees on route to their southerly settings, a little easier to spot now as the leaves have begun to fall.

Raptors return to Disposal road in the Meadowlands in October.

The Northern Harriers, American Kestrels and Peregrine Falcons put on daily shows taking advantage of the beautiful October skies as their background. The Northern Shovelers, Ruddy Ducks and Green-winged Teal begin to gather now and the Yellow-legs still linger along the shores.

Link is here.

Some folks had a lot of fun with I.D.ing this bird on an earlier post. Our favorite was Patrick Carney’s identification: “flying fish.”

Others had more of a bunker mentality when I.D.ing this Menhaden, a.k.a “Osprey takeout sushi.”

Thanks to all who responded.

I stopped at River Barge Park on Tuesday evening even though the light was lousy for pictures, and I found another banded Peregrine — with the code “06CC” on the green/black band.

I sent an email to the banding folks and hopefully we’ll get some info on this one.

A banded Peregrine that Jill photographed in late August on Valley Brook Avenue turned out to be from Brooklyn. Link is here. (Thanks, Jill!)

We’ve been on the fence about posting this photo of a Mourning Underwing Moth, as seen on Sunday’s walk. Can you find it?

Click here for a link to the photo of the moth only — we hope it’s not a giveaway.

The headline kind of gives it away, but what do these three things have in common?  All photographed last week, when we had lots of those orange butterflies in Jill’s Garden in DeKorte.

Folks keeping asking if we have heard anything more about the (handsome) dog found at DeKorte and taken to the Bergen County Animal Shelter on Sept. 28.

Sorry to report that the dog is there. Thank you for your concern.

Original post is here.

NJMC Senior Landscape Architect Lisa Cameron, left, with visitors to the Marsh Discovery Trail in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst. The trail was reopened on Wednesday following repairs to extensive damage incurred during Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Irene.

The current editions of the South Bergenite feature an article on the much-anticipated reopening of the DeKorte  Parks’ Marsh Discovery Trail.

Here’s the beginning of the story:

The link is here.