Dennis Cheeseman photographed this Yellow-bellied 
Sapsucker at River Barge Park in Carlstadt at 7 a.m. today.
Lots of good birds, including a banded Peregrine Falcon, have been seen at this Hackensack River Park of late.
Sorry about that Daffy Duck-style pronunciation in the headline. It was for emphasis.
(Thanks, Dennis!)
Our next walk w
ith Bergen County Audubon Society is at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Losen Slote Creek Park in Little Ferry, where we’ll look for fall migrants and take a gander at the new butterfly garden (right).
To see what we saw on October Losen Slote walk last fall, click here.
(We saw the thrush, above, on our October Losen Slote walk two years ago.)
We know some folks freak out at the sight of a snake — even an image of a snake — so you’ll have to scroll down to see these two snakes photographed on Sunday at Mill Creek Marsh by Rich Romano.
We are thinking that one is a Garter Snake and the other is a (correction) Eastern Milk Snake… Both are non-poisonous and beneficial to humans. Feel free to add any insights…
Jill Homcy writes:
I stopped at DeKorte after work after last Wednesday’s storm to take a quick walk on the Marsh Discovery Trail. Was afraid it was going to rain again so I just took some pics with my iphone.
(Thanks, Jill!)
Dennis Cheeseman saw this wacky white waterfowl from the Marsh Discovery Trail today.
Can you help with the I.D.? (Thanks, Dennis!) 
Red-tail and Common Raven flying in formation. Sort of.
You’ll never guess where Ron Shields took all these amazing shots yesterday.
OK, so maybe you will…
Thanks, Ron!
Who’s this?
Mill Creek Marsh is awesome in autumn, as we found out again on our First-Sunday walk.
Highlights included Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Osprey and Mourning Underwing Moth — with 38 bird species in all. Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a wonderful morning.
Full list follows.
With strong winds out of the south today, the raptor action on Disposal Road really picked up.
We stopped to see what Ron Shields was photographing near the bend at the Carillon this afternoon, and promptly saw Peregrines dueling Harriers, a couple of Red-tails, an Osprey and a Common Raven (yes, a non-raptor, we know) — which was going after a Northern Harrier (photo at left).
Several Am. Kestrels were further down Disposal, toward the banding station.
Looks like it might be Disposal Road season again.
We promise to post any pix from this afternoon that Ron sends our way.
On Friday, Oct. 3, the Meadowlands Commission planted 51 native shrubs in the Harrier Meadow Natural Area in North Arlington.
The plantings include black chokeberry, red twig dogwood, winterberry and arrowwood viburnum. Harrier Meadow is a 70-acre restricted natural area with three tidal impoundments.
It is open to the public only for guided nature walks conducted by the NJMC and Bergen County Audubon Society.
The next Harrier Meadow walk is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 2, from 10 a.m. to noon.
The plantings were paid for from donations collected by the NJMC’s World Series of Birding team, the Meadowlands Marsh Hawks. A big thank you to the Marsh Hawks — Mike Newhouse of the NJMC, Chris Takacs, and Mike Wolfe — and all the fine folks who donated to the Marsh Hawks’ efforts.