We had a great turnout for today’s Green Friday walk, sponsored by the N.J. Meadowlands Commission and the Bergen County Audubon Society. Highlights included a couple of Northern Harriers and those magnificent Northern Pintails.

The walk included the Marsh Discovery Trail and the Lyndhurst Nature Reserve.  (A big thank you to all who attended, and a big thanks to Marie Longo of the BCAS for providing the photos below.)

Full list follows. Continue reading →

Louis Balboa writes:

I was wandering around  on Thanksgiving looking for subjects to shoot, though the weather and light weren’t great, and I came across a few inhabitants you might enjoy.

Thanks, Louis!

Looking for a great way to beat the “Black Friday” day-after-Thanksgiving shopping crush and work off that turkey dinner?

Visit the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission’s DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst for a free “Green Friday” guided nature walk beginning at noon inside the Meadowlands Environment Center.

The Nov. 28 event, sponsored by the NJMC and the Bergen County Audubon Society, will include a walk on DeKorte Park’s Marsh Discovery Trail and Lyndhurst Nature Reserve.

The walk runs from noon to to 1:45 p.m. Bring a brownbag lunch if you like.

For more information, contact Jim Wright at jim.wright@njmeadowlands.gov or 201-460-2002, or go the NJMC nature blog, www.meadowblog.net.  Bad weather cancels.

DeKorte Park will close at 2 p.m. today due to the snow.

Weather permitting, DeKorte Park will be open on Thanksgiving but the MEC (and its restrooms) will be closed.

Saw this guy perched in a natural area near Disposal Road on Monday. It started to look for fish over an impoundment, but eventually gave up.

Did not see any leg bands. Clearly has a broken feather, which may be a way to ID it if seen again.

The state’s recently released, comprehensive 2014 Bald Eagle Report is here.

A pair of Wild Turkeys stopped by DeKorte Park on April 1 last year.

Bergen County Audubon Society president Don Torino’s latest column for wildnewjersey.tv is about his family’s tradition of a nature walk on Thanksgiving morning.

Here’s a sample:

My tradition of getting outdoors on Thanksgiving morning goes way back to my younger years when my brother and I would wander the woods and fields of the Meadowlands, taking in and enjoying all the wildlife that thrived around our urban wilderness home.

Thanksgiving morning was always a special time for my brother and I, it meant much more to us than having a big dinner and watching football.

Thanksgiving was a day we would look forward to weeks ahead of time, anticipating the birds we might see and the reminiscing of thanksgiving mornings gone by.

It was a special day we set aside each year to appreciate and give thanks to the natural places we had close to our home especially in and around the New Jersey Meadowlands.

The link is here.

While doing a quick scan for raptors today in a restricted natural area near the Hackensack River, the NJMC’s Drew McQuade spotted this Solitary Sandpiper, rare for this time of year around here.

The bird was in shallow water, bobbing its head regularly.  A few Mallards and a coot were nearby.

(Thanks, Drew!)

Remember when we posted an item about a banded young Peregrine spotted by bird-bander Chris Takacs in Harrier Meadow on November 10?

We soon learned that Jill Homcy had photographed the same Peregrine two weeks earlier at River Barge Park, and that it had been banded in New York City on June 5 of this year.

Today, we heard from Barbara Saunders of the N.Y. State DEC:

The banded Peregrine was banded on wards Island on June 5 by Chris Nadareski.

[This Peregrine]  indeed is one of our NY juveniles from this year.  She was one of 2 PEFA chicks that hatched at our nest site atop the Manhattan Psychiatric Center on Wards Island.  [See map below.]

Her male sibling didn’t survive fledging, so it’s great to know she’s been successful so far. She was banded at the nest site by Chris Nadareski on June 5, 2014.

Her USFWS band is as follows:  1947-21521.  I’ve also attached a photo of her taken during banding. This is great news…!

BTW, this youngster comes from a long line of aggressive females, which means she’s got a lot of spunk!

Her mother is quite aggressive and was originally banded as a chick in June 2006 atop the Goliath Crane at Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, MA.

This youngster’s “grandmother” was also reported to be very aggressive.

The Peregrine was banded on Wards Island in the East River on June 5 (red dot at right). It was later photographed in Harrier Meadow on Nov. 10 (“X” on left.)  Distance is roughly 12 miles.

(Thanks, Barbara!)

How’s this for a timely Teaser?  Photographed at the NJMC’s awesome banding station last month.

What is it?