As his devoted readers by now know, Jim Wright has posted his last post here before retiring from the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. His contributions to the agency, as well as to the wider community over his 6 1/2-year tenure have been tremendous.

He has served as our ambassador, speaking to community groups, co-hosting twice-monthly nature walks, connecting with partners like the Bergen County Audubon Society, and helping develop popular annual events like Butterfly Day and Moth Night.

Jim founded this blog in 2008 and set a high standard which we will do our best to live up to. He is known throughout the Meadowlands and beyond as an enthusiastic birder, a capable reporter, and an all-around nice guy. Even if his puns make us groan.

We wish him the very best in all his future endeavors.

I guess this is my last post, so I figured I should go with an image of a Bald Eagle over a Meadowlands marsh. This is a new illustration by Tom Yezerski, who has graciously shared his work with the Meadowlands Commission over the years. (Thanks for everything, Tom!)

I have loved my job at the Meadowlands Commission these past 6.5 years — lots of incredibly talented and generous people.

It has also been a pleasure to work with all the amazing nature photographers in this neck of the woods, and to share the wonders of the Meadowlands with so many people on our nature walks with the Bergen County Audubon Society and our Butterfly Days and Moth Nights.

Hope to see you in the Meadowlands. Until then, as my second-favorite cowboy, Roy Rogers, used to say, “Happy Trails.”

     — Jim W.

Our next free walk with Bergen County Audubon Society is our Sixth Annual Super Bird Sunday Walk in DeKorte Park on Feb. 1 — the same Sunday as the Super Bowl, just with lots of fresh air and no crass commercial craziness.

We’ll not only look for Bald Eagles and winter raptors, but we’ll be awarding prizes to the first person to see a bird species that was named for an NFL team.

(We may have gotten that last part backwards, but the stuff about the prizes is pretty much true.)

Details follow.

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This photo was taken by a Commission staff member as he left the office last Thursday night. He couldn’t resist the crescent moon and the tree silhouettes.

See that bright spot near the treetops? Can anyone tell us if that’s a planet?