Chris Takacs sent in this photo from today of a stern looking Merlin perched atop a cedar in the Meadowlands. Chris said the bird was doing some serious hunting around the area. As you can tell, this Merlin was all business.

Let’s hear it for Big Blue! No, we’re not talking about the New York Giants’ victory last night. Rather, these amazing Great Blue Heron shots at Mill Creek Marsh that Mickey Raine sent this morning. Writes Mickey: We took a short trip to the Marsh during low tide, and there to greet us was the real BIG BLUE–the Great Blue Heron. The other local Big Blue, the NY Giants NFL team, was preparing for the game at Met Life Stadium in the Meadowlands, only about 1.5 miles from the Marsh.

This critter today seemed to be a bit of a ham, almost as if wanting to have its photos taken. It remained pretty calm and moved along the water in deliberate fashion. Unfortunately, the tide level was probably too low for larger fish to be swimming in the immediate vicinity of the large wading bird. In addition to the Big Blue, we noticed female Common Merganser hanging out with some Mallards, and a Green Winged Teal doing the same in a different spot.

Happy Columbus Day. Enjoy the beautiful weather!