Please Note: DeKorte Park will be closed on Christmas Day and will reopen at 8 am on Saturday, Dec. 26. The park will also be closed on New Year’s Day and reopen at 8 am on Saturday, Jan. 2.

Chris Takacs got some awesome photos at DeKorte and surrounding locations Sunday while participating in this year’s Christmas Bird Count.

The Christmas Bird Count (CBC), the nation’s longest-running citizen science bird project, fuels Audubon science year-round. The count is a census of birds in the Western Hemisphere, performed annually in the early Northern-hemisphere winter by volunteer birdwatchers and administered by the National Audubon Society. The purpose is to provide population data for use in science, especially conservation biology, though many people participate for recreation.

This year’s 116th count runs from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5, so it’s not too late to join in this fun and important project. To find out more click here.

Hawk-Eye of course!  Rich Brown sent in this beautiful photo he took Saturday of a Cooper’s Hawk on the old coffer dam while crossing the Park Avenue Bridge over the Passaic River between Nutley and Lyndhurst.