Buffleheads
Credit: Dennis Cheeseman

Join the Bergen County Audubon Society this Sunday, Jan. 1, for a New Year’s Day Nature Walk at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst from 10 am to noon. There’s no better way to start 2017 than with a sense of renewal from taking in nature in all its glory. We’ll keep an eye out for wintering ducks, raptors and more. Meets outside Meadowlands Environment Center. For more information call 201-230-4983 or email greatauk4@gmail.com.

Note: The park is open tomorrow from 8 a.m to 1 p.m. and all day on Monday, Jan. 2.

Several neck-banded geese were observed from River Barge Park this week. Rich Brown sent in the photograph above. The USGS has provided NJSEA staff background information on three of the geese.

The goose pictured above with ID Y2Z4 is a female banded in Quebec on July 2, 2013. At the time it was too young to fly.

Also ID’d, observed but not shown

Y6X1: Female hatched in 2013 or earlier, banded on July 14, 2014, in Quebec.

Y2Z9: Male hatched in 2014 or earlier, banded on July 3, 2015, in Quebec.

Thanks to Rich Brown and several others who reported the banded geese.

Lapland Longspur
Credit: Ron Shields

Check out Jim Wright’s Birdwatcher column in today’s Record, all about DeKorte Park being a great place for birding and Sunday’s New Year’s Day Walk at DeKorte with the Bergen County Audubon Society. The walk is from 10 am to noon. For more info call 201-230-4938 or email greatauk4@gmail.com.

Please note: The park is open Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. only. DeKorte is open all day on Monday.

New Year’s Day is traditionally the day we reflect on the year gone by, and although I have never been a fan on making resolutions we all have things we might like to change or improve for the upcoming New Year.

Sometimes it is also a day for wishes, hopes and dreams. We daydream of seeing visions for a better future for the environment and our definitive optimism of the coming year. Those special hopes always seem amplified for all the good folks that care about the earth and for those that work all year to make our environment a better place for everyone.

With those many people and their aspirations in mind I thought I would ask them what their wishes would be for the for 2017.

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The Brown Creeper can be pretty hard to capture but we’ve had some good shots lately. Here’s one making its way up a tree from Steve Ceragno taken on Monday at DeKorte. Nice work, Steve!

Buffleheads
Credit: Dennis Cheeseman

Join the Bergen County Audubon Society this Sunday, Jan. 1, for a New Year’s Day Nature Walk at DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst from 10 am to noon. There’s no better way to start 2017 than with a sense of renewal from taking in nature in all its glory. We’ll keep an eye out for wintering ducks, raptors and more. Meets outside Meadowlands Environment Center. For more information call 201-230-4983 or email greatauk4@gmail.com.

Lapland Longspur

Here’s the rest of Joe Koscielny’s awesome pics from Tuesday’s DeKorte walk with BCAS. Happy Friday and Happy Holidays!

Lapland Longspur

Buffleheads

Red-tailed Hawks

Red-tailed Hawk

Ruddy Ducks

Gold-crowned Kinglet

Thanks to Joe Koscielny for these fantastic photos taken on Tuesday’s DeKorte nature walk. We’ll have a second batch tomorrow. Don’t forget to kick off 2017 at DeKorte with a New Year’s Day walk from 10 am to noon led by the Bergen County Audubon Society. For more info: greatauk4@gmail.com or 201-230-4983

Gold-crowned Kinglet

Northern Mockingbird

House Finches

Brown Creeper

Gold Crowned Kinglet

On Saturday I received a wonderful photo from friend and colleague Chris Takacs. Chris was participating in the Christmas Bird Count and sent over a beautiful Christmas card like photo of two adult Bald Eagles on the snowy Passaic River.

As far as I was concerned this was the perfect holiday photo, something you print the family name on and mail to friends and relatives. It was majestic image if there ever was one. But it was much more than a nice photo. To me it was a symbol of hope and faith for the future of wildlife and the human spirit.

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Due to cloud cover, tonight’s (Dec. 21) viewing session at the William D. McDowell Observatory in DeKorte Park in Lyndhurst has been cancelled. The next open public viewing night is Wednesday, Dec. 28, from 7 to 10 pm