Please note the following schedule for the NJSEA administrative offices and DeKorte Park for Wednesday, Dec. 31, though Friday, Jan. 2.

Dec. 31 – Offices close at noon.

Jan. 1 – Offices and DeKorte Park closed.

Jan. 2 – Offices closed.

Tina Morris will sign copies of her acclaimed book, “Return to the Sky: The Reintroduction of the Bald Eagle,” at the Meadowlands Birding Festival on Sunday, Jan. 11, at the Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park, Lyndhurst. The festival is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The festival schedule can be found at the bottom of this post.

“Return to the Sky” is a fascinating journal of Tina Morris’ life and birding journey that brings the page to life through her remarkable storytelling. As the Bald Eagle, our national symbol, was facing extinction in the continental U.S. in 1976, Tina was beginning her graduate work at Cornell University. By luck and circumstance, she was selected to reintroduce the species into New York State in the hope that eagles could repopulate in eastern North America. 

Young, female and wiith no experience, Tina faced the challenges of saving the iconic bird while striving for acceptance in the unfamiliar, male-dominated world of raptor biology. Playing mother to seven eagles forced her to transcend the isolation and tedium of field research to rescue an endangered species while in turn rescuing herself.

More About Tina Morris

Tina Morris completed her graduate work in ornithology and wildlife biology at Cornell in 1978, writing her thesis on the adaptations of hacking techniques to reintroduce Bald Eagles. Following her studies at Cornell, Tina worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nature Conservancy for several years, focusing on endangered species and critical habitat conservation.

She then embarked on a 23-year career teaching English and biology. Since her retirement in 2020, Tina has devoted her time to her own writing, especially creative non-fiction with a science or nature focus. Thirty years ago, with four children in tow, Tina and her husband bought a farm in northern Massachusetts, which they manage as a wildlife sanctuary promoting biodiversity and habitat protection for species in decline.