One of my great pleasures  leading Bergen Audubon as the President has been the opportunity to meet so many devoted, hardworking and caring  people in many small communities around Bergen County that are committed to conservation and making the environment a better place, not only for the wildlife  but also for their entire community.

These unsung heroes have given of themselves with little recognition and often with personal sacrifice. So it is in their honor that we are proud to announce our winners of the 7th annual “Bergen County Audubon/Harold Feinberg Conservation Award.”

This award is named in honor of Harold Feinberg, our long-time member and field trip chairman for many years. Harold has been a mentor, an enthusiastic supporter of our endeavors, and has always given freely of his expertise with a combination of patience and knowledge that few possess.

This year’s winners are:

Jimmy Macaluso

 Jimmy Macaluso

Jimmy is the official volunteer monitor of the Osprey nests in the Meadowlands and the surrounding area for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. For the past few years, Jimmy has spent countless hours and days throughout the spring and summer in all kinds of weather protecting the nests and reporting on all the critical scientific data.

The information gathered by Jimmy helps determine the health of our local Osprey population and plays an important part in helping state scientists and researchers determine the future of the Osprey in New Jersey.  Bergen County Audubon and our members owe a great deal of gratitude to Jimmy Macaluso for all his hard work and dedication caring and defending the Osprey of the Meadowlands region.

Richard and Linda Greendyk

Rich & Linda Greendyk

Rich and Linda Greendyk are known to Bergen Audubon as “Mr. & Mrs. Bluebird.”   Both Rich and Linda work hard every year installing, building and monitoring all the eastern Bluebird nest boxes at the NJ Botanical garden in Ringwood. They also maintain bluebird boxes at Highland Meadow in West Milford and Weis Ecology center in Ringwood.

Their high success rate with their nest box program has helped the bluebirds make an incredible return to our state botanical garden. They work hard all spring and summer making sure the bluebirds are happy and healthy. Rich and Linda build their own nest boxes and make their own posts, paying the entire cost out of their own pocket, and always calling it a donation to Bergen Audubon.

As of this month, Rich and Linda met with Bergen County parks representatives and have begun installing bluebird boxes at Campgaw Reservation in Mahwah, hopefully to create a healthy bluebird population there in the future. Rich and Linda are special individuals that selflessly devote themselves to helping our environment and especially the Eastern Bluebird.

Please join us as we present the awards at our Annual holiday party on Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the Teaneck Creek Conservancy, 20 Puffin Way, Teaneck. For more info please contact me at 201-230-4983 or greatauk4@gmail.com.