Author Archives: Jim Wright
Will This Be a Shrike Winter?
Five years ago today (Dec. 11), a Northern Shrike was reported along Disposal Road across from the Carillon.
The bird stayed until St. Pattie’s Day, 2010.
Keep your eyes out. You never know. Sometimes lightning does shrike twice.
For a link to one of our favorite 2009 Shrike posts — featuring a shot of the shrike coughing up a pellet — click here.
Mark Becker & Lori Charkey Win Award
Mark and Lori’s work is exemplifies what the environmental movement was always meant to be. Photo courtesy of: Bergen SWAN
Don Torino, a friend of this blog, writes a weekly column for wildnewjersey.tv. His latest column is about this year’s winners of the BCAS Conservation Award, Mark Becker (the Meadowlands Conservation Trust board member who died tragically earlier this year) and Lori Charkey of Bergen SWAN. Here’s a sample:
Over the years I have personally had the great pleasure to observe Mark and Lori in action, working tirelessly and unwaveringly to save and protect our environment.
Always unselfishly and forever with the environment first, Lori and Mark will always be a shining example of what the Environmental movement should be and what it was always supposed to truly be.
Sadly we lost Mark to a tragic accident back in February. The loss was heartbreaking not only to everyone who knew Mark and cared about our Earth but also to Lori his partner of more than 30 years.
The sadness of his loss still reverberates with all who knew and loved him, but through his example our resolve to protect our environment will always thrive and endure.
A link to the column is here.
Download Our Free Bald Eagle eBook
“Bald Eagles of the Meadowlands & Beyond” is a free, 62-page online book about our national symbol’s remarkable comeback in northern New Jersey and across America.
The lavishly illustrated e-book, sponsored by the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, features chapters by raptor expert Scott Weidensaul, Kathy Clark of the N.J. Endangered and Nongame Species Program, and the American Eagle Foundation.
The full-color book also showcases images by 19 nature photographers and five illustrators.
Contributing photographers: Louis Balboa, Jerry Barrack, Al Barrera, Jana Brusich, Dave Chanda of N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife, Kathy Clark of N.J. ENSP, Greg Gard, Mike Girone, Muhammad Faizan, Alice Leurck, Bill Menzel, Greg Miller, Doug Morel, Fred Nisenholz, Allan Sanford, Ron Shields, Mick Valent of N.J. ENSP, Roy Woodford and the NJMC’s Jim Wright.
Read the free e-book on your computer.
To turn the pages of the e-book, click the lower right-hand corner.
Read or download the free e-book on your tablet.
Purchase a hard cover or soft cover print-on-demand copy of the book at cost.
Note: Due to the nature of on-demand printing, these books can be a tad expensive.
Festivus Pole Is Now Fully Camouflaged
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- The Pole
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- Camouflage, First Stage
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- Camouflage completed
The Meadowlands commission’s Lou Coviello did a great job assembling and then camouflaging the Festivus Pole in the lobby of the Administration Building in DeKorte Park. Please stop by and see it. (Thanks, Lou!)
Light-Morph Rough-leg Still Here
Just saw it on a distant landfill about a half-mile south of Disposal Road. Too far away to photograph (and the light is awful), but the point is that it is still here.
Our Last Walk of 2014 Is Next Tuesday!
Bufflehead photographed from Transco Trail.
We are culminating a year of wonderful walks next Tuesday at 10 a.m. with a guided walk at DeKorte Park and nearby Disposal Road. Lots of ducks and raptors, we hope.
Full info follows. Continue reading
Al & Alice (Bald Eagle) Sighting
NJMC Naturalist Emeritus Don Smith reports that he saw Bald Eagles Alice and Al and a two-year-old Bald Eagle hanging out in a site across the river from their nesting area in Ridgefield park on Saturday. (Thanks, Don!)
Tuesday Teaser Ultrapalooza (with pix)
We put together this collage of some of the wonderful birds banded this fall by Mike Newhouse and his fab band of bird-banders.
Some have been Teaser subjects in the past few months. Others are new.
Some are easy to ID. Some are difficult.
How many can you ID? Top three responders win a free copy of the bird-banding poster or a Tom Yezerski “Meadowlands” poster.
(A similar post featuring banded birds from 2013 is here.)
To help with the IDs, large pix of the birds (sort of in order) follow. (At least one is even labeled.) Continue reading
Last Week’s Teaser Answered
After we saw this guy foraging along the road in lousy light in Harrier Meadow last Tuesday, we thought it would be a great Teaser candidate.
The answer: American Pipit. Congrats to all who ID’d it correctly.
More on American Pipits here.
