The weather was nice enough to cooperate for our Third Tuesday of the Month walk at Laurel Hill this week, and the raptors obliged as well. Not only did we have five Bald Eagles, but we also had a Northern Harrier, a Red-tail or two, and a Peregrine ensconced in a nearby Osprey nest.
Thanks to all who participated!
Full list and another pic follow.
Last week, the Meadowlands Commission brought an injured Red-tail to The Raptor Trust. We got an update this morning. The Raptor Trust reports:
“Your” red-tail is still in very guarded condition. Our vet sutured the crop but it is touch & go, and only time will tell if it will heal properly.
The bird also had blood in both eyes, so we have to see what’s going on there.
We are doing everything possible to bring it back to health but unfortunately it is in bad shape.
Fingers crossed. Thanks to all who have been asking about the raptor!
Chris Takacs reports:
Common Redpoll (above) was seen feeding with Goldfinches
at Losen Slote Creek Park in Little Ferry on Tuesday morning.
Also seen was a leucistic Eastern Towhee (right) that popped up in response to my best Towhee whistle. I’ve seen the Towhee a day or 2 ago but couldn’t relocate it to get a photo until today. Both birds were seen on the edge of the woods where the fields begin.
Thanks, Chris!
Don Torino’s latest column for wildnewjersey.tv is on River Barge Park in winter.
Here’s the opening:
Gone are the causal lunchtime visitors, the weekend picnickers and the mothers with toddlers in tow. The boats that took short sleeved, hat wearing sunscreen lovers through tours of the Meadowlands are now stored away and covered up for the winter.
The tables and benches are empty and visitors are now few and far between unless you consider the Double-Crested Cormorants that are standing like tourists along the dock enjoying the water’s edge, seemingly impervious to the biting cold of the Meadowlands winter.
The link is here.
If you’ve followed the Peregrine Falcons at Laurel Hill, you’re probably aware that three years ago or so they were likely responsible for preventing the local Common Ravens from nesting — staking a claim months before nesting season.
Last year, they prevented a pair of Ospreys nesting on the nearby swing bridge — — staking a claim months before nesting season. Continue reading
Highlights of Tuesday’s Laurel Hill walk with Bergen County Audubon included five Bald 
Eagles — count ’em, five — two adults and three immatures. That just might be a record for one of our walks.
The adults put on a great show, almost overhead at some points. The immatures stayed over the Saw Mill Creek Wildlife Management Area, occasionally locking talons and generally horsing around.
Judging from a lack of a transmitter and no missing flight feathers, we believe that the two adults were not Alice and Al, the resident Bald Eagles of Ridgefield Park.
Will post the full list later this week.
Mickey and Elaine Raine write:
On Monday, we decided to visit Mill Creek Marsh, and we were rewarded with some great sights of the Great Blue Heron. There were several of them out, and at every bend, we would see one. I do not believe that all of the shots presented here are of the same one–most likely between two of them. We know for certain that four different ones were around the marsh in various locales.
Their colors of full adulthood at the high stage were prominently displayed, so in spite of the limited sun–off and on–the nice features were captured successfully.
(Thanks, Elaine and Mickey!)
Our next free walk with Bergen County Audubon Society is our Sixth Annual Super Bird Sunday Walk in DeKorte Park on Feb. 1 — the same Sunday as the Super Bowl, just with lots of fresh air and no crass commercial craziness.
We’ll not only look for Bald Eagles and winter raptors, but we’ll be awarding prizes to the first person to see a bird species that was named for an NFL team.
(We may have gotten that last part backwards, but the stuff about the prizes is true.)
Details follow.
Last Tuesday, we asked readers how old the Bald Eagle (above) is in this recent photo by Louis Balboa.
Patrick Carney wrote that he thinks this is a second-year bird. We concur. (Thanks, Patrick!)
A helpful link is here.
