Alice by the nest (on left)
Ron Shields stopped by the Bald Eagle nest late last month and managed to get photos of the Alice near the nest, and Al eating a fish. In the one close-up, you can see Alice’s antenna. (Thanks, Ron!)
Don’t miss Ron’s talk at the Meadowlands Environment Center on Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 2 p.m.
Chris Takacs reports:
In conjunction with our latest South Bergenite column, which follows, we are asking members of the Meadowblog community to vote for their favorite Meadowlands bird of 2014. So read the column by the NJMC’s Jim Wright — and then vote!
For local nature lovers, this past year will be remembered as a year of rare and unexpected birds — so many, in fact that we at the N.J. Meadowlands Commission would like you to vote for the 2014 Meadowlands Bird of the Year.
You can credit NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse for the idea. “We have seen so many amazing birds this year,” he said recently. “Why don’t we have local nature lovers vote for their favorite?”
When Mike speaks, I listen.
We started going over a list of cool birds that had been seen in the past 12 months — in addition to our usual array of terrific birds – and soon realized we had our work cut out for us. Continue reading
Our next free walk is Sunday at DeKorte Park and nearby Disposal Road. We’ll look for raptors (and keep an eye out for Snowy Owls) as well as wintering waterfowl.
(Last month we had a Rough-legged Hawk; pic above by Ron Shields. Thanks, Ron!)
Full listing follows. Continue reading
Earlier this week, Richard Brown wrote to the blog about a pair of falcons at Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus.
One of the falcons then perched on a ball field light and I got some photos.He was able to read the band on its leg: Black 23 / Green AN.
We asked if anyone could provide more info. Peregrine whiz Mike Girone responded immediately:
That is Laurel Hill’s resident female. She was banded as a nestling by Kathy Clark at the Atlantic City Hilton in 2012.
Greg Gard passed along the information to us as well.
(Thanks, Mike, Greg and Richard!)
As promised, we are posting the full list of birds seen on our New Year’s Day Walk with Bergen County Audubon. Highlights included lots of Green-winged Teal, a few Northern Harriers and those two Bald Eagles.
Thanks to Marie Longo for the photos, and thanks to Marie, Mary Kostus and Peggy O’Neill for their help with the following list. Thanks to all our participants, including ths folks into this group shot. We suspect the guy on the right has been birding a tad too long.
Who can see the most species of birds in Losen Slote Creek Park in 2015?
The Bergen County Audubon Society will donate $2 for every species seen by the winner toward a future conservation project at Losen Slote. For more information or to register, e-mail Don Torino at greatauk4@gmail.com.
Directions to Losen Slote are in the right-hand column of this blog.
It’s a great place, and a great challenge. Thanks, BCAS!
We kicked off 2015 with a brisk guided walk at Mill Creek Marsh with more than 50 participants.
Highlights included two Bald Eagles toward the end of the walk.
Because both adult raptors appeared to have all their feathers, we do not believe they were Alice and Al, but we are open to a second opinion.
We will post the full list of birds seen during the walk later this week.
A big thanks to Bergen County Audubon Society and everyone who participated in the walk!
To see what we might see in the Meadowlands this month, we thought we’d check what we posted on the blog last January. (Hint: Bald Eagles, Snowy Owls and more.)
Just click on the text to link to the post.
January 1: American Eagle Airlines (photo by Roy Woodford, above.)
January 9: Rough-legged Hawks @ Disposal Road
January 13: Marco Van Brabant’s DeKorte Deep Freeze Pix
January 15: Don Torino’s Column on Bald Eagles
January 20: Bird Vs. Fish: Part One
January 20: Bird Vs. Fish: Part Two
January 21: Posts of DeKorte Snowy Owl Pix
January 30: Lapland Longspur at Laurel Hill
January 31: Snowy Owl Pellet Up-close
Thanks to you, Meadowblog had more than 15,000 page views in December.
Here’s to a great 2015!