Our buddy the Northern Shrike has now been in the Disposal Road area for 10 weeks (seen as recently as today at 1 p.m.). To mark the occasion, we are posting two sound files of the shrike "singing," courtesy of Fred Pfeifer. (Thanks, Fred!)
   The first file below is 2:16 minutes long, and just might be the "Citizen Kane" of shrike recordings. (Just run your cursor over the dark bar, and the "play" icon will appear.)
   The monumental recording features the shrike calling, squeaking and buzzing, with a little Meadowlands wind as an added attraction. At 1:24, you might turn the volume down — that when the AMVETS Carillon chimes in. Around 1:42, a jet is kind enough to fly overhead.

The 'Citizen Kane' of Shrike sound files

    The next sound file below is for shrike addicts on the go. It weighs in at 51 seconds, and features our often-elusive pal's basic repertoire of noises.

The 'Cliff's Notes' version of Shrike sounds

    For a 40-second (slightly gruesome) You Tube video of the Disposal Road shrike by Greg Gard, click here.

    Directions to Disposal Road are in the lefthand column of this blog.

    Netanel, one of the birders on our Backyard Bird Count Walk last Sunday, posted an item on the event on his blog. Link is here.
   His nemesis bird, by the way: the Northern Shrike.
   To that, we say: Join the club.

   Donna Schulman reports: "I saw the Northern Shrike (finally!) on Disposal Rd., on the tallest tree bordering the far side of the retention pond, at noon today, Feb. 17th.
   "I could hear the shrike vocalizing when I first arrived at the pond area, but when it did not make an appearance after 10 minutes I walked across the road to my car to fetch my hat, turning my back to the pond and the invisible bird.  
   "And then, voila!  There was the bird on the tree!  It stayed for about 10 minutes and then flew off in the direction of the Saw Mill Trail." (Thanks, Donna!)
   For those keeping score at home, the shrike has been in the Disposal Road area for nearly 10 weeks now; Wednesday was the fifth day in a row it was seen near the Retention Pond/Carillon area. Some are calling it the most cooperative New Jersey shrike in recent memory.
   Tomorrow, we plan to post two sound recordings of the shrike calling. You can probably put it on your iPod/MP3 player so you can listen to this predatory songbird any time you please. Shrike autographed souvenirs will go on sale next week, at a place to be named later. Or not.

   Just a reminder that you can go cross-country skiing on the trail at DeKorte. As of 5 p.m. today, when this photo was taken, there was still snow…
   Also something to keep in mind down the road.
 

   Chris Takacs took this shot of two Northern Harriers squabbling by Valley Brook Avenue over the weekend. (Thanks, Chris!)

      Our very snowy Third-Tuesday Walk at Harrier Meadow featured 10 brave souls and 22 species, including our friend the shrike, a Ring-necked Pheasant, a Meadowlark, a Tree Sparrow, six duck species and three raptor species.
   Said Don Torino of Bergen County Audubon Society, which co-sponsored the trip: "Bad weather + good people + good birds (still) = great trip."
   The full list and another pic or two are below.

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   We have been a tad behind the eightball of late (some of us were on vacation, scouting out future migrants in Belize), and are now trying to catch up.

   Marco Lips took some great shots at DeKorte during last week's storm, so we thought we'd post them today, when we have another nice wintry mix. 

   Says Marco: "We did not see any people (I wonder why…),just ducks, and snowflakes flying horizontally."

  (Thanks, Marco!)  More of Marco's pix below.

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   We had a great trek through the snows of Harrier Meadow this morning, topped off by great views of the (snowy) Northern Shrike. Had a few really good other birds as well. Full report tomorrow.

    A couple of photographers have sent in some shots of Northern Harriers in Lyndhurst from the weekend.
   This one, by Disposal Road, is by Debby Goldman. (Thanks, Debby!)
   We'll post another by Chris Takacs later in the week.