Author Archives: NJMC

Carlstadt Waxwings

Cedar waxwing
Several New Jersey birders have reported that have not seen many Cedar Waxwings in awhile.

Dennis Cheeseman writes:

"Tons of them at my office in Carlstadt on Tuesday," two of which are pictured above.

Big Year Totals through May!

DSCN9973We have some tallies as of May 31 from the dozen folks in the Meadowlands Big Year for 2013.

Congrats to all for competing. We hope you are having fun near to home, and seeing lots of great birds.

Keep in mind that some birders are in the Meadowlands all the time, and others get here occasionally, so their birdage may differ drastically.

If you're name's not on the list, please e-mail Jim Wright at jim.wright (at) njmeadowlands.gov. It's still not too late! Sign up now!

Here is the leader board as of May 31:

1. Chris Takacs: 177, (2012 reigning champion, ineligible for prizes
             in 2013 as a result, lives in district)
2. Ray Duffy, 163 (in district)
2*. Mike Newhouse 119 (NJMC, setting a target number for competitors;
    on vacation — awaiting May 31 totals; was in second place at end of
    April)
4. Jackie DeMarco, 151 (out of district)
5. Mike Wolfe,  139 species (out of district)
6. Dennis Cheeseman, 132 (out of district)
7. Jim Wright,  124  (NJMC staff, ineligible for prizes)
8. Mike Turso 114 (out of district)
9. Oliver Stringham, 110  (in district)
10.  Roy Woodford 108 (out of district)
11. Julie McCall, 105 (in district)
12. Rob Fanning 101  (out of district)

Last month's totals and a link to last year's through-May totals follow.

Continue reading

Teaser Answered

Roy flycatcher-001
Roy Woodford sent in these recent images of DeKorte Park flycatchers for yesterday's Teaser.

We think the above flycatcher is a Willow, and the one below is a Least Flycatcher.

Congrats to all those who ID'd them correctly.  These guys are really tough! (Thanks, Roy!)

Roy flycatcher2-001

Oriole Jamboree at DeKorte Park!

Roy 3
No sooner did we arrive in DeKorte Park Tuesday morning than we heard a Baltimore Oriole calling like crazy. No wonder.

As Roy Woodford points out: "You don't have to go far from the front parking lot at DeKorte to find an Oriole or three (or more).  

"These guys are everywhere this year (the females are around but they seem to be a bit camera shy).  Last year, I had a hard time finding one of each."  (Thanks, Roy! Orchard Oriole pix follow.) 

Note: Baltimore Oriole above is banded!

Continue reading

Meadowlands Marsh-Sounds Website

Marsh Sounds site
Composer Diane Moser has been recording sounds in the Meadowlands as part of one of her innovative music programs.

She writes: “I finally wrote some descriptions on the sounds I collected. I think the one that would interest your readers the most would be the one entitled ‘Marsh Sounds’… There is a bird on there that I haven’t been able to identify.

“It might be fun to put this on your blog and ask your readers to comment and identify the various bird songs.

“They won’t be able to comment on soundcloud unless they already have a soundcloud account, so they might comment on this blog about the sounds instead.”

The link is here.

More of Moser’s Meadowlands recordings can be found here.

Moser’s website is here.