NJMC Naturalist Mike Newhouse has compiled the list for the Great Backyard Bird Count Walk at DeKorte last Friday. Richard Moraghan supplied the photo above.
  Click "Continue reading…"  to see the list and a list from the same day from Harrier Meadow in North Arlington and one from Saturday at the Kearny Marsh.

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    The warm temperatures have really changed the feel at DeKorte Park.

    Plenty of waterfowl are back, in time for Friday's Great Backyard Bird Count nature walk.

    House sparrows are house-hunting — in the Tree Swallow boxes (at right), unfortunately.

    A killdeer just flew over the Administration Building. 

   The bad news: Now when we see a large bird in the sky, it as likely to be a gull as a raptor.

   We saw only one Rough-legged Hawk today, and only one Marsh Harrier.

    Redtails a-plenty, though.

    We'll have to see how long this premature Spring lasts…

  Owners of the land that includes cul de sac off Valley Brook Avenue in Lyndhurst — where birders like to hang out in hopes of seeing raptors of all sorts — have locked the gates, at least for the time being.
   The owners want to cut down on the illegal dumping occurring back there, and who can blame them.  The site will in all likelihood be locked at night.
  If the gate is open during the day, you should be able to drive into the cul de sac and do some bird-watching — so long as you stay near the road and do not trespass.
   If the gate is locked, you may drive over to DeKorte Park and park there, then walk (careful of traffic) over to the cul de sac.
   NOTE: It is illegal — and often dangerous — to park on Valley Brook, and you may be ticketed by Lyndhurst police.
  We expect to have a key to the gate so we can look for raptors on the Bird Walk on Friday.
   Questions? E-mail us.

   Once upon a midday dreary, when we wandered weak and weary …
   We came across this Raven's nest at Hudson County Park at Laurel Hill.
   As birder Ray Duffy has posted, two Ravens have been seen in that vicinity earlier this month:  "At Laurel Hill Park, I finally got the pair of Common Ravens. I'm going to assume they are the breeding pair because they were both hanging close to each other and I'm certain it looked like they were preening the back of each other's heads as they picked at the snow for food."

    Don Torino also reports seeing a Common Raven — on Sunday on Valley Brook Avenue in Lyndhurst.

    An earlier post on Ravens is here.
    As for the bad Raven poetry, nevermore.

    We saw quite a bit of duck action on the Hackensack River Thursday near the New Jersey Turnpike's eastern spur bridge just south of the Saw Mill Creek Marsh and the Conrail Swing Bridge.

     Our favorite performers were female and male Red-breasted Mergansers.

     These ducks are amazing. We timed the pair of diving ducks when they dived, and they could stay underwater for 35 seconds and more a time in the bone-chilling Hackensack.

   At left, the female takes the plunge.

       Also on view were several Northern Pintails and Hooded Mergansers. 

   And some very cold Mute Swans were hunkered  down on the ice so as to almost appear invisible.

 Click here for more info on Red-breasted Mergansers.

    Click "Continue reading…" for photos of the other other mergansers, pintails and swans..

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    Now that the tidal impoundments at DeKorte Park have thawed a bit, we are getting a nice variety of ducks again.
   Above, a Eurasian ( or common) Green-winged Teal hangs out with his more-often seen cousin.
   A check of the impoundments on Monday afternoon found Black Ducks, Canvasbacks (with that female Ringneck thrown in), Hooded Mergansers (right), Red-breasted Megs, a Northern shoveler and the usual Mallards.

    Birder Linda Gangi reports that quite a few Pintails and  Buffleheads were around on Monday morning as well. She also reports seeing two male Eurasian/common Green-winged Teal.

   Environmental Writer Jim O'Neill has a nice story in The Sunday Record about how birds are handling the cold winter in the Meadowlands and elsewhere in the region.  

   "Because of the cold, North Jersey ponds, creeks and marshes have iced over," O'Neill writes. "Unable to feed, some water birds have shifted their home base to the region's more open waters while others who usually winter here have packed up and flown south, according to local naturalists.

   "Meanwhile, birds not normally seen this far south have appeared in the Meadowlands — including owls who normally breed in the Arctic tundra and winter in northern Canada and birds who usually prefer the frigid Great Lakes.

    " 'It's been a colder year than normal, and our impoundment pools are freezing. Even some tidal ponds are getting ice an inch thick, so the incoming tide pushes the ice up instead of flowing over the ice,' said Michael Newhouse, natural resources field specialist with the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. 'Our waterfowl are moving over to the Hackensack River and our puddle or dabbling ducks are flying south. Sometimes they'll go as far as South Carolina.' "

     Click here for the link.

    By now, we are certain that the Meadowlands in winter is one primo place to see raptors — from Rough-legs and Harriers to Peregrines and Kestrels.  Not to mention the frequent Bald Eagles and (this winter) a Snowy Owl or two.
   We've received several raptor shots from readers of this blog this week, and we thought we would post them — or links to them here. Above and below are immature Bald Eagle shots taken by Mehrhof Pond in Little Ferry.
   To see a couple of Ray Duffy's Rough-legged Hawk pix, click here and here. To see Ray's Rough-legged video, click here.
   To see two of Deborah Allen's NYC Peregrine photos, click here and here.  She wonders if some of the Peregrines may  be foraging in New Jersey, as she sees them headed west over the Brooklyn Bridge and out of sight.  Both birds have been banded with black and green bands, like the pictured earlier this month on this blog here.

  The Star-Ledger had an interesting wire story on Snowy Owls yesterday.
   The main thrust: "Biologists say an increase in snowy owl sightings across northern states suggests that the arctic species is doing so well on its northern breeding ground that competition is driving the young ones south."
   Link to the Associated Press story is here. Snowy Owl information from the NY State DEC is here.
   E-mail us here if you would like to know more about the Snowy Owl(s) in the Meadowlands.
    We have played down their presence because too many people were trespassing on private property — and getting too close tothe birds.

   We have had quite a few Bald eagle sightings in and around DeKorte Park in the past couple of weeks. Ada Baisre actually got a photo of one. Thanks for sharing, Ada.