Dave Rotondi took this photo of a White-throated Sparrow right near the beginning of the Transco Trail in DeKorte Park. Thanks, Dave!

    The Meadowlands has experienced repeated problems with people who are so intent on getting better views or better photos of the Snowy Owls that they have thought nothing of trespassing on private property to do so.

     To help educate the public, a birder suggests that this blog post the American Birding Association's Principles of Birding Ethics.
   The link is here. In a nutshell, the principles say:
    "Everyone who enjoys birds and birding must always respect wildlife, its environment, and the rights of others.  In any conflict of interest between birds and birders, the welfare of the birds and their environment comes first."

   Click here for an earlier post on photographing owls.

    We knew it was going to be a good morning on Monday when 13 lucky people showed up for our first public walk of the year — the first bird we saw was the Snowy Owl, perched easily within Spotting Scope range.
     The owl stayed (he is pictured here yawning), and everyone had good looks at him. Later, when we went to DeKorte, we saw the sometimes elusive Eurasian Green-Winged Teal  (also here on Tuesday).

   It is also called the Common Teal, but it's not very common around here most of the time. Other ducks included Gadwall, Hooded Merg, Common Merg, Ring-neck and Shoveler.

   Click "Continue reading…" for the full list and a new Green-Winged Teal pic. 

Continue reading →

Birder/blogger John Beetham recently posted a perceptive view of birding in the Meadowlands on his oddly named blog, A DC Birding Blog. Read the post here.

Happy New Year!

  The Meadowlands Commission is kicking off 2009 with a Snowy Owl watch/DeKorte Park guided walk on Monday, Jan. 5. 

   Two Snowy Owls have been in the Meadowlands since Dec. 23, and we are hoping they hang around for another week (at least)…

   NJMC naturalist Mike Newhouse, who heads the popular Harrier Meadow walks, will be the leader.

    We will meet at DeKorte Park at 9 a.m. and, if the owls are still here, we’ll drive over to see them with spotting scopes and also look for Rough-legged Hawks (pictured above), Northern Harriers, and the local Redtails and Kestrel. 

   Click "Continue reading … "  for more information.

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     The landfills around DeKorte Park are brimming with raptors these days.   

    Today we saw  Rough-legged Hawks, male and female Northern Harriers, American Kestrels and Red-tailed Hawks in Lyndhurst and North Arlington.

    Yesterday. birder Michael Britt reported seeing 6 Rough-legged Hawks (4 light, 2 dark) 3 Bald Eagles (2 adults, 1 Imm.) 3 Short-eared Owls, 3 Kestrels, several Northern Harriers including 2 gray ghosts), many Red-tails and 2 Great Cormorants 

    Click "Continue reading for Mike Britt's field notes …

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     The Wednesday Harrier Meadow Walk, scheduled for 9 a.m., has been rescheduled because of a 90 percent chance of rain.
    The guided 90-minute walk is now set for Wednesday, Dec. 17, at 9 a.m. This will be the last scheduled walk of 2008.
    Click here for more information on these walks.
     E-mail us here if you would like to attend.

NJMC's Erica Mueller reports:  "I talked with the Raptor Trust over the weekend.

  "The snowy egret has a badly luxated elbow and will not be releasable.
   "However, there is good news in that he has a permanent home.
   "He was transported to the Bronx Zoo on Saturday, and he will live there in the aviary."
   A great job all around.
   The earlier injured-egret post is here.

   A late Stilt Sandpiper, photo by Kevin Bolton