Welcome to the dawning of a new year in the Meadowlands.

After the travails of Hurricane Sandy, we are hoping for a calmer 2013 and the opportunity to continue rebuilding our parks and natural areas.

The photo above, by Ron Shields, is sunrise at Kearny Marsh, a wetlands area that will likely never be the same as it was when Ron took this amazing shot.

The natural world is constantly changing, and may we resolve, in 2013, to enjoy and improve what we can when we can.

Happy 2013!

May the birding and other enriching observations of nature begin.

A Meadowlands photo by Patrick Carney, a contributor to this blog, is one of 100 selected by Audubon Magazine as one of the best of 2012.

The winning photo, above, is of a Black-and-white Warbler in DeKorte Park.

Patrick is in some great company. A link to all the photos is here.

Just saw a distant dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk (photo at right is for ID purposes; Ron Shields or Frank Costeira may have better shots to post later — it was pretty far up and away) above Disposal Road in the area of the Amvets Carillon.

Also: More than 100 Am. Pipits, a Gray Ghost (below), other No. Harriers, Am. Kestrels, Red-tail, and many Am. Tree Sparrows.

Will Test just sent us a few (light-morph) Rough-legged Hawk pix from yesterday — taken at 8 a.m. on Disposal Road. (Thanks, Will!)

Two shots of the hawk perched follow.

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The William D. McDowell Observatory in DeKorte Park begins a new month of programming Wednesday night (Jan. 3).  The observatory is closed tonight, New Year's Eve.

Free public access is from 7 to 10 on Monday and Wednesday nights  this month — weather permitting, of course.

Dress for the weather; with the dome open, you are basically outside.

Each evening at least two major objects in the night sky will be viewed, plus one or two other celestial objects or events depending on the observing conditions.

For more information about free public viewing nights and to check out the observatory's website, click here.

For a South Bergenite column by the NJMC's Jim Wright about the observatory, click here.

Greg Grad writes:

"Sunday, was one of those days that required a lot of time and patience to find birds on Disposal Rod. Despite the cold and windy weather time spent at the park was definitely worth the effort.

"Highlights for me were large numbers of American Pipits and Horned Larks. I saw also a flock of Snow Buntings, a Snow Goose flying over the Kingsland Landfill with a flock of Canada Geese, Gray Ghost, and two successful attacks on A. Pipits by American Kestrel.

"Day ended with a report of the Rough-legged Hawk, seen by Ray, Chris and Ron."

(Thanks, Greg!)

The year 2012 in the Meadowlands marked the opening of River Barge Park in Carlstadt, Butterfly Day and Moth Night, lots of great nature sightings, our continued partnership with Bergen County Audubon Society, and (alas) Hurricane Sandy.

We thought we'd remember 2012 by looking back, month by month.

Here are some highlights from this month (click on the text to link to the post):

Dec. 3: Redpolls at Losen Slote (Photos by Brandon Caswell)

Dec. 7: Column — Our Salute to Volunteers

Dec. 14: More Eerie Meadowlands Finds  (right)

Dec. 14: Disposal Road Great Horned Owl (photo by Ron Shields)

Dec. 16: Some Nifty Losen Slote Bird Pix (by Roy Woodford, above)

 
The year 2012 in the Meadowlands marked the opening of River Barge Park in Carlstadt, Butterfly Day and Moth Night, lots of great nature sightings, our continued partnership with Bergen County Audubon Society, and (alas) Hurricane Sandy (photo above, of a DeKorte Park Trail, by Marco van Brabant).

We thought we'd remember 2012 by looking back, month by month.

Here are some highlights from November (click on the text to link to the post):

Nov. 16: Storm Damage: Slide Show & Article

Nov. 21: Laurel Hill Walk: The List, including Ravens  (Photo at left)

Nov. 21: Sparrow Eating Fish (Photo by Brandon Caswell)

Nov. 26: Mill Creek Marsh Is Open Again — Thanks to Volunteers

Nov. 30: Ron Shields' Disposal Road Bald Eagle

The year 2012 in the Meadowlands marked the opening of River Barge Park in Carlstadt, Butterfly Day and Moth Night, lots of great nature sightings, our continued partnership with Bergen County Audubon Society, and (alas) Hurricane Sandy.

We thought we'd remember 2012 by looking back, month by month.

Here are some highlights from October (click on the text to link to the post):

Oct. 11: Very Vibrant Vireos (Chris Takacs photos)

Oct. 12: Column about Photographer Marco van Brabant

Oct. 13: Brown Creeper @ DeKorte (Dennis Cheeseman photos, right)

Oct. 21: Black-throated Green at Mill Creek Marsh (Patrick Carney photo, above)

Oct. 25: First-ever Top-of-Kingsland Walk

If you are in the 2012 Meadowlands Big Year contest, we need your total species number as soon as you have concluded your birding activities for the year.

We will post the winning tallies (and you are all winners in our book!) as soon as we can in 2013.

Exciting prizes for the top two winners!