If you drove past the Celery Farm Friday evening and and wondered what was with all the bright lights in the parking lot, this post is for you. 

    Columbia University students were filming a short movie, called "Homecoming Queen."

   The parking lot was no worse for wear when they left. 

   We saw the same crew filming at Northern Highlands High School this morning.

Rob sez:

Highlights were my first Ruddy Duck (female) at the CF this year and a consistently calling Brown Creeper seen near the entrance. A Wall of Gad of at least 60 individuals are dabbling around the lake.
 Checked LeConte's Lane on this the 4th anniversary of it's CF visit, but no luck--I guess one LeConte's in Bergen Co. per fall is the limit... [Seymour Drake notes: One was seen at Overpeck this week.]
   Click "Continued reading ..." for Rob's full report.

   Today's "The Bird Watcher" column is on two backyard harbingers of winter -- the Dark-Eyed Junco and the White-Throated Sparrow.

    If you are planning to go Central America -- or just love learning about birds -- I highly recommend this book by noted Belize naturalist (and good friend) Carolyn Miller.

    The book, published by the Belize Audubon Society, is hard to get in the states, by I am encouraging Buteo Books to stock the book. The book sells for $15, and it is a bargain. The descriptions of the birds ring true, and the illustrations are top-notch.

    I am trying to order multiple copies of the book to save mailing costs. If you are interested, e-mail me.  

    Here's a link for more information about this invaluable book.

    I was going to post the following photo for Halloween, but figured it shouldn't wait, in light of the story in The Record today about Bergen's bat population dropping by 58 percent since last year.

   I have been counting bats for the state's annual bat count for several years, and this was the first year where I counted no bats, though I spent several hours total at three suspected roosts.

   I did see bats flying around at two locales, in Allendale and Upper Saddle River, but did not locate their roost.

   If you know of a roost in Bergen County, please let me know and I will try to do a bat count there next spring.

   Click to here to read the article by The Record's Environmental Writer Jim O'Neill.

   Click here for my previous posts on bats.