My latest "Bird Watcher" column for The Record is about filling feeders again for the first time in fall and watching the birds return. 

A sample:   "As I sat by the window and watched the feathered cavalcade, I was reminded of a childhood rite of autumn:  the first day of school. You couldn’t wait to see those familiar faces again, even if most had probably been in the neighborhood all summer long.

"And like that idyllic first day of school, before the lesson plans, homework, pop quizzes and tests, the first day at the feeder seemed too good to be true.

"Where were the starlings and blue jays -- the class bullies -- that land on the feeders so gracelessly that they send the other birds and the assorted seed flying? Could those bad boys have transferred somewhere else this fall? I doubted it."

I think it might be one of my better efforts. Let me know what you think -- or let The Record know.  :- )

The link is here.

Lisa Ann Malandrino writes:

The Monmouth County Audubon Society will venture beyond the county’s borders when they sponsor a bird walk at the Allendale Celery Farm in Bergen County on Saturday, September 29.

This is the first time this trip has been offered. The Celery farm Nature Preserve is a 107-acre freshwater wetland where over 260 species have been recorded, and 60 species are known to breed here.

Details follow.

This plastic doohickey is designed to dispense yarn for birds to use for their nests.  (Patrick Carney ID'd it correctly; congrats!)

I have never seen a bird go near it.

I am offering it free to a good home (or even a bad home).

As to why I paid $2 for it -- it went to a good cause (the Frelinghuysen Arboretum) and seemed like a good idea at the time.

And now that it has been a Monday Morning Mystery, probably not a total waste.

This one is a real head-scratcher.

I bought this thing at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in Morrsitown last fall and put it on a pole in my backyard.

What is it?  (And why did I spend $2 on it!)