Note: The bird blind at Mehrhof Pond has been closed temporarily due to recent flooding. It should reopen soon.

My latest column for The Record and northjersey.com is all about the new bird blind at Mehrhof Pond in Little Ferry -- a great place to observe winter waterfowl, Bald Eagles and other cool birds.

Here's the beginning:

One of the terrific old birding spots in North Jersey is back, better than ever, thanks to a wonderful observation tool that seems to have fallen out of favor in many places.

   The place is the Mehrhof Pond in Little Ferry, one of the region’s prime locations for huge numbers of wintering ducks.

   The tool is a new bird blind, a roofed structure with several small windows that enable people to view birds without spooking them.

     And there are usually plenty of birds to see, especially over the next few months.

     “This is a major concentration area for winter waterfowl, especially ruddy ducks,” says longtime local naturalist Don Smith. “We’ve had counts nearing 1,000. The ruddies migrate east from their prairie breeding grounds in the Dakotas and Canada, and they head down the flyways, but a lot of them stay here until the pond freezes over.”

The link is here.