This being the year's end, I checked to see how many species of birds I had recorded at the CF and environs this year -- 107, including my bird of the year, the Rufous Hummingbird (pictured above).
How many bird species did you record at the CF in 2019? What was your bird of the year?
Also let me know if you're interested in doing a Celery Farm Big Year in 2020... very informal.
Happy New Year!!
The 24-hour video cam at Duke Farms' Bald Eagle nest is catching some eagle appearances, and you can "rewind" to see what you've missed.
Nesting season is around the corner.
You can read the free Bald Eagle ebook I did for Duke Farms a few years back here...
Below is a screenshot of an eagle at the nest this morning....
For my final birding column of the 2010s, I asked New Jersey conservation experts whether they were optimistic about the future of birds, and what bird lovers can do to help save them.
The experts are (in alphabetical order): David Wheeler, Executive Director, Conserve Wildlife Foundation; Chris Soucy, executive director, The Raptor Trust; Eric Stiles, President, NJ Audubon; Kathy Clark, wildlife biologist, N.J. ENSP: and Don Torino, president of the Bergen County Audubon Society.
You can download it here:
Download TheRecord BirdWatcher Wright-20191226-BL03-1
Photo caption: Although waterfowl populations are on the increase overall, the numbers of the exquisite Northern Pintail are a third of what they were in the 1950s.
Tried out the camera on my iPhone 11 in this morning's sunshine...
Lucky to live so close to such wonderful places.
On Monday I asked:
Where is this large rock located (hint: it's not the Celery Farm), what kind of rock is it, and what is its nickname?
The answers:
The rock is at High Mountain near the entrance at the Red Traill parking lot at William Paterson.
It is a glacial erratic.
Someone named Jim nicknamed it Potato Rock. A smaller version a bit of aways down the trail is Tater Tot rock.