Sandy Komito. Credit:  Courtesy of the Louis Suburban Chapel.

My new column for The Record and Herald-News is about the noted North Jersey birder Sandy Komito, who died earlier this month.

You can read it here:

It looks like Lee Memorial Library will release more Monarchs this week after releasing at least four last week.

A big shout-out to the Celery Farm Native Plant Garden volunteers led by Frank and Christian Alcaide for donating most of the Monarch caterpillars. A mystery donor contributed a few as well. (Thank you!)

The Monarchs hatched after schools opened again for the fall semester, so lots of kids got to see the Monarchs take wing and head for Mexico.

On Monday I asked:

Can you identify these two flowers?(I love their names.)

The answers: The yellow flower is Nodding Beggarticks. The lavender one is Blue Mistflower. Congrats to al who answered correctly.

I am pleased to announce that I am doing a talk about The Screech Owl Companion with Michael Pietech, the renowned publisher, on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Hudson Valley Books for Humanity in Ossining. It promises to be a memorable evening.

You can get more information and register here:

https://www.hvbooksforhumanity.com/events/fkaimb0ar9n7293kkaf8k6y83xv0h4

Today was surprisingly slow at State Line -- only seven Broad-winged Hawks.

But then Isaac Michael Ruschak spotted a male Northern Harrier -- a Gray Ghost -- flying along the shoreline. And t0ok some great pix as well.

It was a sight to behold. I had never seen a Gray Ghost from above before. That's one of the many great aspects of Stateline.

More on Northern Harriers here:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Harrier/id

(Thanks for sharing, Isaac!)