Nature Done Wright

   While a cover of coots swam in nearby Lake Appert, oblivious to the excitement growing on land not far away, the Name-the-Cam contest grew exponentially yesterday.

   People as nearby as Allendale and as far away as Massachusetts and England suggested names, and the person from England even wanted to know what the prize would be  — apparently thinking he or she would be the winner.

  Off the top of my head, I suggested a tour of the screech-cam nerve center (my basement) and a late-afternoon of screech-owl watching, if and when a screech owl moves in.

  I am happy to announce that I am refining the prize and formalizing the contest.

  The contest will be to come up with the best name for miniaturized infra-red video cam to be installed soon in the wood-duck box pictured at right.

  The prize will be a walk around the Celery Farm hosted Marsh Warden Stiles Thomas and myself, at a time convenient for all.    

   The marsh warden said we should promise to try to be amusing, so there you go.

   And in answer to the bloke from England, the prize does not include round-trip transportation to the Celery Farm in Allendale, N.J.

  Here are the rules. Please send your suggestions for cam names by e-mail to Jim Wright at wright@northjersey.com.

   You can enter as many names as you like, but be aware that you might dilute the number of votes among your entries.

  The previous post, entitled "New Duck-o-Vision Cam" will give you a little background on the box.

  In an eggshell: The box was home to a nesting female wood duck last spring, who successfully fledged nine wood ducklings. A male screech owl hung out in the box last spring as well.

   Blog entries from last spring offer more specifics.

   All cam names entered will be posted for a vote by readers of this blog.

   Entries must be received by 8 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 15, Eastern Standard Time.

   They will then be posted, in order of how I received them, for a secret vote by readers of this blog.

   Votes for readers’ favorite choice will be cast by e-mailing me at the same e-mail address, with a deadline of Nov. 22.

   The winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

   If anyone has questions or suggestions regarding the contest, please e-mail me.

  I am hoping that this will be fun for all, especially me.