Category: Uncategorized

By: Larissa Smith, CWF Wildlife Biologist

The drama continues at the Three Bridges eagle nest. When I last wrote about this pair in part 3 of the blog series, they were busy working on a nest in a tree and had not been sighted at the newly installed tower with the nest platform. Eagle Project nest monitors have been keeping a close eye on both the new tree nest and the platform. The pair had been busy bringing sticks to the tree nest.

This past week nest monitors saw a pair of eagles on the transmission towers and mating on the platform! The volunteer’s have been trying to figure out if this is one pair or two separate pairs. On February 12th, a pair was seen at the tree nest and in the afternoon a pair was seen on the nesting platform, mating. Since then eagles have been sighted at both the nest tree and the nest platform.

It isn’t uncommon for eagle pairs to build more then one nest and perhaps the Three Bridges pair is deciding which nest to use. But the possibility remains that there could be a second pair in the area. The Three Bridges pair laid their eggs on February 23rd last nesting season, so they should start incubation in the next week or two. Dedicated nest monitors will closely monitor the situation to see which nest is used and when eggs are laid.

• Duke Farms Eagle Cam
• NJ Bald Eagle Project
• Blog post: Part 1: An eagle nest removed
• Blog post: Part 2: An eagle nest reinstalled
• Blog post: Part 3: Where are the Three Bridges Eagles Nesting

Guest post by Kathy Clark, State Endangered and Nongame Species Program

We in the Bald Eagle Project lost a dear friend in November, 2020, when Mary Jane Horner passed away unexpectedly. Mary Jane, along with her husband Red, of Pittsgrove, New Jersey, were among the very first eagle volunteers, getting involved in the project in 1993 when there were just six nests in the entire state of New Jersey. Like so many of us at the time, she learned about bald eagles by spending a lot of time watching them, and became a field expert! 

The 1990s were early, formative years for the eagle program, and Mary Jane and Red were part of building the foundation of a program that thrives today. Mary Jane was a strong “force of nature” for bald eagles! She was direct and persistent, while always being kind and polite. She called out wrongs and worked consistently for the highest level of protection for her eagles and nests.

Her quiet tenacity worked! Mary Jane, with Red always at her side, helped engage local landowners and neighbors, and over the years a handful of nests multiplied.

During their busiest seasons, Mary Jane and Red monitored at least ten nests, and she could tell you every detail of each nest and their milestones! Mary Jane’s dedication to bald eagles in south Jersey was in every way an act of love – for bald eagles and for the natural world.

I will miss Mary Jane very much. Her quiet and kind demeanor, her steadfast devotion, and her friendship with me and many of us in the program will remain in my memory.

We encourage those who wish to share memories of Mary Jane to do so in the comments below and on her obituary page.

Kathy Clark is the Supervising Zoologist for the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program, which runs the New Jersey Bald Eagle Project in partnership with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

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by Mary Emich, Assistant Biologist

Groundhog Day is the annual tradition in which a groundhog is used as a predictor for the length of the winter. Each year on February 2^nd, the groundhog crawls out of his burrow in search for his shadow. If the shadow is not seen, then it is believed that there will be an early spring. On the other hand, if the groundhog finds his shadow, he will hide away and there will be six more long weeks of winter.

The groundhog or woodchuck as it is also known, Marmota monax, is one of the largest members of the squirrel family and can be found across North America. Here in New Jersey, the groundhog may be our most frequently sighted mammal after the squirrel. Driving on many New Jersey roads can bring regular glimpses of groundhogs standing up and scanning for danger on the grassy shoulders of roads.

One common location where groundhogs can be found is under a shed in your own backyard. While their entrance hole is what you notice, what you cannot not see is the intricate underground burrows they build. The burrow is dug with different tunnels that can be up to 30 feet long, and are used as dens for raising kits, hibernating, and even as bathrooms.

You may be wondering how this rodent was chosen for the specific job forecasting weather. Initially this holiday began in Germany using badgers. They employed the badgers to predict when spring would arrive, enabling them to determine when to plant their crops. When German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania the yearly tradition continued. Groundhogs were replaced for badgers, and the first Groundhog Day was held in Punxsutawney in the 1800s. Groundhogs are true hibernators, meaning their body temperature and heart rate decrease during hibernation. Groundhog Day is celebrated in early February when male groundhogs wake up early from hibernation to begin the mating season. In 1887, Punxsutawney Phil became the most famous groundhog in America and remains so to this day. Other cities have adopted their own official groundhogs like Staten Island Chuck in New York’s Staten Island Zoo and Jimmy in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

According to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Phil has projected an early spring correct only 40% of the time. While this success rate may not be particularly impressive, people from all over wake up bright early eager to tune into the celebration and see the groundhog’s predication. The event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania has become the most attended groundhog celebration.

For this 135^th straight year of groundhog stardom, the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club organized a livestream that begins at 6:30am, so people can enjoy the celebration from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Unfortunately, this year we can relate to the hibernating groundhogs more than ever. So many of us hope that Phil will not see his shadow, spring will be just around the corner, and we can all come out of our hibernation to enjoy the warm weather.

You can watch the Groundhog Day festivities live at 6am by clicking here.

by: Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist

In part one and two of this blog series we followed the Three Bridges eagle pair. The transmission tower where they had previously nested was replaced and a new nesting platform installed. The question was: would the pair return and use the new nesting platform? Eagle Project volunteers have been closely monitoring the tower and surrounding areas for the eagle pair. The eagles have not been seen at their old nesting tower. At one point it looked like they were building a nest on an adjacent tower, but the amount of sticks never increased. Then a new eagle nest was found in a tree about a mile away from the tower location.

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After many observations by nest monitors it is believed that this is the Three Bridges pair. While we can’t be 100 percent certain, the fact that they haven’t been seen at their old nest location and that this new nest is close enough to be in their territory. It is not uncommon for eagle pairs to relocate their nest if there is disturbance to the nest site. While it is disappointing, the new nest platform might not go to waste. Nest monitors have seen immature eagles perched on the newly installed tower and nest platform.

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As the number of eagles’s nesting in NJ continues to increase, it only makes sense that a pair will eventually use the nesting platform in the future.

• Duke Farms Eagle Cam
• NJ Bald Eagle Project
• Blog post: Part 1: An eagle nest removed
• Blog post: Part 2: An eagle nest reinstalled

by Morgan Mark & CWF Staff

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from our Conserve Wildlife Foundation family!

Thank you for all of your generous support this year.

Our staff would like to share with you what they’re thankful for this season.

Stay safe and enjoy your holiday!

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If you’re viewing this blog on your computer, you can click on each staff member’s block to enlarge the photos and text.

Continue reading “Conserve Wildlife Foundation Team Gives Thanks”

by Meaghan Lyon, CWF Biologist

Over the years, the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) has been widely domesticated for food and has become part of this country’s heritage for Thanksgiving dinner. There is evidence that Native Americans have been hunting turkeys as early as 1000 A.D. Each year, over 46 million turkeys are eaten each year on Thanksgiving – but how much do you really know about the turkey?

Instead of our holiday emblem, the wild turkey nearly found a drastically different role in American culture. Ben Franklin proposed it to be the official bird of the United States, and though some say he did it in jest, he praised the turkey as “a true original native of America…a bird of courage…and a much more respectable bird” than the bald eagle!

Continue reading “Turkey Time: Spotlighting the Wild Turkey”

by David Wheeler, Executive Director

Connecting people to nature through our website is a vital part of Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s mission. 

That’s why we have been thrilled by the record numbers of scientists, students, educators, and wildlife enthusiasts of all ages who have used this resource, especially since the start of the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of people like you are inspired and enlightened by viewing our species guide, our wildlife webcams, and our conservation project pages each year.

Now, however, our website needs a complete overhaul.

Our custom management system was ‘cutting edge’ when it was launched over 10 years ago, but it relies upon software that will be unsupported by the end of this year.

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This fall, we must redesign our website and finally make it mobile-friendly! Viewers like you will benefit in many ways.  

• Whether you are at home or on the go, more people than ever are accessing our website on your hand-held devices.
• You have asked us to make it easier and quicker to report rare species, to access wildlife lesson plans, to register for events, to enter our contests, and to easily access our timely updates.
• People of all ages can be inspired and educated by our compelling new videos, thought-provoking podcasts, vibrant photography, and insightful blog stories.

Generous supporters have offered to match the first $10,000 in gifts received, dollar for dollar, which means we need to raise $10,000 to reach our $20,000 goal.

Any amount you can give will help!

Our new custom-designed website is a major, long-term investment, and one we don’t take lightly. Even though $20,000 is a very fair market price, it’s still a huge outlay for a nonprofit like ours! But it’s a step we need to take.

Our website offers a great wealth of information to visitors like you – webcams, videos, podcasts, photos, field guides, and blog posts. But those expansive contents also demand an ample “back end” – the portion of the website that programmers code and manage. These thousands of files and countless lines of code make transforming our website especially challenging.

We can’t wait to better showcase our incredible wildlife photography and video to tell the stories of our work protecting species like bald eagles, diamondback terrapins, ospreys, bobcats, pollinators, and beach nesting birds.   

Thank you for all you do to help protect at-risk wildlife and spread the word about our natural world. I hope you will support our matching gift campaign to build a new website before time runs out.

Stay safe and healthy, and be sure to make time to enjoy nature this fall!

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by Deborah Valletto

New Jersey’s osprey population has a wonderful group of young biologist looking out for them in Cape May.

Cape Tech’s Natural Science Technology class recently took the initiative to install an osprey platform in the saltmarshes of the Delaware Bay to help out these imperiled raptors. With some help from CWF, the project helped to engage students to actively participate in an interdisciplinary bit of wildlife conservation.

Preview the article by Deborah Valletto below and continue reading on PressOfAtlanticCity.com

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CREST HAVEN — Anticipation and excitement were rising in early October for Cape Tech students in the Natural Science Technology class. Hanna Toft, Natural Science Technology teacher and FFA advisor, shared, “The perfect tide to complete our project is approaching.” On Oct. 9, Toft gathered the students, equipment, materials and boat to go into the local saltmarsh and install a new osprey plaftform for the local wildlife.

The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ contacted Toft and a few other volunteers regarding their NJ Osprey Project. According to Toft, the class patrols the local area for osprey data. It was a match, and they agreed to do it.

Continue reading here.

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Learn more about New Jersey’s Ospreys here.

Learn more about the CWF Osprey Project here.

by Meaghan Lyon

Halloween is right around the corner and of course that means preparing for the age-old tradition of carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. An event that brings joy to your household and trick or treaters on Halloween night can also be beneficial to wildlife! Instead of tossing the seeds and guts of your pumpkins into the trash, save the seeds to feed wildlife in your own backyard.

As the weather gets cooler and food becomes scarcer, wildlife species like migrating songbirds and small mammals seek out fall nuts and berries to help get them through the cold weather months. Migrating songbirds need energy to fuel their long migration south and molt into their winter plumage. Songbirds also need to store more fat to help resist the cold. Pumpkin seeds are full of essential nutrients and trace minerals that could be hard to come by in the winter.

Small mammals like squirrels and chipmunks can also benefit from pumpkin seeds. Although you may not see as many squirrels and chipmunks in the winter, they do not hibernate. Their activity slows down considerably in the winter and they rely on the food they stored in the fall. Food caching is a common practice among small mammals which allows them access to food when the ground is frozen or covered in snow. Additionally, pumpkin seeds are a healthy snack to help store fat for the winter.

There are many ways you could provide these seeds to wildlife. The pumpkin seeds can be added to a bird seed mix or just sprinkled on the ground. They do not need to be baked or dried, just left in a small bowl accessible to your backyard critters. If carving pumpkins is not your aesthetic, wildlife will also enjoy the pumpkin or squash in its entirety.

This is a great way to use every part of your Halloween pumpkins and be left with no waste! After Halloween, the pumpkins can also be composted at a local facility to help benefit the environment. Let’s make this year a Happy Halloween for communities and for wildlife!

Meaghan Lyon is a biologist with Conserve Wildlife Foundation. 

By: Larissa Smith, CWF Biologist

I asked NJ Eagle Project volunteers to send their favorite photo from the 2020 nesting season. Many volunteers monitor more than one nest, so I know it was a difficult to request to narrow it down to their favorite one.

Enjoy the photos and thank you to all eagle volunteers!

Click on a picture to see the full size photo gallery.