Eagle nest monitors kept watch over bald eagle nests throughout New Jersey during the 2026 nesting season. As with every nesting season there were ups and downs as some pairs failed to hatch eggs or their young didn’t survive, while other pairs successfully raised young. I asked the nest monitors to send me two of their favorite photos from the season. Below is the collection of their excellent photos.
All photos were taken by the trained volunteers at safe distance so as not to disturb the eagles.
In central Jersey, where I live, the banding of eaglets has taken place at several nests. The nest monitor reports on the chicks growth, so that the eaglets can be safely banded around six weeks of age. E83 a male, was banded in 2019 at the Three Bridges tower nest with at least four of my fellow central Jersey Eagle Project Volunteers present.
E83; photo Joe Mish
photo Diane Cook
In central New Jersey a group of six Eagle Project volunteers will support, cooperate and share nest news with each other. Occasionally, we spot a banded sub-adult from a local nest, and that is cause for great jubilation. H/22, banded at the Mt Airy nest in 2022 was spotted along the South Branch of the Raritan near the Three Bridges tower nest in May of 2025. Another eagle E88, “Duke” was banded in 2019 at Duke Farms and fitted with a solar tracker. Being able to follow his movements taught us that sub adults spend considerable time within 50 miles or so, of their natal nest, even landing in the nest tree. The parents seem to tolerate such visits until a new season produces eggs and tiny chicks. I have seen sub adults at or perched near nests that I observe while the adult pair was quite tolerant. I have wondered if the “visitor” was an offspring of the pair.
Bulls Island pair nest exchange 3-14-26: photo Barb McKee
E83 at the Bulls Island nest 3-11-26: photo Barb McKee
My fellow central NJ volunteers and I hoped to find a new nest with a locally banded adult and its mate. For as long as I have been an Eagle Project volunteer, I have watched and reported on the nest at Bulls Island State Park. So, I was absolutely thrilled in early 2026 when I was able to read the band of the new male at the Bulls Island nest: E/83.
The distance, from the Three Bridges nest to Bulls Island nest is 14 miles.
Bulls Island 4 week old chicks, 4-27-26; photo Barb Mckee
Barb McKee
Even more exciting, E/83 and his mate successfully fledged triplets this season! It will be interesting to see what happens at the Bulls Island nest next season.
Photos and/or history and encouragement by Diane Cook, Joe Mish, Dan Kroon and Mary Ellen Hill
Every summer, volunteers across New Jersey spend their evenings watching the skies as bats emerge from their roosts. Through the Summer Bat Count, these observations help us better understand the status of New Jersey’s bat populations.
The Summer Bat Count is a volunteer-driven program led by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP). Volunteers monitor known summer bat roosts such as attics, barns, bat houses, and churches, and count the number of bats that emerge at dusk.
This shorebird season 43 stewards worked a total of 1,374 hours over a two week period from May 9th thru May 25th. Stewards were posted at restricted access beaches in Cape May and Cumberland Counties. Stewards help to protect the migrating shorebirds that stop over on the Delaware Bay to feed on the horseshoe crab eggs. They keep people off of the restricted beaches by educating them about the importance of letting the shorebirds feed undisturbed so that they can gain the weight needed to continue their journey north to their breeding ground’s. Continue reading “NJ Delaware Bay Shorebird Stewards: Protectors and Educators”
The 2025 NJ Bald Eagle Project report developed by the NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife and the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey , has been released. In 2025 the NJ eagle population had a decline in the number of active (laid eggs) nest from 264 active nests in 2024 to 251 in 2025. The decline is partly due to the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). Testing confirmed that 28 of 56 bald eagle mortalities last year (for which testing was completed) were the result of HPAI.
The New Jersey Bald Eagle nesting season is finished for the year, so both the eagles and volunteer nest monitors now get a few months rest. Conserve Wildlife Foundation and the NJ ENSP hosted the annual eagle volunteer get-together at the Assunpink WMA this past Saturday. Forty-five volunteers attended and enjoyed discussing the season with fellow nest monitors and NJ eagle project staff.
On behalf of the NJ Eagle Project we thank all the 160 nest monitors who are dedicated to monitoring and protecting the NJ bald eagle population.
Thank you to Barb & Rick McKee for providing sandwiches and everyone who generously brought delicious side dishes and desserts to share.
The 2025 New Jersey Bald Eagle nesting season is finished. We are still gathering up the data for the final numbers which will be published in the annual NJ Bald Eagle Project Report. The 160 eagle project nest monitors spend countless hours monitoring eagle nests through out New Jersey. I’ve asked the nest monitors to share two of their favorite photos from the 2025 nesting season. Enjoy.
Please click on the first photo to see the Slideshow:
2025 Great Bay Terrapin Project Volunteer Student Intern Maxwell Ferrelli carefully measures an adult female terrapin.
Northern diamondback terrapin nesting season may be coming to end, but Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Great Bay Terrapin Project volunteers are still hard at work. During the peak of their nesting season, in June and July, they drive up and down Great Bay Boulevard in Little Egg Harbor Township in search of terrapins crossing the road.
Summertime is peak terrapin crossing season, with females coming to shore to lay their eggs in early to mid-summer and hatchlings finding their way back home in August. The problem is, they often end up on the road, where they run the risk of being crushed by passing vehicles. On Great Bay Boulevard, a coastal road with few speed limit signs and a great number of terrapins, this is especially troublesome.
Horseshoe crabs are ancient creatures, having first evolved hundreds of millions of years ago. Since then, they haven’t changed much, but the world around them certainly has. Human activity has taken a toll on horseshoe crabs- for years, people have been harvesting them for use as bait and in medical applications. New Jersey now has a moratorium preventing this from continuing, but their population is still lower than it should be. Luckily, something as simple as flipping a horseshoe crab off of its back can help to restore their numbers. I recently had the privilege of joining Larissa Smith, Senior Wildlife Biologist at CWF, on a trip to the Delaware Bay. In partnership with ReTurn the Favor, she regularly visits beaches that are rife with stranded horseshoe crabs and helps them get back to the water. At the nightly high tide, hundreds of crabs come up to shore to spawn, but when the tide goes out, many of them get stuck on their backs or buried in vegetation, unable to return to their habitats. Rescuing them can be as easy as turning them back onto their legs, but others need a bit more help.
On this day, we started with just a few unfortunate crabs that needed assistance getting off of their backs. We picked them up, flipped them, and off they went. But then, as we turned from the beach to a marshy creek, we were met with hundreds of crabs trapped in the grass. At first, it seemed like we were too late to save them, but as we went along, we found that almost every single one was still alive. So, we wrestled them out of the greenery and carried them back down to the water.
A female horseshoe crab, before and after rescuing
It was a lot of work, but we soon managed to rescue over 100 horseshoe crabs from that section alone. Most of them were females, as evidenced by their large size and pincers. Each one that survived represented a potential new generation of crabs. Female horseshoe crabs can lay around 80 thousand to 100 thousand eggs per year, most of which become food sources for other animals like laughing gulls, which were flocked heavily on the beaches that day. While it’s a bit unfortunate for the crabs, the loss of some of their eggs helps to keep the ecosystem running smoothly.
In just a few hours, we helped 198 horseshoe crabs return to the bay, and we had a lot of fun doing it. The effort to restore the populations of New Jersey’s horseshoe crabs is full of obstacles, but there is also so much hope. Just about anyone can flip an overturned horseshoe crab, and the feeling that comes along with doing so is wonderful. While the horseshoe crabs may not be able to thank us, we can always tell that they greatly appreciate our support.
by Larissa Smith Senior Wildlife Biologist Posted on
photo by Bill Reinert
Shorebird stewards may not wear capes but they are superhero’s to the multitude of shorebirds stopping along the Delaware Bay in the spring. During May, the beaches in New Jersey are an important stopover for these migratory birds who are mainly feeding on the horseshoe crab eggs, deposited during the annual horseshoe crab spawn. The shorebirds, which include the red knot a NJ endangered species, have a short window to reach their ideal weight before leaving on the next half of their journey north to breed. Eight beaches in Cape May County and two in Cumberland County have restricted access during the migration so that the shorebirds can feed undisturbed.
photo by Dom Manalo
Since 2003 Conserve Wildlife Foundation has coordinated the Shorebird Stewards, who help protect the feeding shorebirds by educating the public. This season thirty-one stewards were stationed at beaches between May 10th to May 26th. While most stewards are from New Jersey, we have stewards from Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland. Some of the stewards volunteer for a day, while others work the entire season and many return year after year. No matter how often someone has been a steward, they have a made a difference and we have definitely seen a positive change in peoples attitudes over the years. Visitors come from all over to view the shorebirds and horseshoe crabs and one of the main questions the stewards get asked is, “where are the shorebirds today”?
photo by Luke Tan
Some days the beach where the steward is assigned has only few shorebirds, while other days the beach is covered with the feeding birds. While the majority of beach goers have a positive attitude about the beach restrictions, there will always be those that want to go on the beach. While these situation aren’t always pleasant, the stewards are trained to handle them calmly and with education.
