Category: Volunteer Programs

 

It’s a good time of year to see bald eagles in New Jersey.  Many of New Jersey’s resident pairs are back at their nests, getting them ready for the 2025 nesting season.  Though the majority of pairs won’t start incubating until February, there are always a few “early bird” pairs that start laying eggs in January.

In addition to the nesting pairs there are immature eagles (those that aren’t yet five years of age and sexually mature) and wintering eagles that come to New Jersey from areas where it’s much colder and the water has frozen.  A good spot to find eagles is around water supplies that aren’t frozen solid such as rivers and the Delaware Bay. Here are some photos taken by NJ Eagle Project volunteers in November and December of 2024.

There are two upcoming events where you can learn more from us about our efforts to monitor and conserve bald eagles in New Jersey, the NJ Meadowlands Eagle Festival (January 12) and the Cumberland County Winter Eagle Festival (February 1). Click on the links to learn more about these events.

 

by: Larissa Smith, Senior Biologist

We can never thank the NJ Eagle Project volunteers enough for all they do to monitor and protect eagles in New Jersey. Conserve Wildlife Foundation hosted a get-together at the Assunpink Conservation Center this August as a way to say, “thank you”. There are 162 eagle project volunteers currently monitoring eagle nests statewide and it’s not always easy to get everyone together at one time due to distance and obligations. The volunteers who were able to attend shared stories with other volunteers about the nesting season, received an update on the proposed eagle delisting from ENSP Chief, Kathy Clark and hopefully felt very appreciated. This is down time for the eagle project volunteers, though some eagles are already back and working on their nests. THANK YOU to all the Eagle Project Volunteers.

 The Bald Eagle project would not be possible without our corporate partners. We would like to thank PSE&G, Wakefern/ShopRite Stores, Wells Fargo Advisors, and the Cape May County Zoo (AAZK) for providing crucial financial and outreach resources to help keep bald eagles soaring above New Jersey.  

by CWF Great Bay Terrapin Project Volunteer Intern, Matthew McCall

This summer I had the opportunity to work as an intern for the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF), researching and surveying Northern diamondback terrapins. Words could not describe how excited I was for this position, working with Senior Wildlife Biologist, Ben Wurst every day this summer was an incredible learning experience. Mr. Wurst taught me how to conduct surveys Great Bay Blvd Wildlife Management Area. This area is an ecological marvel, I witnessed hundreds of terrapins crossing the road on multiple occasions. I remember one day in particular when such a large quantity of terrapins were moving that it took me six hours to drive down that five-mile road, over two hundred terrapins were observed on Great Bay Boulevard that day alone. 

Continue reading “Great Bay Boulevard: An Ecological Marvel”

by CWF Great Bay Terrapin Project Volunteer Intern, Madison Rose O’Malley

This summer, I had the chance to volunteer for the Great Bay Terrapin Project to help survey the local terrapin population within Great Bay Boulevard Wildlife Management Area. Being able to assist a vulnerable population was incredibly fulfilling and I personally was able to learn a lot about their behavior during this incredible time. I got to see firsthand just how many female turtles crossed that road to lay their eggs, but unfortunately that also showed me just how many were injured or killed by reckless, inattentive, or outright malicious drivers. One thing I realized during this is just how hardy of an animal the terrapin is. I saw individuals with massive chunks taken out of them, bite marks, claw marks, and huge gashes from boat propellers forever etched into their shells. I realized that despite their vulnerability in early life and extremely slow growth, the defense of their shell and their insane ability to recover from injuries left them with very few threats for a long time. Even many major boat injuries are recoverable, emphasizing the severity of the threat posed by automobiles specifically.

Continue reading “My Terrapin Summer”

Larissa Smith: Senior Biologist

The 2024 NJ Bald eagle nesting season is winding down and so far 221 young eagles have fledged from nests throughout the state. We know that these eagles have fledged due to the eagle project volunteers who monitor all known eagle nests in New Jersey. Being a nest monitor can be a joyful experience when all goes well and the pairs successfully fledge young. But, it can also be heartbreaking when a pair fails to hatch eggs and when adults or chicks are lost during the season. Despite the ups and downs of monitoring eagle nests the volunteers continue to be dedicated to the eagle project. I asked the Eagle Project volunteers to send me their two favorite photos from the season.

Please enjoy the slideshow.

All photos were taken by trained volunteers from a safe distance using high powered scopes and cameras.

• NJ Bald Eagle Project
• Donate to the Bald Eagle Project

by: Larissa Smith, Senior Wildlife Biologist

by Larissa Smith, Senior Wildlife Biologist

The NJDEP Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey have published the New Jersey Bald Eagle Project, 2023. The NJ eagle population continues to thrive. During the 2023 nesting season, 286 nest sites were monitored of these 255 pairs were active (laid eggs). This is a slight increase of 5 active nests from 2022. This season 309 young eagles were documented to have fledged, this number is a down from 2022’s high of 335 young fledged. The productivity rate of 1.28 young per active nest is above the 1.0 young per nest needed for population maintenance.

Fifty-four nest failed to fledge young this season, this means that the pair laid eggs, but the eggs failed to hatch or the chicks did not make it to fledging. There could be many reasons for nest failure including weather events, nest/tree collapse, disturbance by humans or intruder eagles. The NJ eagle population is doing well but they still need monitoring and protection. There is constant pressure for development in NJ and if we don’t know about a nest we can’t help to protect it. Eagles are nesting in all 21 NJ counties, from remote marshes in southern New Jersey to suburban neighborhoods. How the ENSP and CWF protects these nests is on a nest by nest basis. We couldn’t do this without the dedicated group of 150 NJ Eagle Project volunteers who not only monitor the eagle nests, but help minimize disturbance to nests by educating the public about NJ’s eagle population.

The 2024 NJ Bald Eagle season is underway with eight pairs currently incubating. A great way to see what goes on in an eagles nest is to watch the Duke Farms eagle cam. The female should be laying the first egg any day now.

We’d like to thank all the volunteers, sponsors, donors and friends of the NJ Eagle Project

• NJ Bald Eagle Project
• 2023, NJ Bald Eagle Project Report
• Duke Farms Eagle cam
• Three Bridges Eagle cam

by Ben Wurst / Senior Wildlife Biologist

We always go out of our way to help provide ospreys with safe, suitable nest sites. This has been our mission since we began working with them over 15 years ago and has helped the population surpass the historic population estimate of over 500 nesting pairs. Our loyal New Jersey Osprey Project volunteers follow this same principal — always on the lookout for damaged nest platforms — to take meaningful action.

Continue reading “Photo from the Field: Spout Off! Osprey Platform Repair”

by: Larissa Smith, Senior Biologist

NJ Eagle Project Volunteers monitor nests during the nesting season. Since they spend a lot of time observing the nest and eagles behavior they get to see some pretty interesting things and many of them are able to document with photos. I asked volunteers to send me their three favorite photos from the eagle nesting season. Thank you to all the eagle project volunteers for their dedication

Enjoy the slideshow.

by: Larissa Smith, CWF Senior Biologist

The Princeton eagle nest collapsed sometime between Friday June 2nd and early Saturday June 3rd. The Princeton pair had two chicks that were ten weeks old and close to fledging. NJ Eagle Project volunteers, Kevin and Karin Buynie monitor this nest and went out as soon as they were notified. When they arrived one chick was perched up in the tree and one was on the ground. The grounded chick was taken to Mercer County Wildlife Center for evaluation. The next day Kevin returned to the nest site and found the second chick now on the ground, so that chick was also captured and taken to MCWC. Both chicks were found to be uninjured and ready to return to the nest. A plan was formed to build a new nest in the tree and renest the two chicks. On June 11th, a group of volunteers and staff from Mercer County Wildlife Center met at the nest site. John Heilferty, retired ENSP Chief, climbed the nest tree and built the nest as volunteers helped to send up the needed materials. Diane Nickerson with the MCWC brought the two chicks, which were banded with Green NJ band H/39 and H/38 and silver federal bands. The chicks were then placed back up in the nest. One of them decided to fledge and the other perched on a branch near the nest. The recently fledged chick did return to the nest that evening and the second chick fledged June 16th. Thank you to Karin and Kevin Buynie, Diane Nickerson and volunteers Daniel and Hope with Mercer County Wildlife, John Heilferty, Kim Korth, and Roger Smith.

Scroll through the slideshow to view photos from the renest.