This past week I spent the day with students and teachers at Bayonne High School (BHS). I was there to help students construct three osprey nesting platforms. The platforms are being placed at the Bayonne Golf Club (BGC) along a portion wetland habitat that was restored by the BGC along New York Bay. This whole project began when I was approached a couple months ago by Tom Tokar, a teacher at BHS, about assisting them with the construction and placement of the platforms with some of his students. Tom and Larissa Drennan, a teacher at the Woodrow Wilson School, have involved their students in many environmental projects in Bayonne, one of which is where they grow mussels and seed them at the BCG. Ron D’Argenio, with BGC has supported their efforts from the beginning not only by offering up the BGC as a location to seed the mussels but also through financial assistance. Ron and the BGC are also fully funding this project as well, with a very generous donation to CWF. Continue reading “Photo from the field”
Jackie Kashmer gives water to a bat inside a flight cage at the New Jersey Bat Sanctuary. Photo by M. Hall
Jackie Kashmer is a bat-saving machine. Surely, no mere mortal is fit for the long, painstaking hours she spends to make the tiny animals well again. But then, no machine could do it with the grace or heart. Let me introduce you to the New Jersey Bat Sanctuary.
For six years, Jackie has focused her wildlife rehabilitation practice on bats alone – a decision that’s given her a special understanding of what makes bats tick. And since all of her patients have similar basic needs, she can provide for them in a consistent and well-oiled way.
Inside the Bat Sanctuary are dark, warm rooms lined with nylon enclosures. The enclosures have a maternal touch, with patterned cloth drapes, cushiony hand-sewn pouches, and little hollowed logs – all for the bats to nuzzle in and feel safe. If you stand there with the lights on, the cages look still and empty, their furry occupants tucked away in the unlit spaces. You hear an occasional chirpy “pz-pz-pzzz.”
But it’s not all darkness and calm. White-nose Syndrome has changed the pace at the New Jersey Bat Sanctuary. Last winter, Morris County’s Hibernia Mine was down to fewer than 800 little brown bats (from roughly 27,000 three years ago). By late February, some bats were moving to the precarious “freeze zone” near the mouth of the cave – a sign that the White-nose fungus was taking hold. Not wanting to see any more bats die, Mick Valent (NJ Fish and Wildlife) called Jackie about helping the bats at Hibernia. Jackie said, “Bring me a hundred. If I can handle a hundred, then I’ll take more.” A couple weeks later she was boarding and feeding around 125 bats from Hibernia Mine – everyone from the freeze zone. Continue reading “A Sanctuary for NJ Bats”
2011 was a great year for bald eagles in NJ. This season a record high of 118 chicks fledged from nests throughout New Jersey. A total of 111 eagle pairs were monitored of these 95 were active which means that they laid eggs. Seventy-one of these were successful in producing the 118 fledges. This is especially good news after 2010’s less than stellar nesting season where only 69 young chicks fledged.
The success of the NJ Bald Eagle Project is directly due to the dedicated volunteers. Every eagle nest that can be viewed is monitored by a volunteer/s. Volunteers report on important dates such as incubation, hatching and fledging. They also help to protect the nest by reporting disturbance and educating the public about eagles. We can’t thank our eagle project volunteers enough for all the time and energy which they put into this project.
More details on the the 2011 nesting season will be available later this year in the 2011 NJ Bald Eagle Project report.
Crossing into new territory – Todd Pover, CWFNJ, wading across a mangrove inlet in the Bahamas to conduct the Piping Plover survey.
In earlier installments of this series (It’sBetter in the Bahamas – Part 1 & 2), I reported on the results of the winter segment of the 2011 International Piping Plover Census in the Bahamas, in which I participated, and also the partnerships developed along the way. For this final installment I am foregoing the biological results and conservation lessons, the usual story themes, because sometimes our readers just want to hear about the adventurous side of what we do here at the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.
Having surveyed piping plovers on their breeding grounds in New Jersey for 15 years now, at times it feels like I know every nook and cranny that plovers could possibly be found in our state – to some extent the sense of mystery is gone. I knew that wouldn’t be the case with the Bahamas winter survey. I had never been to Abaco, the island I was assigned to survey along with Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Coastal Waterbird Program, but I knew it had miles of coastline on its main island and numerous offshore barrier islands and cays that needed to be checked as well. Our pre-trip research of the habitat on the islands suggested it was going to be difficult to cover all that ground in one week even with our 4-6 person survey team, but I was excited by the challenge. Continue reading “It’s Better in the Bahamas – Part 3”
The last known Allegheny woodrat population lives at the base of the Palisades in northern New Jersey.
The Allegheny woodrat is a state endangered species. It was added to the endangered species list in 1991. There is one remaining population of these small mammals left in the state and they need our help this winter.
This season we are going to help the woodrat by providing it with food. We will distribute acorns, beech nuts, hickory nuts or any other nuts from native New Jersey trees in the area the woodrats live. By providing them with food we will help them survive the winter.
Collecting nuts while learning about the habits and habitat needs of the Allegheny woodrat is a great service learning project! Have your students collect native tree nuts throughout the community and help to protect one of NJ’s rarest wildlife residents.
We are collecting nuts now through October 31, 2011 to distribute to the woodrat’s location throughout the winter. If you would like to contribute to the woodrat’s winter food pantry, please drop off nuts from native New Jersey trees to ENSP’s office in Clinton, New Jersey. Please call Maria Grace at Conserve Wildlife Foundation at (609) 984-0621 for specific instructions. Nuts will be collected until October 31st.
Holding a big brown bat during a maternity colony survey. Photo by MacKenzie Hall
It’s hard to believe that it has been two months since the start of my internship with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. As a rising senior in college (when did that happen?), I can attest to the fact that time flies. Last December I contacted MacKenzie Hall, a Private Lands Biologist with the CWF and bat expert with a proposition. My college had provided me with a stipend after the completion of a long list of requirements for an unpaid internship. Being an avid wildlife lover, biology student and a resident of New Jersey, the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey seemed like the perfect fit. MacKenzie graciously agreed to take me under her [bat] wing.
On June 1, I jumped right into MacKenzie’s work with the bat population of New Jersey. I was quickly contacting volunteers, designing driving routes and delivering acoustic bat detectors. We were working on assessing the bat population of New Jersey with the use of five brand new acoustic bat detectors split amongst forty volunteers.
written by Maureen Barrett, CWF volunteer/donor/wildlife enthusiast/educator
With wind speeds clocked at 91-92 mph, the osprey nest behind my house didn’t stand a chance! On Tuesday, July 19th around 8:00 P.M., a thunderstorm came barreling into Fortescue from the northeast. It was a wicked storm with thunder, lightning, and even hail. The wind was so strong that my purple martin housing was being blown around like it was a stalk of phragmites. The adult osprey held their positions on the perching supports of the platform for as long as they could, but soon jumped ship. By that time, the pole for the martin house broke and I couldn’t even see the osprey platform through the rain.
After the storm, some moonlight allowed me to see the silhouette of the osprey platform. It was still standing. But I couldn’t see any nesting material inside; it looked empty. I made an attempt to walk through the marsh to get a closer look, but I thought it would be wise to wait until first light. So I waited for the sun to rise.
An image that was taken using a technique called "digiscoping" reveals two osprey young in the nest.
By 5:00 A.M., my suspicions were confirmed. There was not one piece of nesting material on the platform. Fortunately the adults survived the storm and were once again perched on the platform supports, but the nest and chick were gone. The high winds blew everything off the platform. I quickly put my boots on and walked out on the marsh. I was surprised how relatively easy it was to get to the platform after getting a few inches of rain the night before. There was only one very small ditch I had to cross. I soon found the pile of nesting material and on the edge of the pile was a clump of wet feathers. It looked like the storm had taken the chick’s life. But then I saw some movement! It had survived the storm, the fall, and an evening on the ground!
This being my first experience with such an ordeal, I called my friend Bill Miller who lives up the street. (You know who your friends are when you call them before 6:00 A.M. for a favor!) He brought down a ladder and a piece of plywood. We went back on the marsh, dried the chick with a towel, and put it back on the platform. Within a few minutes, the adults returned to the platform to see their chick back in the nest.
Two other nests in Fortescue were also destroyed by the storm. Later that day, Brian Johnson of the Natural Land Trust’s Glades Wildlife Refuge had to place a foster chick in my nest. This chick’s nest was in a tree and totally destroyed. Both chicks are getting along just fine and being fed by the adults.
Volunteers, CWF staff, and biologists with NJ Fish & Wildlife recently completed osprey nesting surveys throughout coastal areas of New Jersey. Each year these “osprey banders” complete “ground surveys” (referred to as ground surveys because they are surveying nests by land/sea, not by helicopter) that cover around 70% of the state population. I survey colonies on Barnegat Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Absecon. The surveys are meant to keep track of the population and determine its health. During the surveys the banders access nesting areas mainly by boat since most ospreys nest in coastal areas or by water (their source of food). We use ladders to access nests where we count the number of young produced and then place an aluminum band on each of the young. For the past two years we have also been collecting feather samples for a study being conducted by the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia where they are analyzing the stable isotopes to determine what ospreys are eating and how their diet has changed over time. More specifically they’ll be looking for changes in the isotope profiles across the local range of ospreys – something that has never been done before.
In one area, Sedge Island WMA, that I’ve surveyed for the past few years I surveyed 27 nests. 22 of those nests were occupied and produced a total of 47 young. 34 of those young were banded for future tracking. From the survey I can calculate the productivity or reproductive rate which is a measure of how healthy the population of that colony is. The productivity rate for Sedge Island is 2.14 young/active(known-outcome)nest this year which is the highest ever recorded (see chart at right for more details). These awesome results are the result of calm and mild weather conditions this spring and summer, high availability of prey, and possibly the increased amount of experienced breeding birds. Another factor that has surely helped to give the population a boost is the increased availability of suitable nest sites along the coast. Since 2004, I’ve helped to install more than 100 nesting platforms. Many of these platforms replaced old dilapidated structures and now give ospreys a better chance at successfully raising young that will eventually return to New Jersey to reproduce.
New Jersey is home to at least 16 species of freshwater bivalves (freshwater mussels and clams), half of which are listed as endangered or threatened within the state. The presence of freshwater mussels within a water body is an indication of water quality so determining where they occur is important for protecting water resources within the state. In fact, the NJ DEP’s “Category One” (C1) designation for some state waterways is often based on the presence of some freshwater mussel species. C1 waters are protected from any measurable change in water quality because of their exceptional ecological significance, exceptional recreational significance, exceptional water supply significance, or exceptional fisheries resources.
Last week, I accompanied the Endangered and Nongame Species Program’s freshwater mussel biologist, Jeanette Bowers-Altman, and another survey team member to conduct a preliminary survey of the Manasquan Reservoir in Monmouth County for both freshwater mussels and crayfish. I had visited the reservoir several times before and had confirmed the presence of at least three bivalves: the Asian clam, eastern floater, and paper pondshell. Of those three species, only the eastern floater is native to New Jersey.
We surveyed several areas around the perimeter of the reservoir. We took readings of the water’s temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen as well as documenting the substrate type and GPS coodinates. Unfortunately for our survey efforts, the water level was higher than ideal for locating mussels and the only species which we found was the paper pondshell. However, the clarity of the water and the nature of the substrate indicate that future efforts, when the water level is lower, may be more productive.
One interesting find was a rather large (~2.5 inches) freshwater snail which I have never encountered previously. Thanks the ID skills of Jay Cordeiro at the University of Massachusetts – Boston, the snail has been identified as the Chinese mystery snail (Cipangopaludina chinensis), a non-native species introduced to the U.S. via San Francisco in the late 1800’s. It has since spread into at least 37 U.S. states and 4 Canadian provinces and was first documented in New Jersey in 1926. According to Jay, the species has been “implicated in vegetation decline, competition with native species, and are hosts for certain parasites. Current populations are spread through the aquarium trade or on ornamental aquatic plants.”
I’ve been off work for the past week to spend some time with the newest member of my family, Reed Alexander Wurst. I was planning on heading into the office today to play catch up with a lot of projects that I’ve involved with (having a baby during field season is definitely keeping me busy!). So I started the day by opening up my laptop to download the 90+ emails I’ve gotten in the past week. As I sat down for some breakfast I saw an email from a woman where the subject said “Osprey on our Sailboat and we need help!” Immediately after I saw that I thought, there goes heading into the office… The woman who contacted me was Melissa, who was living on her sailboat that was moored in the harbor at Barnegat Light (BL). She sent me an image and this is what she wrote:
“We read your story in the SandPaper so are contacting you about this situation.
We heard a loud noise around 1am and when we looked with the flashlight we saw this osprey. It tried to fly up and out w/o success and now that it’s light we can see blood and it’s appears that his/her wing is injured.
We are anchored at Barnegat Light across from the town boat ramp. Our boat is Piscator and is the 32′ white and green double-ender.
We have no way to deal with handling this osprey, so really need help!! “
I called Melissa and I headed up to BL. I met John at the boat ramp and we rode out to the s/v Piscator in his dingy. After the short ride I saw that that osprey had a fracture to it’s left wing in the carpal (wrist) joint. I carefully collected the osprey and saw that she was banded. I looked up the band (788-49090) and she was banded in Sandy Hook on June 30, 2009. This would be her first year back from her wintering areas to breed in New Jersey. Ospreys spend two years after fledging in their wintering areas. One positive aspect is that most two year old birds do not raise young their first year after returning to nest in areas where they originated. So, no young ospreys are dieing b/c of her injury.
I then called Don Bonica with Toms River Avian Care and transported the osprey to Barnegat Animal Clinic where it would temporarily stay. I don’t know if it will heal from its wounds. Ospreys don’t do well in captivity or in rehabilitation settings. I can only hope that its fracture is minor and that it heals quickly!
Melissa knew who to contact after reading a story about my work with ospreys in New Jersey, especially the B. Bay Watershed in The Sandpaper. The story is viewable online until Wednesday, June 15th.
Check out the story in The Sandpaper on page 21. Ospreys even made the cover!
