We always like to think of more ways we can help protect rare wildlife in New Jersey. Last year CWF staff made “wildlife” New Year’s resolutions. From protecting terrapins and bats to encouraging teachers to use our Eagle and Peregrine Cams and of course to get out in the field more! We were certainly busy this past year and many species of wildlife had a banner year. Check out our annual status report to read more about some of our achievements in 2010. Thank you to all of our members and donors for your support! Here are a few more “wildlife” resolutions from the CWF team for 2011. Happy New Year!!
“My New Year’s Resolution is to get out in the field more often with the wonderful biologists at CWF. As Executive Director, I spend a lot of time in the office making sure that everything is running smoothly or, out on the road raising funds to support our mission. As such, I rarely get to witness the hard work of the biologists who are engaged every day, on the ground doing projects to recover and grow populations of rare wildlife. Each time I visit with a biologist, I come away with more energy and more passion for the work we all do which in turn makes me better at my job.” – Margaret O’Gorman, Executive Director
“I’m going to resolve to spend every opportunity outdoors this summer, unlike the last.” – Mike Davenport, Marine Species and GIS Programs Manager
“New Jersey’s piping plover produced a record number of chicks in 2010, so here’s hoping that translates into a much needed increase in the breeding population in 2011. Also, wishing that our conservation partners on the beach nesting bird project (and for all projects for that matter) continue to work together to advance our conservation goals in the state.” – Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager
I would just like for people to be more aware of wildlife while driving. Stop and help that turtle to cross the road!
Biologists with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey help monitor and manage many endangered and threatened species in New Jersey. We work very closely with the Endangered and Nongame Species Program in the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife. Each year we summarize the results of many surveys and monitoring programs to show the most current information about the status of New Jersey’s wildlife. Whether good or bad news, we like to share this information with the public to make them aware of the conservation needs and successes.
Weather had a huge impact on wildlife this past year. The cold winter lead to a higher than normal loss of young bald eagles while the hot dry summer was favorable to those species impacted by coastal floods, the piping plover, least tern and black skimmer. The hot dry climate also helped ospreys produce a record high number of young. However, disease still impacts our state’s bats and disturbance by people or predators plays a role in fledging success. Check out the full report for detailed information for over 15 species listed as endangered or threatened in New Jersey.
While cold temperatures may have many people enjoying some time getting office work done, I enjoy working outside despite temperatures in the 30s. Yesterday, with help from Bill Pitts, a wildlife technician with NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program and Alf Breed, a seasonal technician with Conserve Wildlife Foundation we set out on the Delaware Bay to install a set of new predator guards on a peregrine falcon nesting tower near Heislerville. The new predator guards require little maintenance and more importantly help protect their nestlings from being predated by ground predators, like raccoons.
No doubt it was cold and windy. The small creek where we launched our boat already had ice on it! An uncommon sight in early December. This was a clear indication that winter is here to stay, but that it didn’t dampen our mood. So we launched boat and set out to the nest site. After a short boat ride we arrived at the site. One adult peregrine (a female) was perched on the tower. In New Jersey, nesting pairs are territorial throughout the year. She called to defend her nest site and flew off and watched us from a nearby perch. We unloaded gear and started removing the old predator guards.
In 2009, I began to install these new inverted cone predator type guards on peregrine nesting towers. The guards were custom fabricated by Babbitt Manufacturing, Inc. in Vineland. The new cones replace antiquated metal sleeve type predator guards which required annual maintenance during the non-breeding season. We first installed a prototype on a nest tower located inside Forsythe NWR in Oceanville. The new cone passed the test by withstanding 70 mph wind gusts during the winter of 2009. A complete set (of four cones) was then installed there and at another nest site on the saltmarsh in Manahawkin.
There are nine towers where peregrines nest along the coast of New Jersey. After the peregrine population was decimated by DDT in the 1960s, efforts were made to help re-establish the population. It began in the 1970s after the federal ban of DDT in 1972. The first tower was installed in 1975 inside Sedge Island Wildlife Management Area. The Peregrine Fund and the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife began to “hack” peregrine falcons at this site to help re-establish breeding pairs to New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic region. In the following years the program was expanded, and in 1980 a pair of wild peregrines nested on a tower. Since then, the population has slowly rebounded. Today, peregrines nest on a variety of structures in New Jersey including buildings, bridges, natural cliff sites, and these old “hacking” towers. In 2009, a total of 14 pairs nested in New Jersey.
Nominations for this year’s Women and Wildlife Awards
Since the first Women and Wildlife Awards in 2006, we have had the distinct honor of highlighting and celebrating the work of twelve women who dedicated their professional or volunteer lives to the protection of wildlife populations and their habitats in New Jersey. Here’s a snapshot of the women we’ve honored and the work they’ve done.
Joanna Burger holds a great egret.
Hannah Bonsey Suthers and Joanna Burger were first honored in 2006. Hannah has spent more than 28 years studying bird populations and the habitats that support them through the Bird Banding and Research Station that she founded on the Sourland Ridge in central New Jersey in fields undergoing succession from farmland to natural state. Joanna has been a Professor of Ecology and Evolution at Rutgers University for 25 years. For 14 of these years, she was Director of the Graduate School in Ecology and Evolution. The main focus of Joanna’s research has been to understand how animals can prosper in habitats affected or dominated by people, and their interactions with other animals.
Kathy Clark and Amy S. Greene were honored in 2007. Kathy is a zoologist with the state’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program. Kathy has been instrumental in the recovery of the bald eagle in the state since the early 1980’s and in re-establishing a stable breeding population of peregrines in New Jersey. She also leads the osprey project which has recovered the state’s osprey population to record high numbers. Amy is president and owner of Amy S. Greene Environmental Consultants, Inc. She has over 30 years of experience in the environmental field and is recognized as an expert in the field of wetland science, environmental permitting, natural resources inventory, terrestrial and aquatic ecological studies including endangered and threatened species surveys.
Dianne Nickerson holds a peregrine falcon.
In 2008, Barbara Brummer and Dianne Nickerson were honored. Barbara is the New Jersey State Director of the Nature Conservancy, she is dedicated to protecting our natural resources. But, despite a career in the corporate sector and the demands of raising a family, she carved out the time to devote to learning about (nine years of night school in pursuit of her Ph.D.), teaching about (many semesters teaching field biology at Montclair State and New York University) and sharing her passion for wildlife and nature. Diane is the Director of Mercer County Wildlife Center she has grown the center from a small volunteer based organization to one of the most highly respected wildlife rehabilitation programs in the state. She is highly regarded as a wildlife rehabilitation professional. She cares very deeply about New Jersey’s wildlife populations and for our natural environment
Jane Morton Galetto and Amanda Dey were honored in 2009. Jane is the founder and President of Citizens United to Protect the Maurice River and Its Tributaries (CU), Jane was instrumental in the designation of the Maurice, Manumuskin, Menantico, and Muskee Rivers into the National Wild and Scenic River System. Amanda is a biologist with the Endangered and Nongame Species Program. She has worked on a variety of projects involving shorebirds, goldenwing warblers, power line rights of way, and statewide surveys of grassland and forest passerines but her landscape studies with neotropical migrants and her work with shorebirds are outstanding.
2010 Women and Wildlife Award recipient Annette Scherer.
Earlier this year, Annette Scherer and Marie Springer were honored. Annette successfully worked with Federal, State and non-governmental agencies in developing and implementing efforts to protect endangered and at-risk wildlife over a twenty-eight year career with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. She has been particularly instrumental in the protection of New Jersey’s beach-nesting bird populations, including piping plovers, American oystercatchers, skimmers and terns. Marie has worked tirelessly to protect and expand the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge and to educate the public about its diverse wildlife. Her efforts on behalf of the state’s population of bats were instrumental in obtaining $1.9 million for research and prevention of white nose syndrome, a disease that is decimating the bat population in the north east.
A posthumous award was presented by Mike Daveport to honor Dr. Carol Slocum.
We have honored two women wildlife professionals who left us far too early but whose work and dedication to their science made them obvious candidates for inclusion into this exclusive group of women.
Most recently we honored Dr. Carol Slocum, New Jersey’s leading expert on seal behavior and ecology. Dr. Slocum gave 30 years to the service of science and wildlife conservation. She played a vital role in identifying threats to marine mammals within New Jersey as well as recommending potential strategies for addressing those threats. When she passed away in 2010, we were honored to be asked by her colleagues to present this posthumous award to her family. Read more about this posthumous award.
In 2008, we honored Stacy Hagan of Rutgers University Marine Station. Starting as a volunteer at the Marine Station, Stacy eventually became a fulltime employee while also completing a M.S. in the Graduate Program of Ecology and Evolution at Rutgers University. During her short career she was senior author or co-author on 17 peer-reviewed publications.
Women and Wildlife 2011
If you know anyone, professional or volunteer, who can stand next to the wonderful women and their achievements outlined above, please submit a nomination by January 21, 2010.
Also, if you would like to celebrate Women in Wildlife during national Women’s History Month in March, please join us on March 27th at Prallsville Mill in Stockton, New Jersey.
If you enjoy hearing the sounds of frogs and toads and like a bit of adventure then the NJ Calling Amphibian Project (CAMP) might be the right project for you! Each of the 16 species of frogs and toads in NJ has a unique vocalization or “call” that can be heard during their mating season. The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ is actively recruiting volunteers to participate in a statewide Calling Amphibian Monitoring Program (CAMP). Fourteen CAMP routes are currently available for the 2011 season.
The final results are in and it was a banner year for piping plovers in New Jersey. Statewide, our piping plovers produced an average of 1.39 fledglings per pair – one of the highest rates recorded since monitoring began several decades ago. Those results couldn’t have come at a better time. Fledgling rates had been poor the past several years and at just 108 pairs the breeding population is still extremely low. Because piping plover chicks often return to the same general area where they were born when they are ready to breed, the hope is that this year’s success will help grow the state’s population in the next several years. To find out more about the results of the 2010 piping plover breeding season click here (pdf). And if you want to find out more about how the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey helps protect piping plovers in our state or how you can help, click here.
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 November 24th 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 the Endangered and Nongame Species Program’s office in Clinton, New Jersey.
Please contact Maria Grace at Conserve Wildlife Foundation at (609) 984-0621 for specific instructions.
This past week I installed two osprey nesting platforms with the help of some dedicated volunteers. The platforms were installed on two islands known as Little Sedge Islands off Lavallette in Barnegat Bay. I originally planned on only installing one platform there for a woman who donated to help support our osprey project. However, this past spring on the day we were planning to install the platform my wife went into labor with our first child. So I made up for not having the platform installed before this year’s nesting season by installing two this past week.
The islands are preserved as open space and are great habitat for ospreys. They prefer to nest over or near water (their source of food). Islands provide additional protection from ground predators, like raccoons. There are several nesting platforms nearby that are always occupied, so it’s likely that these platforms will be occupied within the next couple years.
Bats get a bad rap – they are blind bloodsuckers that get caught in our hair. But these are all myths and this post is going to bust them!
There are no bloodsucking bats in the U.S. Yes, there are vampire bats in the world (3 species live in the tropics from Mexico to Brazil, Chile, and Argentina) and while they do rely on blood for their sustenance, they don’t view people as a food source. They usually pierce the skin of livestock such as cows, goats or chickens, and gently lap the blood from the wound (similar to how a dog licks water from a bowl).
Bats are not blind. Most species of bats have very good eyesight but they usually depend on their sense of echolocation to navigate through the world. They emit high frequency sounds into their environment and these sounds bounce off objects and back to the bat. The bat is then able to interpret the sounds and create a picture of what their environment looks like.
Bats rarely get caught in human hair. Bats, using their sense of echolocation, can detect objects as fine as a single human hair in total darkness. They are not aggressive animals but they can fly too close to people while feeding on insects or when flying low over water to take a drink.
Beneficial bats eat bugs. Bats are incredible animals and do a lot for us. All nine species of bats found in New Jersey eat insects, consuming one-third of their weight in bugs each night. Bats play essential roles in keeping populations of night-flying insects in balance. Just one bat can catch hundreds of insects in an hour, and large colonies catch tons of insects nightly, including beetles and moths that cost American farmers and foresters billions of dollars annually, not to mention mosquitoes in our backyards.
Bats play a key role in pollination. In other areas of the world, bats are the primary pollinators for many desert plants like the saguaro and organ pipe cactus as well as many species of agave. Bats also help in the pollination of fruits and veggies like bananas, avocados, coconuts, vanilla, dates, and mangoes.
Bats also help in seed dispersal. In fact, seeds dropped by bats can account for up to 95 percent of forest regrowth on cleared land. Bats spread the seeds of almonds, cashews, and chocolate. Did you read that? CHOCOLATE! Bats help us to have more cacao trees, which produces the yummy main ingredient of our favorite Halloween treats!
So instead of screaming and freaking out if and when you see a bat, why don’t you stop and appreciate it and maybe say a little “thank you” for all the wonderful benefits they provide to us. Halloween wouldn’t be the same without bats and the delicious m&m’s, snickers, and Almond joys are made possible because of the wonderful, now better understood, bats of the world.
American Oystercatcher Working Group annual meeting. Photo by Tracy Borneman.
Working closely with wildlife is the “sexy” part of my job. It is what makes me look forward to work on those days when I find myself less than inspired. It is also what the public most wants to hear about. But it is not necessarily the most important part of my job.
A great deal of my conservation efforts happen in meetings, offices, and behind a computer screen. A good case in point is the American Oystercatcher Working Group meeting I attended in Wellfleet, Massachusetts last week. This annual meeting brings together other managers, biologists, researchers, and policy experts from the Atlantic coast states that are specifically focused on oystercatchers. It is a chance for all us to share ideas, compare “notes” so to speak, build partnerships, and in general leverage the collective knowledge of the group.
This particular meeting is small by most standards, typically just 25-35 attendees, and much more informal than others I attend. It is also one of the most effective. Simply put, we get stuff done! Sure, we have spirited discussions and debate, but at the end of the day there is usually a cooperative spirit.
Projects move forward to benefit oystercatchers in individual states from Massachusetts to Florida, but through the prism of what is best for the range wide conservation of the species. This is how it should be. My job is to help monitor, manage, and protect oystercatchers in New Jersey, but since we only host a portion of the overall breeding population and they only spend a small part of each year in our state, we are just one piece of the puzzle.
You cannot effectively recover or conserve a species without partners. So we will keep telling you sexy, up-close-and-personal stories about wildlife, but once in awhile we will also remind you about the behind the scenes work we do to keep wildlife from disappearing from our state (and beyond).
