The other day, my dad and I got the chance to accompany CWF biologist, Ben Wurst, on an osprey-banding excursion – him for photography, and me for the experience.
At 6 am, we set out on a small boat in Tuckerton, New Jersey. Through the salt marshes, we visited each nest for Ben to take notes on the ospreys occupying them. When the conditions were right , he could also band the chicks.
Ospreys are truly beautiful birds, magnificent to behold, and even more so up close. I was fortunate enough to hold one chick while Ben attached a band around its ankle.
Brooke Sambol holding an Osprey (c) Eric Sambol
Over the years, CWF has played a major role in osprey monitoring and species rehabilitation. The work they’ve done has really paid off. Due to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT during the 1970’s, osprey populations in New Jersey plummeted from over 500 nests to just 50 nests. Since then, biologists, including those from CWF have implemented an intensive osprey rehabilitation project.
This included the replacing of healthy osprey eggs from Maryland into DDT-weakened New Jersey nests, the building of hundreds of osprey nest boxes along the coast, and diligent monitoring.
In 2013, biologists counted 405 nesting osprey pairs. The success is monumental, and a testament to the change that can occur through science and dedication.
Brook Sambol is a Coastal Wildlife Intern with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey
On May 30, 2014 EarthShare New Jersey launched the exciting new Rain Barrel Auctions program. Thanks to a donation of barrels from Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. in Bordentown, N.J., each of the 24 members of EarthShare New Jersey will have one designed which captures the important work each of these charities do for our environment. The auctions are designed to raise awareness and funds for the local members of EarthShare New Jersey.
Rain Barrels offer a long-term, sustainable way to collect and store the rain water that drains from our roofs and gutters. The water can then be used around the home, in the garden, or even for hydration as long as it is adequately filtered and cleaned. Each of the rain barrels being auctioned off are not only functional, but exquisite one of a kind works of art designed by artists from across the state. The program will run until the end of 2014.
The rain barrel designed for CWF was recently posted on eBay. CWF is very excited to have been selected for this effort, and we hope this rain barrel raises awareness and the sale is a success! The proceeds for this rain barrel will be split with CWF and EarthShare.
EarthShare is a national non-profit federation with 25 years of experience in connecting people and workplaces with effective ways to support critical environmental causes. Together we’ve raised more than $300 million for programs that care for our air, land, water, wildlife and public health — in your community, across the U.S. and around the world. EarthShare develops and manages employee engagement and giving campaigns to increase support for its member organizations and help our workplace partners achieve their philanthropic and CSR goals.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation is a non-profit and an EarthShare local member organization. Together CWF and EarthShare work to create a sustainable environment through education, conservation, preservation and community awareness. Through ongoing statewide and community activities we address so many important issues.
Check out our rain barrel, with beautiful artwork by Diane Novobilsky, here!
Ospreys are a common sight along the New Jersey shore during summer months.Each year myself and other dedicated volunteers conduct surveys of osprey nests by boat. Photo by Northside Jim.We use ladders to access nests. Photo by Northside Jim.We count the number of young produced.While checking nests the adults circle nests and often dive bomb banders, like myself.Dive bombed like this. Photo by Northside Jim.And this… Photo by Jim Northside Jim.Young are banded for future tracking.This year a color auxiliary band is being deployed on young that are produced on Barnegat Bay.The bands will allow us and “Osprey Watchers” to ID individuals birds and we will learn a great deal about their dispersion, site fidelity, life span, etc…While checking nests, with or without young, we clean out any trash that we find. Photo by Northside Jim.After surveying a nest the adults return to care for their young.
This marks the third story in Shorebird Week! Our first blog post, on Tuesday, introduced the film “A Race Against Time” and directed you to a free viewing of the film on our website. Our second blog post, highlighted an incredible news story about a resighting of the iconic Red knot B95 on the Delaware Bay! And today’s blog post, will highlight volunteers incredible effort to save stranded horseshoe crabs!
Volunteer Don Senior extracts an impinged horseshoe crab from the rubble on the south end of Fortescue beach along the Delaware Bay on Saturday (c) Phillip Tomlinson South Jersey Times
This story illustrates the incredible efforts of volunteers for Conserve Wildlife Foundation and other conservation groups to save the stranded horseshoe crabs on Delaware Bay beaches. Horseshoe crabs can easily be flipped onto their backs by incoming tides, and they are not able to right themselves on their own. They also get trapped easily by tides and man-made obstacles, such as debris, which leaves them unable to return to the water leaving them to eventually die.
Return the Favor, a multi-group effort, has committed to rescuing as many horseshoe crabs as possible from South Jersey’s Delaware Bay beaches by regularly combing designated stretches of beach and helping to flip the crabs back on their bellies and redirect them back to the water. If possible these volunteers go out daily and rescue all of the flipped or impinged crabs. These efforts have been very successful so far, and they hope to continue these efforts and engage more about who want to volunteer.
This marks the second story in Shorebird Week! Our first blog post, on Tuesday, introduced the film “A Race Against Time” and directed you to a free viewing of the film on our website. Today’s blog post, will highlight an incredible news story about a resighting of the iconic Red knot B95 on the Delaware Bay! And tomorrow’s blog post, will highlight volunteer’s incredible efforts to save stranded horseshoe crabs!
This story highlights the iconic Red knot, B95, being resighted on the Delaware Bay. B95, nicknamed Moonbird, is at least 20 years old, which makes him the oldest Red knot on record. He received his nickname because he has flown the equivalent of the distance between the earth and the moon and at least halfway back in his lifetime.
Iconic Red knot shorebird B95
One of Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s partners, Manomet Center for Conservation Science, highlights this bird in an fascinating news story about his resighting and the research efforts being done by the CWF biologist Dr. Larry Niles and Amanda Dey, senior biologist with the Endangered and Non-game Species Division of N.J. Fish and Wildlife and their team to restore the Delaware Bay.
A banded red knot searches for food on a Delaware Bay beach.
This week for Animal Week, we will be spotlighting Shorebirds in the Media! Endangered red knots, ruddy turnstones, and other magnificent birds travel from South America to the Canadian Arctic during their migration, and make an important stopover along the Delaware Bay Shore from May to June.
The 2014 Shorebird film, “A Race Against Time” celebrates the Delaware Bay Beach Restoration
The film can now be enjoyed for free on our website:
Greener New Jersey Productions this spring produced a 30-minute film documenting the ambitious campaign by Conserve Wildlife Foundation, American Littoral Society and other partners to restore Delaware Bayshore beaches decimated by Hurricane Sandy. This project ensures that the at-risk horseshoe crabs and globally migrating shorebirds relying on this habitat can survive.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Fish & Wildlife, and New Jersey Audubon have partnered for many years to conduct research on Delaware Bay shorebirds in order to prevent their decline.
This story marks the fourth of five blog stories spotlighting New Jersey’s Diamondback Terrapin – and educating people on the research and efforts being done to protect these fascinating reptiles!
Part 1, Monday, was an introduction into the world of the Diamondback Terrapin.Part 2, Tuesday, featured CWF’s research efforts to protect the terrapins.Part 3, Wednesday, looked at great places to view these beautiful turtles .Part 4, today’s blog post, will highlight some important ways you can help protect the Diamondback Terrapins. Part 5, Friday, will showcase some other important regional research being done by our partners.
Steps You Can Take to Protect the Diamondback Terrapins!
by Ben Wurst, CWF Habitat Program Manager
A female terrapin pauses while crossing Great Bay Blvd in Little Egg Harbor, NJ.
We all can make a difference to help conserve northern diamondback terrapins. This beautiful species is a symbol of our coast – and now more than ever, we need to be sensitive to our incredible coastal estuary ecosystems!
Here are some ways that you can help make a difference to protect this amazing species:
Slow down, don’t tailgate, and be aware while driving in coastal areas from May through July.
If you see a terrapin on the road, pull over, put on your hazard lights and carefully help the turtle cross in the direction it is going. Please be careful and use your best judgement and do not get in front of a motor vehicle to stop them on area roads. Do not jeopardize your own safety for a turtle.
If you go crabbing and use commercial-Maryland style crab pots, use BRDs or “bycatch reduction devices” to prevent terrapins from getting trapped in them. Use line that sinks to prevent a crab pot from becoming lost. Abandoned crab pots can trap and kill a ton of marine life over time, including blue claw crabs, many species of fish, and terrapins.
Talk to others to educate them about terrapins and their role in the ecosystem. You can learn all about them in our Online Field Guide!
Volunteer with CWF to patrol roadways and take part in other volunteer actions in Southern Ocean County, Atlantic County, and Cape May County! We really need your help – so please contact us if you, your business, or your civic group is willing to help save the incredible diamondback terrapin!
Donate to CWF’s diamondback terrapin program. Any amount would help greatly! Click here and note Terrapin in the PayPal note, or you can mail a contribution to Conserve Wildlife Foundation, 501 East State Street, P.O. Box 420, Mailcode 501-03E, Trenton, NJ 08625-0420. Be sure to note Terrapin in the check’s subject line.
This story marks the third of five blog stories spotlighting New Jersey’s Diamondback Terrapin – and educating people on the research and efforts being done to protect these fascinating reptiles!
Part 1, Monday, was an introduction into the world of the Diamondback Terrapin.Part 2, Tuesday, featured CWF’s research efforts to protect the terrapins.Part 3, today’s blog post, will look at great places to view these beautiful turtles.Part 4, Thursday, will highlight some important ways you can help protect the Diamondback Terrapins. Part 5, Friday, will showcase some other important regional research being done by our partners.
by Ben Wurst
During full and new moon cycles females terrapins are hard NOT to see on Great Bay Blvd. in Little Egg Harbor, NJ.
During their nesting season, Northern diamondback terrapins are usually pretty easy to spot along the coast of New Jersey, and throughout their range. They are beautiful turtles with very unique coloration.
Individuals vary in coloration, but in general, their upper shell, or carapace, is dark with a diamond shaped pattern on it. Their lower shell, or plastron, is a light yellow/green color. Their skin is a grey color with black spots that vary highly between individuals. Almost all have a light upper mandible.
From May through July, spotting a terrapin is pretty easy!
Females leave the protection of the coastal waterways to find suitable nest sites to lay eggs. They seek areas with sandy soil, like dunes, parking lots and road shoulders. When our barrier islands were developed, roads were created to access those islands.
The creation of these roads also increased the amount of available nest sites for terrapins. But the development itself actually decreased the amount of suitable nesting habitat for them overall. Much of our coast is now bulkheaded.
Bulkheading restricts the natural movement of terrapins and limits their ability to find suitable nest sites. So, now they must take what they can get: roadsides. Nesting on the edges of roads is a perilous journey for terrapins. The vehicles that travel on those coastal roads may have careless drivers behind the wheel.
Terrapins may be found in many different places along the coast, especially roads that criss-cross saltmarsh. Use extreme caution in trying to spot terrapins on active roads used by vehicles – not only to avoid driving over terrapins, but for your own safety and that of other drivers or pedestrians.
Some widely used locations include Avalon Boulevard and other west-east highways connecting the mainland with barrier islands and peninsulas. Many coastal areas in Cape May also feature high numbers of terrapins, while Monmouth County, Ocean County, and Meadowlands coastal regions feature plenty of terrapins as well.
However, one of the best places to view terrapins during their nesting season is inside the 5,000+ acre Great Bay Blvd. Wildlife Management Area, Little Egg Harbor, NJ. The WMA is located along the coast and is accessible by motor vehicle from the 5 mile long road that ends at the Rutgers Marine Field Station. The road was originally planned to connect the mainland with Atlantic City in the early 1900s. Luckily that plan fell through and the last bridge was never built (road is also called 7 Bridges Road, after the 7th bridge that was never built). There is plenty to see and do out on GBB, at all times of the year. A wide variety of wildlife can be observed from the road, including ospreys, terns, oystercatchers, herons, egrets, and shorebirds. Lots of outdoor recreation opportunites await as well, including crabbing, fishing, and kayaking. There are boat ramps along the road, and all the owners of the local marinas are very nice, including Capt. Mike’s, Rand’s Boats, and Cape Horn Marina.
Terrapins can be timid if approached, especially when nesting. Please keep your distance when near a nesting female. You wouldn’t want to cause a female to abandon laying eggs in a nest cavity! If she is unable to cover up her eggs with soil then they might become an easy meal for a gull or crow… Watching them nest is fun to watch as they excavate down and lay 8-12 eggs.
If you see one on the road and there is no traffic, slow down or stop and let it cross. If there is traffic coming, stop your vehicle, put on your hazard lights and carefully get out and move the terrapin in the direction it is heading. Terrapins can bite, so be careful and pick it up from the side of it’s shell (called the bridge). Use 1-2 hands to ensure you have a good grip. Sometimes they use their legs to try and get you to let go! Put it on the soft shoulder to be out of harms way. If you have a GPS or a smartphone, record the location and submit us a sighting via our online terrapin sighting form. Data collected from the form will help guide future conservation efforts for them in NJ.
Other great viewing areas:
Gateway National Recreation Area – Sandy Hook Unit
Island Beach State Park
Edwin B. Forsythe NWR – Oceanville
Wetlands Institute – Stone Harbor
Reeds Beach
Fortescue Beach
Ben Wurst is a wildlife biologist for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.
This story marks the second of five blog stories spotlighting New Jersey’s Diamondback Terrapin – and educating people on the research and efforts being done to protect these fascinating reptiles!
Part 1, Monday, was an introduction into the world of the Diamondback Terrapin.Part 2, today’s blog post, will feature CWF’s research efforts to protect the terrapins.Part 3, on Wednesday, will look at great places to view these beautiful turtles .Part 4, Thursday, will highlight some important ways you can help protect the Diamondback Terrapins. Part 5, Friday, will showcase some other important regional research being done by our partners.
by Stephanie Egger, CWF Wildlife Biologist
I am pleased to announce CWF was awarded a grant from the Regional Conservation Needs Program* for the development of a conservation strategy (strategy) that focuses on the conservation, management, and protection of terrapins from Massachusetts to Virginia.
Stephanie Egger, CWF wildlife biologist
For the next two years, we will be working with over 30 partners, many of whom are part of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the Diamondback Terrapin Working Group (DTWG), assembling data and developing a strategy with the help of their years of expertise working with terrapins.
The overarching goal of the strategy is to help achieve long-term sustainability of terrapins by identifying the species current and historical populations and its habitat (known and unknown occupancy); characterizing and ranking threats; prioritizing focal areas for regional and individual state management; identifying data gaps; and reviewing the regulatory status in each state. The strategy will describe a strategic initiative for implementation of conservation actions across eight states and identify focal areas for conservation. The results of the strategy could be used to solicit additional funding for implementation for more regionally significant areas for terrapins in the future.
(c) Eric Sambol
We’ve hit the ground running for this project and will convene the partners in meetings later this year at the College of William & Mary in Virginia and Cape Cod, Massachusetts as well as visit states for more local terrapin meetings.
More information on this project can be found on the Northeast Regional Conservation Needs (RCN) Grant Program site.
*“The Northern Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin) in the Northeastern United States: A Regional Conservation Strategy” is supported by State Wildlife Grant funding awarded through the RCN Program. The RCN Program joins thirteen northeast states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a partnership to address landscape-scale, regional wildlife conservation issues. Progress on these regional issues is achieved through combining resources, leveraging funds, and prioritizing conservation actions identified in the State Wildlife Action Plans. See RCNGrants.org for more information.
Stephanie Egger is a Wildlife Biologist for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ and Co-Chair of the Mid-Atlantic region of the Diamondback Terrapin Working Group
Join us on this fascinating journey into the world of the Diamondback Terrapin
Last week, I drove slowly down a road with no buildings or homes on either side, with only vast salt marsh as far as the eye could see. Over the course of the roughly 10-mile round trip, I passed maybe four other cars. But there was another kind of traveler that I found in abundance – 22 diamondback terrapins crossing the road on the way out, and another 18 of these gorgeous turtles on the way back (although I’m sure I saw some of them twice)!
Amazingly enough, this was a drive along the New Jersey coast in June. If you haven’t guessed it, I was on Great Bay Boulevard in Little Egg Harbor. And if you haven’t been there, now is the time to go – it is a true wildlife spectacle that you have to see to believe.
New Jersey’s coast is filled with wonders during the summer months – wonders that go beyond its crowded beaches, boardwalks, and traffic jams! Believe it or not, the coast still has plenty of nature to be found, often in total seclusion. And diamondback terrapins offer as amazing a wildlife story as any.
So today we kick off Terrapin Week! Read our first installment below for an up-close look at the terrapin’s habitat, appearance, range and status. Then stay tuned for a brand new story each day this week by our terrapin biologists Ben Wurst and Stephanie Egger, with topics including our biologists’ research projects, how our volunteers are making a difference, terrapins across the East Coast, and New Jersey locations where you have the best chance of seeing terrapins in the wild!
David Wheeler
Executive Director, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ
Meet the Terrapin
by Stephanie Feigin, CWF Program Coordinator
Northern diamondback terrapins(Malaclemys terrapin terrapin) are native to New Jersey and inhabit the many miles of coastal salt marshes and estuaries along the Atlantic Coast and Delaware Bay. They exclusively inhabit coastal salt marshes, estuaries, tidal creeks and ditches with brackish water (a mix of both salt and freshwater) which is bordered byspartinagrass. They are the only turtle species in the world that is specially adapted to spend its entire life in this type of water.
The northern diamondback terrapin is a medium-sized turtle that varies in length from only 4 to 5.5” in males to 6 to 9” in females. Terrapins have a gray, brown, or blackcarapace(top of shell) and a lighterplastron(bottom of shell), which is a greenish-yellow. The skin is light to dark gray with black spots and other dark markings. Both sexes have a light colored upper mandible. They are named for their diamond shaped pattern on their carapace. Adult terrapins primarily eat mollusks and crustaceans, including snails, fiddler crabs, and mussels. They also eat blue crabs, green crabs, marine worms, fish, and carrion.
Terrapins are cold-blooded, or ectothermic. Theyhibernateduring the winter and bury themselves at the bottom of or in the banks of creeks and ditches. Studies have shown that terrapins also exhibit a high level of site fidelity or they return to the same territoryevery year, some even occupy the same small creeks year after year. Terrapins have a very small home range, from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Female Northern Diamondback terrapin (c) Jonathan Carlucci
In 2001, a status review of reptiles in New Jersey recommended that the Northern diamondback terrapin be listed as a species ofspecial concernin New Jersey. The listing as special concern “warrants special attention because of some evidence of decline” (NJ ENSP-Species Status Listing) and little is known about their actual population status in New Jersey. However, terrapins are still harvested for food in New Jersey and the total harvested annually is not known. Since Terrapins are still considered a “Game” species subject to harvest, the Special Concern designation was never officially applied to the species and will not be until they are re-classified as a “Non-game” species.
Major threats to the health of the population include; habitatloss, mortality from being drowned in crab traps, and road mortality. Each year hundreds of terrapins are killed by motor vehicles throughout their range and here in New Jersey. The Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) and their biologists are working hard to protect these incredible reptiles with their many conservation efforts. We are asking you to “Be Terrapin Aware” while driving along roads in New Jersey’s coastal region, and stay tuned for more posts during Terrapin Week about our efforts to protect these turtles!
