Winter maintenance of the Barnegat Light habitat restoration site is a key element in the project’s success to benefit New Jersey’s piping plovers and other beach-nesting birds. The original project – clearing about 40 acres of dense beach vegetation and dunes to create an early-successional habitat favored by plovers and adding “ponds” to create foraging opportunities – was completed over two winters in 2019 and 2020. Each winter since, we have returned to the site for a short period, typically a week or so, to thin vegetation and reestablish foraging habitat along the pond edges in advance of nesting birds returning for the season.
This year was no exception, I was on-site in late January and early February to guide a bulldozer operator to prepare the site for plovers. Although the maintenance work we do each year is similar, the details and nuances of it vary quite a bit. Last winter, for example, one of the foraging ponds was completely sanded over from fall and early winter storms, so we spent most of the time re-digging that. This year, the ponds were in much better shape, so we had more time to focus on clearing out thick vegetation that had crept back into the site to improve the nesting substrate.
When the Barnegat Light habitat restoration was completed to benefit piping plovers several winters ago, the partners anticipated it would need periodic maintenance to keep it in optimal condition. As it has turned out, the inlet beach site has needed more frequent attention, an annual winter “touch-up” to prep the site for the nesting season. With this in mind, earlier this month, Todd Pover, CWF Senior Wildlife Biologist was on-site for nearly a week to oversee the habitat work.
The maintenance this winter primarily focused on the two foraging ponds, as those features have proved critical to the success of the plovers utilizing the site. Thick vegetation was mechanically removed from about three-quarters of the perimeter of the large pond. Excessive vegetation can obstruct piping plovers, especially their chicks, from using the pond’s edge to feed. The heavy vegetation can also provide cover for predators. Meanwhile, the smaller pond was filled in with sand due to late fall/early winter storms and tidal surge. Although the small pond has needed to be “refreshed” each winter, this was the first time it had to be entirely re-dug. Experience has shown that having two ponds present at the site – giving plovers alternative feeding options if one pond is not accessible or as productive during a portion of the season – has been a key element in boosting productivity, especially as more plovers chose the site to nest. In addition to the pond work, some vegetation thinning or removal was also completed to enhance the suitability of the nesting areas as plovers prefer sparsely vegetated areas to lay their eggs.
Invasive vegetation being removed from the edge of the large piping plover foraging pond.
A season of change and hope at the Barnegat Light Osprey Cam.
by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager
The “new” female at the BL Osprey Cam. April 5, 2021. Note the small dark fleck on her right iris.
By far, this was the most viewed season of the Barnegat Light Osprey Cam, with over 360,000 views and 111,000 hours watched! It was a season of change. Viewers throughout the world watched as the mated pair successfully fledged two healthy young. We witnessed the trials and tribulations of a new pair, especially the female, who we believe attempted reproduction for the first time in her life. We saw that life as a young osprey was not always guaranteed, which is something we rarely get to witness but know is quite common at many nests throughout the world; however, with an experienced male and plentiful prey, the surviving young thrived. As we work on a season long highlight video, here is a brief summary of their nesting season.
During the peak of my field season last year I exchanged emails with a kind man who reported terrapins nesting in his yard. He wanted to do everything he could to ensure their success. A couple weeks later Bobby reached out to say how much him and mom loved the Barnegat Light Osprey Cam and how “the birds generally wake her up before her alarm.” He also mentioned how she delayed gardening because “dad is due with a fish any minute now. I’m just waiting to note the time then I’ll go play.” She was contributing observations of prey deliveries for research we conducted at the BL Osprey Cam last summer.
A resting coyote with typical coloration. Photo by John Picken.
The expansion of Eastern Coyotes (Canis latrans x lycaon) throughout the northeastern United States has been a cause for alarm in some communities, but are they as dangerous as some fear?
A particularly adaptable wild canid, the eastern coyote is distinct from their western cousins and is considered to be a hybrid species, created when western coyotes and other wolf species, like the eastern wolf, interbred in the early 1900s. This new larger coyote species has been able to expand its territory out from its central/western roots and can now be found along much of the eastern coast of the United States.
The eastern coyote’s presence on our coasts now finds itself at odds with the humans who call these more cosmopolitan coastal areas their home, like on Long Beach Island where increasing coyote sightings over the past few years are beginning to worry residents.
Monique M. Demopoulos of TheSandpaper.net reached out to Conserve Wildlife New Jersey for a conservationist’s perspective.
CWF Habitat Program Manager Ben Wurst and Executive Director David Wheeler gave their thoughts in the article published on March 11th.
A bulldozer trims back vegetation as a part of maintenance at the Barnegat Light Habitat Restoration site.
Even though all the major construction at our Barnegat Light Habitat Restoration site was complete over the past two winters, CWF returned in January 2021 to help oversee a “touch up”. Beach nesting birds, such as piping plovers, prefer open, lightly vegetated beaches to nest, and in two years the vegetation had filled in quickly at the site. Using a bulldozer, the thicker vegetation was trimmed back or as the machine operator said, we gave it a “haircut”.
At the same time, the shallow edges of the foraging pond were enhanced. The pond, in particular a portion engineered to mimic “foraging flats”, was a key part of the success of piping plovers during the 2020 breeding season. We were able to expand that feature in hopes of providing even more high value foraging opportunities in years to come.
Initial construction was obviously the most important step to make this long-anticipated project a reality, but ongoing maintenance is an important part of any restoration, as habitat, especially in the dynamic coastal zone, rarely remains static. Still, follow-up maintenance is often overlooked or underfunded, but we know it will be absolutely critical as a long-term measure at Barnegat Light to sustain quality nesting habitat and high reproductive success.
The work this winter was done in tandem with Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, our primary technical partner on the project. A special thanks to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Philadelphia District for funding and facilitating the maintenance construction. We also greatly appreciate the ongoing partnership on this project of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – New Jersey Field Office and State of New Jersey’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program.
Todd Pover is a biologist with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.
Piping plover chick feeding at the restoration-created pond. Photo courtesy of Northside Jim.
Last winter the Conserve Wildlife Foundation, in partnership with Rutgers University, the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, and New Jersey Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Non-Game Species Program, completed the final stages of a beach restoration project in Barnegat Light State Park.
The project, which broke ground the winter before last, aimed to create more ideal habitat for the endangered piping plover away from human disturbance at Barnegat Light’s more recreationally busy beaches. This was accomplished by removing vegetation, grading dunes to be more suitable for nesting, and creating alternative feeding sites (i.e. ephemeral pools).
Now, with the beach nesting bird season at its peak and the final stages of the project complete, we can start to assess the effectiveness of the work that has been done.
Boaters urged to not approach active osprey nest inside Barnegat Inlet
by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager
Osprey Nest #3591
Yesterday, while working on Barnegat Bay, we visited this natural nest that is behind the dyke inside Barnegat Lighthouse State Park. This is the third time we’ve passed by to monitor their success. So far, so good and it looks like they now have young in the nest. As you can see the nest is built in a precarious location on a sandbar. When the sandbar is exposed people can walk right up to the nest. Last year the pair did not raise young but people did still walk up to the nest. With young, the adults will be more defensive of their nest to protect their young.
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!
