Tag: Bayshore

by Emmy Casper, Wildlife Biologist

This past winter, CWF announced a new project designed to study and monitor the population of American oystercatchers breeding along the New Jersey side of the Delaware Bay. In addition to locating nesting pairs and tracking their success, our goal is to better understand how oystercatchers utilize the bayshore habitats and what factors threaten their productivity. The data we gather with our partners at The Wetlands Institute and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be used to inform future management decisions. We spent the past few months working hard to conduct the project’s first season of monitoring, and we are happy to say that we have made significant progress in beginning to unravel the mysteries surrounding this understudied population.

Since so little is known about this subpopulation of oystercatchers, we had a lot of ground to cover in our first season of fieldwork. First, we had to locate any breeding oystercatcher pairs across 35 sites spanning approximately 45 miles of bayshore from Cape May Point to Sea Breeze. Luckily, we had a head-start based on a preliminary census survey from 2021 that documented some already existing pairs as well as some sites with potentially suitable nesting habitat. We were also fortunate to have a dedicated seasonal technician assisting with the heavy workload. That said, figuring out how to access many of these sites was definitely a learning curve. We quickly discovered that many beaches were only reachable by boat or kayak and only during a narrow window of tide and wind conditions. Other sites were walkable, but only at peak low tides, which meant our surveys couldn’t take too long without risking becoming stranded by the rising tide.

by Emmy Casper, Wildlife Biologist

CWF is excited to announce a new project funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund designed to develop and execute management strategies for American oystercatchers along the Delaware Bay. Breeding populations of American oystercatchers (State Species of Special Concern) have been well studied and monitored along New Jersey’s Atlantic Coast since 2003, but very little is known about the oystercatchers that nest on the sandy beaches along the Delaware Bay. In 2021, CWF conducted a near bay-wide window census survey to establish a baseline estimate of the Bayshore population. Thirteen oystercatcher pairs were documented across approximately 35 sites from Cape May Point to Sea Breeze, prompting a need for further research and management. This new project seeks to shed light on this understudied population and add to our scientific understanding of their management needs.

By: Lindsay McNamara, Communications Coordinator

Did you know?

Each spring New Jersey hosts the largest concentration of shorebirds in North America! From about the first week in May to the second week in June, the biggest gathering of horseshoe crabs in the world comes to Delaware Bay to spawn.

At the same time, hundreds of thousands of shorebirds arrive on the Bayshore to refuel on horseshoe crab eggs at a critical stopover during their migration. Delaware Bay is an extremely important area for a number of at-risk wildlife, including Red Knots and Horseshoe Crabs.

American Littoral Society and Conserve Wildlife Foundation are restoring this significant habitat in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Learn more about our restoration work on our newly created project website: www.RestoreNJBayshore.org.

Learn more:

• NJ Spotlight: NJ’s Beaches on Delaware Bay to Undergo Restoration to Help Safeguard Wildlife
• Press of Atlantic City: Restored Beaches Draw Crabs, Birds
• Check out our newly created Delaware Bay restoration website!
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Delaware Bay Shorebird Project

Lindsay McNamara is the Communications Coordinator for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.