Tag: Conserve Wildlife Foundation

GETTING A CLOSE-UP LOOK AT A BEAUTIFUL BUT ENDANGERED SONGBIRD

by Kathleen Wadiak, CWF Intern

Interning for CWF allows me to take part in a variety of projects and learn from different professionals working throughout the state. One example of this is the morning I was able to learn about golden-winged warblers through a mist netting survey. Honestly, I did not know much about this little bird until we were driving to a power line right-of-way early one morning, and I was given a quick summary of why it’s causing a stir in our home state.

The golden-winged warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) is a striking little gray bird with black eye and throat markings, sporting a bright yellow head with matching wing patches. New Jersey serves as part of its breeding grounds throughout the summer, when it migrates north from its winter habitat in Central and South America. Unfortunately, its populations have been in decline, resulting in its classification as a state endangered species.

There are a few possible reasons for the decline in golden-winged warbler populations, including a decrease in their habitat, early-successional sites which consist of shrubby and herbaceous ground cover instead of mature forest. To the golden-winged warbler’s disadvantage, much of its New Jersey forest was cut at the same time, resulting in even-aged stands that are now too old to provide the nesting sites necessary for survival. Currently, golden-winged warblers occupy regenerating clear cuts, wetlands, or utility right-of-ways in northwestern New Jersey, where they can still find the resources that they need.

In addition to habitat loss, interactions with the closely related blue-winged warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera) are impacting the golden-wings’ numbers. It is thought that as climate change causes shifts in the geographic range of both species, more overlap between the two occurs. This results in increased competition for food, nesting sites, and even mates, as the two birds are closely related.

Walking through the high grass under the powerlines, we stopped now and then to listen to birds singing and look for golden-wings. While my untrained ears had trouble differentiating between all of the different calls, a biologist with NJ Audubon confidently told us where to begin setting up each net. After the net was raised, different recordings meant to attract the warblers played while we stepped back and waited hopefully for the right birds to come.

It was exciting to see the first birds fly into the net and to have the opportunity to view them up close, even if they weren’t always the ones we were looking for. While we set up three nets throughout the morning, our first attempt was most successful as it resulted in the capture of one of the rare golden-winged warblers! Its banded leg told us that this wasn’t its first time in a net, and that it had been to this site in the past, a good sign for this particular stretch of habitat. Its dramatic markings and flashes of gold feathers made it a beautiful bird, and it struck me what a shame it would be if they disappeared completely from our state.

While things are tough for golden-winged warblers in New Jersey, hope is not lost as many organizations, including CWF, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, NJ Audubon, and NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife are working to keep these birds in the Garden State. Mist netting and banding the Golden-wings allow biologists to track the number and location of these warblers throughout their breeding grounds and aid in the creation of management strategy. In addition, there is an effort to educate private landowners about golden-wings and to help them manage their property in a way that attracts the birds. Hopefully, as this work continues, more land will be suited to their habitat preferences, and golden-winged warblers will return to their summer homes in New Jersey.

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LEARN MORE

• Conserve Wildlife Foundation Field Guide: Golden-winged Warbler

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NEW, WEEKLY UPDATES FROM NEW JERSEY’S BEACH NESTING BIRD PROJECT TEAM

by Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager

Up until now the focus of our weekly reports has been on breeding activities – for good reason as that is the main purpose of our beachnesting bird management and recovery program here in New Jersey. However, the past two weeks have been a good reminder that piping plover migration is already well under way.

The idea of “fall” migration is a bit of a misnomer for piping plovers and other shorebirds since they begin moving south for the “winter” as soon as nesting is complete. For piping plovers that can be in early July. In fact, last week we had our first report of piping plovers already back on their wintering grounds in the Bahamas. And yesterday we received word of 164 piping plovers in Ocracoke, North Carolina, many of them individuals that had bred in states further north. We know that from the bands and flags placed on the birds as part of various research projects.

Meanwhile, back in New Jersey we resighted our first Canadian piping plover on July 12. Then last week we had another very exciting visitor from Canada – a flagged bird with the alpha/numeric code of E4. CWF’s very own Todd Pover had spotted this bird on its wintering ground in January 2014 in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera, the Bahamas. In the spring of 2014 Todd traveled up to this bird’s breeding location at White Point Resort in Nova Scotia, Canada, where he was able to spy the bird with its mate as they started to set up their nest. Having it now show up during migration in New Jersey completed the circle.

Although Todd didn’t see it himself in New Jersey this time, there is some pretty amazing “dots being connected” with this individual bird. One of the important issues brought up by the resightings of E4 is just how connected the sites are all along the flyway. It is important that we focus on breeding success here in New Jersey, but we also play an important role in protecting shorebirds during different phases of their lives as well. Long term survival and recovery of piping plovers depends on full life cycle conservation, not just during the breeding season. And with many shorebirds moving thousands of miles annually, that is an effort that needs to reach across partners and even countries.

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LEARN MORE

• Conserve Wildlife Foundation Beach Nesting Bird Project
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation Field Guide: Piping Plover

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NEW JERSEY’S HIDDEN COAST – EPISODE 5

By Emily Hofmann, Assistant Communications Manager

 

Like all ecosystems, Delaware Bay is amazingly complex, and there’s no one way to fix it. Between climate change, sea level rise, and the growing risk of major storms, there’s a lot to consider.

 

We’ve learned that restoring healthy marsh habitat is a key component in rebuilding Delaware Bay beaches; however, we’re also trying to further strengthen bayshore beaches by building reefs – living underwater infrastructure. By creating some reef structures we can keep the sand where we’re putting it.

 

Learn more about strengthening New Jersey’s Hidden Coast – the Delaware Bayshore in our fifth episode to our series.

 

A new episode of our video series “New Jersey’s Hidden Coast” will air every two weeks throughout the summer! Catch a glimpse of the bay, the horseshoe crab at the center of the bay’s system, and the incredible relationship between horseshoe crabs and migratory birds, like the red knot. We will reveal the real value of horseshoe crabs, the challenges to the ecosystem, and the potential for a thriving regional economy along the Bayshore. We will show Hurricane Sandy as a catalyst for decisive action and the work being done to rebuild the area for both people and wildlife.

 

Over the next several weeks, we will explore the use of “living shorelines” instead of bulkheads and the central importance of marshes to the marine ecosystem. We will discover the on-the-ground, grassroots efforts of the community to build oyster reefs alongside veterans. And we will examine the future of the Bay and the work that needs to be done to preserve our conservation successes thus far.

 

Discover Delaware Bay:

• Explore cultural sites and other points of interest in Cumberland County
• Grab a meal and a place to stay in Cape May County
• Where to see horseshoe crabs and shorebirds
• Learn more about our work to restore Delaware Bay at RestoreNJBayshore.org

 

NEW, WEEKLY UPDATES FROM NEW JERSEY’S BEACH NESTING BIRD PROJECT TEAM

by Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager

Meet Bob. He is a piping plover who received this nickname while being banded by CWF Wildlife Biologist Emily Heiser in 2012 as part of a SUNY-ESF research project in New Jersey. This past weekend was a big day for Bob. Three of his chicks reached the fledgling state – this milestone of flight is the metric for a successful breeding season.

Things have not always gone so well for Bob. In 2012 his mate was killed by a predator and he couldn’t incubate their eggs alone, so the nest was abandoned and he didn’t find a new mate. In 2013 Bob and his new mate (Kelly) were down to their last remaining chick when a ghost crab snatched and dragged it down its burrow. We dug the chick out, but it died soon after in rehab. In 2014 Bob and Kelly’s chicks died quickly at the hands of an unknown predator. In 2015 a nest camera painfully showed Bob’s chicks being eaten by a fox just after they hatched and were still lying in the nest bowl.

Flash forward to this year and Bob was part of the last piping plover pair left nesting in Avalon, once a thriving breeding site with as many as eight pairs. His long-time mate Kelly left him for another male at Stone Harbor Point, but he found a new mate and finally they have met success. Given all that has happened to Bob, you can see why we are happy for him (and Emily) today!

Sadly, this five year “drama” is not an especially unusual story for piping plovers. Their existence, especially here in New Jersey, is seemingly “against all odds”. In addition to the predators, they face a multitude of threats, direct and indirect, such as human disturbance as a result of heavy recreational use of beaches, habitat loss and degradation, and flooding, to name a few. Each year CWF and a host of partners throughout coastal New Jersey mount an extensive effort to protect piping plovers and other endangered beach nesting birds such as least terns and black skimmers. Without this active protection and management these birds would probably disappear from most of our state’s beaches.

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LEARN MORE

• Conserve Wildlife Foundation Beach Nesting Bird Project
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation Field Guide: Piping Plover

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NEW, WEEKLY UPDATES FROM NEW JERSEY’S BEACH NESTING BIRD PROJECT TEAM

by Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager

So far our weekly beach nesting bird updates have focused on statewide trends, but this week we are going to feature one special pair of piping plovers.

The story actually starts in the summer 1989…Ronald Reagan had just left the White House and the Berlin Wall would fall a few months later. It was also the last time a piping plover nested on the miles of oceanfront beaches at Island Beach State Park. That all changed in May of this year, when a pair of plovers was observed exhibiting breeding behavior at the southern portion of the park close to the inlet jetty. Eventually they laid four eggs, a cage was erected around the nest to protect it from predators, and right on schedule over the July 4th weekend, four itty-bitty chicks emerged. A week later, three chicks have survived the daily battles with predators (i.e. fox, crows, gulls) and a heat wave. The story isn’t over yet, we won’t know for another 3 weeks or so if they survive to the stage where they can fly, which is our metric for success.

Regardless of the outcome, this pair being at Island Beach State Park symbolizes an interesting point in New Jersey’s conservation efforts to recover this federally threatened and state endangered species. 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of federal listing for the Atlantic coast population of piping plovers, and with it extensive management to aid recovery. Those management efforts have led to varying results in New Jersey; our population has swung from a low of 92 pairs to a high of 144 pairs, but mostly settling in around 120 pairs. We are currently in a slight upswing, but the bottom line is New Jersey is a tough place for piping plovers to successfully breed – it represents a convergence of all the significant threats the birds face.

Why did piping plovers suddenly show up at Island Beach State Park again this year? Well, we may never know for sure, but we do think Hurricane Sandy probably had a part in it. While it was wrecking destruction up and down the Jersey Coast, Hurricane Sandy was also creating the kind of sparse, open habitat where piping plovers prefer to nest. Some of that was created at Island Beach, and soon after Sandy, we noted some “prospecting” plovers at the park. Nothing came of that, but meanwhile piping plover action was heating up just a little bit south on LBI at the Holgate Unit of the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR and just across the inlet at Barnegat Light. The storm created especially good conditions for piping plovers in those locations, including a giant “overwash” at Holgate, which in turn attracted more and more plovers, which produced a “bumper crop” of young fledglings. Barnegat Light only had one remaining plover, but it produced well above average numbers of fledglings for several years in a row.

Quick biology lesson…piping plovers exhibit very strong site fidelity, so the adults tend to come back to the same site year after year, often the same patch of beach. That includes their young, but they have to forge their own territory as existing pairs fiercely defend their established territory. This year we have seen a bump from one to four pairs in the Barnegat Inlet area and one of the new breeding birds was born last year at Holgate (we know that from bands now being placed on the birds by researchers). With Holgate reaching capacity, the returning young are looking nearby for other places to nest. The Island Beach plovers are not banded, but the banding in this area is new in our state, so they might also be young from previous successful nests at Barnegat Light.

At the moment New Jersey has high concentrations of piping plovers at Sandy Hook and the Forsythe NWR, over three-quarters of the state population occurs at these federal properties. They are performing well at these sites for now, but habitat conditions change quickly along the coast and real recovery has to happen over a wider geographic area. For any significant population rebound to occur, new sites need to be colonized, so the piping plovers at Island Beach State Park this year may be a small sign of that starting to happen.

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LEARN MORE

• Conserve Wildlife Foundation Beach Nesting Bird Project
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation Field Guide: Piping Plover

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NEW JERSEY’S HIDDEN COAST – EPISODE 4

By Emily Hofmann, Assistant Communications Manager

Periodic storms are an unavoidable fact of life when you live along the coast. In rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy, we realized we needed a new way of thinking about beach restoration on New Jersey’s Hidden Coast – the Delaware Bayshore. Storms like Sandy and Katrina have shown us that the most effective way to control storm surge is to follow Mother Nature’s lead. The restoration of tidal wetlands, or marshes, will help absorb the brunt of coastal storms, acting as a buffer between the beaches and the mainland.

 

 

Learn more about marsh restoration – one of the key components to rebuilding coastal beaches – in the fourth episode of our video series.

 

A new episode of our video series “New Jersey’s Hidden Coast” will air every two weeks throughout the summer! Catch a glimpse of the bay, the horseshoe crab at the center of the bay’s system, and the incredible relationship between horseshoe crabs and migratory birds, like the red knot. We will reveal the real value of horseshoe crabs, the challenges to the ecosystem, and the potential for a thriving regional economy along the Bayshore. We will show Hurricane Sandy as a catalyst for decisive action and the work being done to rebuild the area for both people and wildlife.

 

Over the next several weeks, we will explore the use of “living shorelines” instead of bulkheads and the central importance of marshes to the marine ecosystem. We will discover the on-the-ground, grassroots efforts of the community to build oyster reefs alongside veterans. And we will examine the future of the Bay and the work that needs to be done to preserve our conservation successes thus far.

 

Discover Delaware Bay:

• Explore cultural sites and other points of interest in Cumberland County
• Grab a meal and a place to stay in Cape May County
• Where to see horseshoe crabs and shorebirds
• Learn more about our work to restore Delaware Bay at RestoreNJBayshore.org

 

CWF’S DAVID WHEELER DISCUSSES WILDLIFE ON FOX NEWS WITH ERNIE ANASTOS

CWF Executive Director David Wheeler joined Fox News legend Ernie Anastos for a studio interview on Wednesday night about the threats of exotic pets and the safe opportunities to engage with wildlife in the metropolitan area. You can view the piece here, with the studio interview beginning at the 2:25 mark of the clip.

NEW, WEEKLY UPDATES FROM NEW JERSEY’S BEACH NESTING BIRD PROJECT TEAM

by Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager

While the July 4th holiday weekend is the celebratory peak of the summer season for beachgoers, it is not a joyous time for beachnester staff or beach nesting birds. The holiday brings an extra crush of people out on the beaches at the most critical time for our endangered nesting shorebirds. Nearly all the species – piping plover, least tern, black skimmer, and American oystercatcher – are at the peak of their breeding seasons in late June/early July so the holiday is sometimes a “make it or break it” day or in the case this year a long weekend.

So our beachnester staff went into overdrive this weekend, working extra hours to guard and monitor nesting sites, both day AND night. Fireworks, the symbol and heart of any July 4 celebration, are especially problematic. The disturbance from the fireworks themselves can be an issue, but the extra large crowds (and typically extra boisterous behavior) on the beaches at night can be a deadly combination for the beach nesting birds. Personal fireworks in proximity to nesting colonies also have to be “policed” by our staff and volunteers.

With this year’s holiday now just passed, it looks like our efforts largely paid off. There were areas where protective fence was vandalized and had to be restored, and some minor bird losses were documented this weekend, but it was fortunately minimized this year. With that in mind, we are sending an extra special thanks out today to the dedicated beachnester staff members and volunteers, not just in New Jersey but across the entire breeding range, for their hard work this weekend and throughout the season.

The bird’s still have several weeks to go before we’ll know if the season was a success overall (stay tuned for that news), but “holding down the fort” on July 4 is one more challenge that is now in the books for this year.

Juvenile Eagles take their first flights.

by: Larissa Smith, CWF Wildlife Biologist

So far this Eagle Nesting season 82 young eagles have been reported to have fledged (taken their first flight). Juvenile eagles will spend the next few weeks in the nest area strengthening their flying and hunting skills. The first year morality rate for first year eagles is high due to their inexperience. We wish all the NJ fledglings safe travels, and look forward to some returning to NJ to nest in the future.

 

Learn the Facts about a Common New Jersey Amphibian

by Liam Hobbie, Field Intern

Did you know that wetlands are very important habitats that provide benefits for both humans and wildlife alike? Generally defined as “land consisting of marshes or swamps”, wetlands provide natural flood control by soaking up runoff from heavy rains and filter out chemicals, pollutants, and sediments that would otherwise contaminate our drinking water. They also provide a home for much of the fish and wildlife species that inhabit the state of New Jersey.

 

Due to the extensive development and urbanization of the state to accommodate our ever-growing population, much of New Jersey’s natural wetlands have ceased to exist. In the 1980’s a study conducted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) found that, since the mid-1900’s, the state lost at least 20 percent of its natural wetland resources. Since then, concerted efforts have been made to protect, restore, and create wetland habitats across the state. One such effort has been made by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) with the Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) project, a component of The Agricultural Conservation Program in partnership with Conserve Wildlife Foundation. WRE is a voluntary program that provides an opportunity for landowners to receive financial assistance in exchange for permanently protecting retired agricultural land.

While walking one such easement property in Bedminster, Somerset County we observed a population of American Toad (Anaxyrus americanus) polliwogs in a shallow water inlet along the Lamington River. There had to be hundreds of these young toads both in the water and on the shore. The American toad is just one example of a wildlife species that benefits from readily available wetland habitat and that is also vulnerable to habitat loss due to wetland destruction. Although they are very common in New Jersey, and many people can recognize a toad when they see one, there are still a handful of myths and misconceptions about toads that I would like to address.

Myth 1 – Toads will give you warts if you touch them: False. While toads do have warts across their bodies, they cannot transmit these warts to humans as warts in people are actually caused by a virus. This doesn’t mean you should go around handling every toad you come across, but if you do pick one up you will not contract warts from it.

 

Myth 2 – Toads must be completely safe to handle if they do not transmit warts: False. Toads secrete toxins through their skin so it is completely necessary to wash one’s hands after handling a toad. They also are known to pee in self-defense, especially when picked up by a human. This may not bother some people but you should still make sure to wash your hands after holding one.

 

Myth 3 – Wild-caught toads make good pets: False. While toads are very easy to care for, and it is not hard to replicate their natural environment in a fish tank, it is still very important to leave wild toads wherever you find them. Toads will spend their whole lives in one area, leaving it once or twice a year just to go breed, and it can be very disruptive to a toad’s well-being to find itself in a new home. If you do happen to keep a toad for more than a few minutes, it is of utmost importance that it gets returned to exactly where you found it. Releasing it into any suitable habitat would seem adequate enough, but it would be like if one day you just found yourself wandering around Nebraska with no way of knowing where to go or how to get home!

 

Myth 4 – Toads are terrestrial species and do not need to be near water to thrive: False. Toads will spend most of their lives hanging out in fields or meadows or even forests, but they do need access to pools of water in order to breed. Every summer, toads will migrate to pools to find mates and to lay eggs. While they do not swim, like their close relative the frog, they still benefit from having shallow water habitat in close proximity to where they spend most of their time.

 

Myth 5 – Toads are poisonous: TRUE. Contact with a toad’s skin will not give you warts and it will not poison you just through skin-to-skin contact. However, they have glands just behind their eyes that when pressed will secrete a milky-white substance that can severely harm someone if ingested. This may not be a danger to most people, as most humans have no interest in putting toads in their mouths, but it is a concern for dogs. Dogs very typically love to grab strange objects with their mouths, which applies enough pressure to a toad’s glands to excrete their poison. This can be very detrimental to a canine’s health and can even kill them. If you find yourself wandering around toad habitats with your beloved pup ensure that they do not try to eat any toads that they come across. If your dog does mistakenly poison itself you should take it to a vet immediately.

 

Through programs like WRE, more and more wetland habitats are being made available across the state for wildlife species like toads. It is important to be aware of what impact you can have on them, as well as what could happen to you or your pet through contact with toads.

 

Learn More:

• Wetland Reserve Easement

 

Liam Hobbie is a 2016 field intern for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.