Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) works hard every summer to protect New Jersey’s bats by employing continuous research, education and outreach endeavors. Our Summer Bat Count project and Mobile Acoustic Surveys, both in collaboration with the State’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP), are essential components of these efforts, enabling us to gather and document crucial information about bat populations within the state.
Since 2003, the Summer Bat Count project has relied upon the commitment of dedicated volunteers. Equipped with only a fresh set of eyes, these volunteers tally bat populations at known summer roost sites, whether it be a bat house, attic, bridge or church. The project’s primary goal is to gain a deeper insight into the distribution of bats across the state, their preferred roosting conditions and the fluctuations in population over time. While the outcomes of this year’s survey are still pending, emergence surveys during the 2022 maternity season revealed a noteworthy increase in bats for a particular roost in Warren County. This roost has been consistently monitored, with data dating back before the introduction of White-nose Syndrome.
Ben Wurst, Conserve Wildlife Foundation Biologist, with peregrine falcon.
The peregrine falcon’s New Jersey comeback story continued in 2019. The number of young produced rose slightly to 78 in 2019, as compared to 75 in 2018. The adult population was slightly lower at 38 known pairs, as compared to 40 known pairs in 2018.
Peregrine falcon populations had plummeted across much of the United States due to widespread use of the pesticide DDT before it was banned in 1972. Since the early 1980’s, peregrine falcons have been recovering at a slow but steady pace in New Jersey. While population numbers continue to increase, peregrine falcons still face a number of serious threats in New Jersey, particularly contaminants like pesticides, PCBs, and heavy metals in the food web.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) and our partner New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) recently released the 2019 New Jersey Peregrine Falcon Research and Management Program Report highlighting the continued recovery of the peregrine falcon in New Jersey.
Lead poisoning continues to be a serious issue affecting Bald Eagles today. CWF and ENSP biologists produced a brochure to educate hunters about this issue and ask for their help. Below is an excerpt from the brochure. Please view the entire brochure and pass along to anyone you know who is a hunter.
One person can make a difference!
Thank you.
Eagle with lead poisoning at Tri-State Bird Rescue@Erica Miller
“Bald Eagles have made an amazing recovery in NJ since the 1980s. Today the eagle population still faces challenges and one of those is lead poisoning. Lead in the environment is dangerous to eagles as well as humans, and is often deadly. Unintentional poisoning of eagles can occur when they scavenge gut piles from deer or other game species shot with lead ammunition. It takes just a tiny fragment of lead to sicken and kill an eagle. Each year avian rehabilitators receive eagles that are diagnosed with lead poisoning and most will die. There is no good treatment for lead poisoning.”
On August 20th, 2018 a resident of Monmouth Beach reported a young eagle that had been perching in the neighborhood and was possibly injured. NJ Eagle Project Volunteer Randy Lubischer, was able to respond and check out the situation. The bird was a hatch year eagle, which means it fledged during this nesting season. The eagle was feeding on a swan carcass and though Randy could get fairly close, the bird was able to fly a short distance and appeared to have an injury to its left leg. The eagle had been seen feeding on the swan carcass for the past few days, so it was assumed that its injury was keeping it from hunting and the bird would only get weaker over time.
Volunteer Nicole Dion ready to conduct mobile acoustic survey
Across the country bat populations continue to decline due to the threat of White Nose Syndrome. Last year, to collect important population data to monitor population trends of New Jersey’s bat species, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF), in partnership with Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP), re-launched their Statewide Mobile Acoustic Surveys with new equipment and protocol. With all the kinks of a revamped project worked out, CWF entered their second year of this project. Continue reading “Acoustic Monitoring Drives Efforts to Save Bats”
We are honored to have Diane Cook as a guest blogger, over the next few months. Diane will be discussing Duke Farms eagle cam and how she uses it in her classroom. Diane is a K-2 Technology Literacy teacher at both Copper Hill and Robert Hunter Elementary schools. She has been an avid and enthusiastic eagle cam viewer since 2008 and now she is the official nest monitor for the Duke Farms nest. As the monitor Diane records important data into the Eagle Project database, Nest Story. Diane also uses the eagle cam in her classroom and was the winner of a contest held by Duke Farms and CWF in 2015, to choose the best bald eagle lesson plan.
Diane was home from school during yesterday’s snowstorm and able to document the eagles during the storm.
March 7, 2108, Diane Cook’s blog
Thankfully the live cam was back up and running by the time school started on Monday following the first Nor’easter to hit our part of NJ. Was glad to be able to tell the students all was well, and that they could see for themselves! The good news was soon replaced by worry with yet another Nor’easter predicted for today. The day began slowly. Yes, it was snowing, but lightly. Things didn’t look too bad.
Within minutes, the snow really picked up in intensity. The storm hit quickly and the snow fell fast and heavy. Within minutes snow had covered the ground.
There was an exchange at some point on the nest. Mom won the rights to incubation. Then something I’ve never seen before happened. BOTH eagles stayed on the nest through the storm. They laid side by side.
Thanks to Charles T. Barreca who mans the camera at Duke Farms for the awesome close up view. As the camera moved, the eagles looked up at the noise.
They would shake off the snow, but remained on the nest together.
More snow fell. Still the eagles sat.
Finally the male flew off the nest, but stayed on a nearby branch.
No matter how much snow fell, these dedicated parents remain with their eggs and incubation continues.
Over the past two years, our team, with the help of funding from the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, has worked to create critical habitat maps and detailed threat maps for at-risk shorebird species in Northern Brazil and in Tierra Del Fuego, Chile. These projects have established the foundation for conservation planning in these important wintering areas for migratory shorebirds like red knots.
Brazil:
Two years ago, our team began working in Northern, Brazil covering the Atlantic coastline of both Pará and Maranhão state between Belém and São Luís. Our team conducted two successful excursions to Brazil taking point count surveys of wading shorebirds collecting approximately 44,700 individual bird sightings to add to the database our team created for the critical habitat maps (Figures 1 & 2).
Figure 2. Results from the 2017 point count survey
Figure 1. Results from the 2016 point count survey
David Santos and Larry Niles conduct point sampling surveys in Maranhão Brazil.
We conducted surveys using point count methods using fixed radius plots positioned along transects, with all wading birds counted within the 250m radius. Transects were conducted by either walking or while in a boat across various tidal stages and a variety of habitat types including mangrove creeks, sand flats, mudflats and beaches.
Brazil Team: Carla Meneguin, Paulo Siqueira, Ana Paula Sousa, Larry Niles, Juliana Almeida, Carmem Fedrizzi Joe Smith, Stephanie Feigin, Yann Rochepault, Laura Reis and Christophe Buiden (photo by Juliana Almeida)
Our team then created threat maps of the region from coastal development, mining operations, offshore drilling, and shrimp farming to help inform future conservation planning and mitigate impacts of these activities to the critical shorebird habitat in the region.
Chile:
This year, with a second round of funding, our team conducted work in Tierra Del Fuego, Chile to create critical habitat and detailed threat maps for Bahia Lomas in Chile. Bahia Lomas is both a globally significant RAMSAR wetlands site and a Western Hemisphere shorebird site of hemispheric importance.
Shorebirds in Bahia Lomas
Historically, Bahía Lomas and nearby Rio Grande supported wintering populations of 67,000 red knots – the largest wintering area for knots in the Western Hemisphere. In the last 30 years, however, the population has declined to less than 15,000 knots in Bahía Lomas and the population in Rio Grande is functionally extinct (Morrison et al 1989).
Aerial Survey over Bahia Lomas
This January our team conducted surveys along the coast of Bahia Lomas to understand distribution of shorebird species within the region, using the same sampling methods, study key roosting and feeding habitats, and delineate critical habitat and threats to the region to inform future conservation and minimize impacts to shorebird populations.
Team in Chile including Ross Wood, Stu Mackenzie, Carmen Espoz, Larry Niles, Joe Smith, Yann Rochepault, Christophe Buidin, Antonio Larrea, Richard Lathrop, Stephanie Feigin and Amanda Dey.
Over two weeks our team of New Jerseyans and Canadians conducted point-count sampling surveys throughout the bay with large assistance from our partners from Universidad Santo Tomás in Chile to determine key habitats. Additionally, our team conducted four aerial surveys to get species distribution counts on a large scale of the whole bay at various tide stages, as well as a helicopter survey to continue the population counts of the region done by Dr. Guy Morrison. Finally, our partners with the Universidad Santo Tomás conducted marine invertebrate sampling surveys. These data will be combined to aid in the creation of a GIS mapping system that can identify the most important shorebird habitats in the region.
In the next few months our team will use these data and overlay them with threat mapping to determine the critical habitats undergoing the greatest threats. This project is designed set the stage for proactive conservation planning that will mitigate future threats and will hopefully uncover the source of ongoing declines to the shorebirds in this region.
Citation:
Morrison R.I.G. & Ross R.K. (1989) Atlas of Nearctic shorebirds on the coast of South America. Canadian Wildlife Service Ottawa (Canada).
B/64 and mate have a successful 2017 nesting season.
CWF Biologist: Larissa Smith
B/64 & mate@ L. Oughton
In 2014 I first heard from Linda Oughton who watches an eagles in nest near Montgomery, PA. The female in the pair is a NJ banded bird, B/64, nick named “Jersey Girl”. She was banded in 2004 at the Hopewell West nest along the Cohansey River in Cumberland County.
This season Jersey Girl and her mate raised and fledged three chicks. Linda reports that they have fledged a total of 14 chicks since they first started nesting in 2010. It isn’t often that we know what happens to one of NJ eagles and we can only know if they were banded as chicks. Unfortunately many of the NJ banded eagles that are reported to us are either injured or dead. But in recent years re-sightings of green banded NJ birds are more common and we are aware of NJ banded eagles nesting in NJ as well as NY and CT.
Spotlight on the Bald Eagle’s All-American Comeback in New Jersey
by Lindsay McNamara, Communications Manager
Photo by Northside Jim.
In 1985 — just 31 years ago — a single bald eagle nest remained in the state of New Jersey. In 2015, CWF and partners monitored 161 nests throughout the Garden State. Just this year (as of June 20, 2016), over 50 young eagles have already fledged from their nests! What sparked this All-American comeback of the United States’ National Bird?
DDT use was banned in the United States in 1972. That ban combined with restoration efforts by biologists within the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) resulted in 25 bald eagle pairs by 2000.
Since then, CWF and ENSP biologists have worked together to not only conserve New Jersey’s existing bald eagle population, but help young eaglets in the state thrive. We manage the New Jersey Bald Eagle Project, a network of passionate, dedicated volunteers that monitor bald eagle nests and help reduce human disturbance in eagle habitats. These incredible volunteers, like the late Elmer Clegg, have been an integral part in the recovery of bald eagles throughout the Garden State.
CWF and ENSP have even begun tracking bald eagles to see where they travel and to learn more about their behavior! During the summer of 2014, two juvenile bald eagles were fitted with a GPS tracking device (a wearable backpack). Our team of biologists chose one eagle from Atlantic County (a male) and one from Cumberland County (a female) to be tagged in this telemetry study. Then in May 2015, a juvenile male from a nest in Cumberland County was fitted with another GPS transmitter. You can follow the journey of “Nacote” and “Oran” on our website.
CWF also partners with Duke Farms on a webcam that provides a live look at a bald eagle nest in Hillsborough, New Jersey. During the eagle nesting season (late January-July), the EagleCam allows viewers an up close and personal view into the lives of a pair of bald eagles as they breed, incubate, and raise young. Between the general public and classrooms up and down the east coast, the EagleCam has many fans – over 11 million viewers and growing! This year, CWF’s eagle expert Larissa Smith launched a new citizen science program to engage these viewers in gathering scientific data on the eagles’ diet.
Today, American Eagle Day, we celebrate the hard work of the biologists, volunteers and concerned citizens throughout New Jersey that have made a difference for the birds and contributed to their comeback.
The bald eagle was selected as the central image of the Great Seal of the United States by the Second Continental Congress on this day, June 20, in the year 1782. For 234 years, the bald eagle has served as the living symbol of freedom, courage, strength, spirit, democracy, independence, and excellence. Today, we celebrate the recovery of the bird and the All-American comeback the population has made in the Garden State.
Throughout the entire country, there are an estimated 14-15,000 bald eagle pairs! Though the bald eagle was removed from Endangered Species Act protection in 2007, it is still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The 501(c)(3), not-for-profit American Eagle Foundation (AEF) of Tennessee has been a major proponent and organizer in establishing and promoting “American Eagle Day.” The AEF is celebrating its 30th year of protecting and caring for bald eagles and other birds of prey. CWF thanks AEF for their support of our work in New Jersey!
“On American Eagle Day, and every day, let us continue to treasure and protect the Bald Eagle all across this great land for future generations to enjoy,” says AEF Founder and President Al Cecere, who has been spearheading the American Eagle Day effort for two decades.
