Tag: New Jersey

Ensuring Osprey Platforms Remain Resilient

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

On a brisk November morning, a couple dedicated NJ Osprey Project volunteers joined myself and CWF Biologist Larissa Smith to install an osprey platform on the coastal saltmarsh of New Jersey. The new platform was installed to replace a very old and unstable platform that fell this summer. The new structure is more than twice the size of the old one and will give the nesting pair, who return in the spring, a much more resilient nest site. As you can see from the video above, it takes a bit of strength to raise up a 16′ tall wood nest platform. We decided to slow it down when WCC Volunteer, Wayne R. gives it a final push. Continue reading “Video from the Field: Osprey Platform Install”

…thanks to help from some friends.

By: Larissa Smith, CWF Biologist

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.

Continue reading “Injured Eagle Flying Once Again”

The threats are real and these photos should alarm you!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

As I work to finalize data from this summer’s osprey surveys, I wanted to look back and highlight an important observation: more plastic is being found and recovered from active osprey nests. I guess it’s no surprise when you hear that “18 billion pounds of plastic waste flows into the oceans every year from coastal regions.” Continue reading “Documenting the presence of plastics in osprey nests”

Long Beach Island video series highlights coastal birds of prey and “Junior,” from the Jersey City Falcon Cam!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

When we were contacted to be a part of this LBI centered documentary series, we knew that we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share some of our work with coastal raptors, like the osprey and peregrine falcon, and their importance in the local environment and economy. In this video you’ll see us banding “Junior,” who hatched at the Jersey City Falcon Cam this spring, but was removed from his nest after being examined and found to be malnourished. We was fostered into the falcon nest at Sedge Island. You’ll also see video of ospreys on their nest at sites surrounding Long Beach Island, and interviews with my friend, and CWF supporter, Northside Jim, and Kathy Clark, ENSP Supervisory Zoologist.  Continue reading “Just Beneath the Surface: Junior’s 5 Seconds of Fame”

Enriching Learning Experiences while Enhancing Biodiversity

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Bass River Elementary is a small school located in Bass River Township, Burlington County. Students and faculty are passionate about protecting wildlife and the habitat that’s required to survive. From headstarting hatching N. diamondback terrapins, composting, and raising monarch caterpillars, they know that hands on education is key to engaging future generations to care about our environment. We knew it would be the perfect place to create a wildflower garden to provide food for nectar feeding insects! Continue reading “Bass River Students Enhance Pollinator Habitat”

Insight Into Important (Bio)Indicators: Ospreys

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Mid-summer marks the nestling period of nesting ospreys, a coastal raptor, whose diet consists mainly of fish. As a state that’s heavily influenced by its location along the Atlantic Ocean, they play a critical role in our coastal ecosystem. Ospreys are important bioindicators of the health of our coastal waters, through the lens of their prey, where pollutants are biomagnified through the food chain. As we consume many of the same fish, they show the effects of these pollutants long before humans, so the health of their population has implications for our coastal waters and us! Continue reading “2018 Osprey Outlook”

Thanks to dedicated Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ staff and volunteers three osprey chicks were saved from what could have been an unhappy fate.

NJ Osprey Project Volunteers Matt Tribulski, Wayne Russell and John King were surveying osprey nests in the Wildwood back bay area this past weekend. They checked on a nest with three chicks and found that the platform top was broken and a strong possibility it could collapse, especially with any heavy rains or winds. The chicks weren’t old enough to fly and would have fallen to the marsh and died. Continue reading “Osprey Chicks Get A Necessary “Home” Upgrade”

“Harmony 2”, photographed in CT and doing well.

by: Larissa Smith, CWF biologist

Andrew Drummond captured this image of “Harmony 2” on Memorial Day in Marlboro, VT.  She was banded as D/64 and outfitted with a transmitter May 29th, 2012 at  Merrill Creek, Warren County.  We have since been following her movements on Eagle Trax.  She fledged in 2012 and spent her first winter on the lower Chesapeake Bay before traveling to Maine. She has spent the last five years in a 100-mile swath of western Connecticut and Massachusetts, and now into southern Vermont. She is of breeding age so we suspect that she will be nesting in the area next season.

One Might Ask, Aren’t all Falcons Feisty?

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Bald eagle rescued, rehabilitated and released with satellite transmitter to track movements

by Kathy Clark, Endangered & Nongame Species Program, NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife

On Sunday, April 15^th, I got a call that three bald eagles were spotted in a farm field. Not too unusual in rural Salem County, but this good neighbor was rightly concerned that something was wrong.  Pedricktown resident Steve Wilson approached the eagles and not only did they not fly away from him, but two could barely sit upright and a third was stumbling away.  Steve made phone calls and, at 7:30 at night, couldn’t reach any of the wildlife centers or offices.  Persisting, he made a connection with Dr. Erica Miller, a wildlife veterinarian who for over 20 years was both clinician and surgeon at Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research in Newark, Delaware.  Erica is also a long-time partner on the NJ Bald Eagle Project, and called me about 7:45 that evening. Continue reading “Quick Action Ensures Survival of Poisoned Eagles”