Tag: NJ

Early results are good; public needed to help determine size of population

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

I just wrapped up the most intense field season in my entire career. In cooperation with NJ Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program I help to monitor and manage the state population of ospreys. For the first time in four years we are conducting a statewide census for nesting ospreys. Almost all areas that I’ve surveyed, from Monmouth Beach to Atlantic City (and Wildwood) have done quite well, and the effects of Sandy on nesting ospreys appears to be minor.

Barnegat Bay is an area where I’ve concentrated much of my work. Over the past 5 years the number of available nesting platforms has tripled, from only a handful to over 50. Almost every platform was active this year. Amazing enough, this year on Barnegat Bay, a total of four nests produced four young each (one can be viewed on a live streaming camera at Island Beach State Park)!! This is quite a rare occurrence and is something I’ve never seen, especially for all of them to be on the same watershed is simply amazing!! Full results from all the surveys will be released in early fall. All of the data collected from surveys will be used in the census and we are looking for the public to help fill in valuable gaps in data.

Ospreys are indicators of a healthy marine environment. Ospreys are top tier predators who feed exclusively on fish. Many contaminants runoff into our coastal waters and over time become biomagnified through the food chain. Ospreys are extremely sensitive to many contaminants, including organochlorine pesticides (DDT), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and heavy metals. Since ospreys eat the same fish that we do, then their health also has implications for people. So, the bottom line is that it is important to monitor the nesting activity of ospreys in New Jersey!

We need your help:

For the first time in the project’s history we’re attempting a statewide census of nesting ospreys without the use of aerial surveys! This was a common (and very effective) way of surveying large areas in a short amount of time with only very minimal staff effort. Some things have changed since the 1970s and 80s….the survival of ospreys are not in jeopardy and helicopter surveys are much more expensive now! Over the past 6+ years, with help from many dedicated volunteers, we have surveyed around 70% of the known population in New Jersey. This year, CWF and NJ Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program decided to release the locations of almost 1,000 known nest sites for ospreys to the Center for Conservation Biology’s Osprey Watch, a global osprey watching community website.

On Osprey Watch anyone can see nest sites and then report nesting activity at those nests. Users can join our monitoring group “New Jersey Osprey Project” and report on any nests they watch or where we are lacking data. You can also map new nests, add photos, and even indicate the type of nesting structure. It’s a pretty awesome website for anyone who is into ospreys!! 🙂

• View maps of areas where observations are needed

Three healthy hatchlings at Forsythe NWR!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

If you haven’t noticed, we now have three healthy osprey nestlings at the nest at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville, as viewed by our Osprey Cam. The first chick hatched on May 25th, the second on the 26th, and the third on the 28th. The eggs hatched in the order they were laid, referred to as asynchronous hatching. The incubation period was ~38 days for all three eggs (average is 35-37 in NJ; 32-43 throughout their range). With the cooler temperatures the longer period is expected. Osprey young are born semi-altricial, or are downy and require close parental care to survive. The male osprey has been very busy foraging and catching more prey to feed all the hungry mouths. Have you tried to identify the prey that they’ve brought in?

• Watch the Osprey Cam

Spy cam helps ID nesting pairs

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Last year 26 nesting pairs of peregrine falcons were monitored in New Jersey. The core of the state population nests on towers (old hacking towers) and on buildings in urban areas. Each spring we assist NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program to help monitor the core of the population by performing nest checks and by installing a remote, motion-activated “spy” cam in nests to record the adults as they enter and exit nests. The footage captures the legs of peregrines. Why? Many peregrines are banded before they can fly with a federal USGS bird band and a state bi-color, alpha-numeric band. The state bi-color band can be read from the video captured by the camera.  The information that these identifications provide is immensely valuable for relating peregrine origin and age to nest success, site fidelity and turnover rate in the population.

Here is a short clip from a nest site in Ocean Gate and the bird in the video was identified as a male (*8/*5, black/green) that was banded in 2005 at Sedge Island.

together on the Delaware Bay

by Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist/Volunteer Coordinator

Once again migratory shorebirds, including the NJ endangered red knot, have returned to the Delaware Bay to feed on horseshoe crab eggs.  This annual phenomenon brings people from around the world to the Delaware Bay beaches.

Beaches are closed during the migration from May 7th through June 7th to protect the shorebirds from disturbance when feeding.  Just as the birds return each year so do volunteer Shorebird Stewards who educate the public about the beach closures , shorebirds and horseshoe crabs on nine beaches in Cape May and Cumberland County.  Now is a great to come out to the beaches to view shorebirds and crabs and say “hi” to the stewards.

This year the hot spots for shorebirds  in Cape May County  are Reed’s , Cook’s  and Kimble’s Beaches and  Fortescue in Cumberland County.

Single use plastic bag wrapped around ospreys neck…

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

We had quite a scare last week, on April 30th around 12:30pm, after getting a report from an observer of our Osprey Cam on our Facebook page. A single use plastic shopping bag had gotten wrapped around the neck of the incubating female. After getting the report we started to monitor the situation to see how it would unfold. The bag was loosely wrapped, so we hoped she would be able to free herself…which she did after an hour.

A lot of viewers and FB fans were asking why we weren’t going out to remove the bag from her neck. We answered each and every question to help make sure people knew that we were doing everything we could to protect her safety. First, we couldn’t just walk out to the nest (which is out in the middle of the salt marsh) without the female reacting to us and flying off the nest (with the plastic bag around her neck). Her flying off the nest with the bag around her neck would have only caused even more harm to her. She could have gotten snagged on a piece of nesting material and in the struggle could have choked to death or she could have fractured one of her eggs… Second, if she would have been tied down to the nest, then we would have enacted a plan to go out to the nest (after a certain amount of time) and released her. Our policy is that we will only intervene if it is a life or death situation. When we enter their nest sites we introduce stress to the birds which can ultimately do more harm than good. Finally, at least we have a camera to monitor the nest! Think of all the other 500+ nests in New Jersey where we only go out to monitor them once or twice during the nesting season. So much plastic winds up in osprey nests that it is a serious concern. People need to be more aware of their surroundings and do their best to make sure waste is properly disposed of.

There are ways you can help make a difference:

1. Reduce the amount of stuff you buy and the amount of trash you produce
2. Reuse what you can, recycle what you can’t
3. Pick up litter when you see it. There is a great movement in Australia called “Take 3” and their message is simple: “Take three pieces of rubbish with you when you leave the beach, waterway or… anywhere and you have made a difference.”  
4. Stop or reduce your dependence on single use plastics
5. Use reusable shopping bags
6. Don’t release balloons!

Statistics for plastic recycling are dismal… According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “In 2010, the category of plastics which includes bags, sacks, and wraps was recycled at almost 12 percent.” We’re lucky that she was able to free herself. This just proves that ospreys do not have an easy life. There are many threats to ospreys and they have very high mortality rates, which are around 80%.

On the positive side, the female and male continue to incubate three eggs at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR. We should start to watch for hatching around May 19-20th. We have been writing nest news with other life history information on a weekly basis on our Osprey Cam page.

• Check out the live Osprey Cam

Meet the osprey pair at Nest #2835

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

I must admit, I’ve been anxious for the return of this pair of ospreys (and all others for that matter). The return of ospreys is a sign of spring, regrowth, and of recovery (from the effects of Superstorm Sandy) as we watch them rebuild their nests as we have helped to repair and replace many of their nesting platforms throughout our coast.

Over the past 6 weeks I had the task of installing a new remote/solar powered/high definition camera system on the coastal salt marsh of New Jersey. The camera system was installed inside Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville next to an existing osprey nesting platform. The camera system streams live video 24/7 from the nest to the Visitor’s Center at Forsythe and on our website. Since the system has been installed we’ve had crows, peregrine falcons (one that was a juvenile who was ID’d by her leg band and originated in Delaware), and a great horned owl (not good since owls are predators of osprey young) perch on the platform.

The nesting pair of ospreys arrived back from their wintering grounds on Friday, March 29th. We don’t know anything about the breeding pair other than neither is banded with USGS bird bands. The female has a very heavily streaked and prominent “necklace” of brown feathers on her breast. The male is  smaller and has a bright white breast. Since arrived they have already been copulating (breeding) on the nest and will continue to do so over the next few weeks until the female will lay eggs in late April. For now they will continue to spruce up their nest and the male will perform courtship displays, after a successful hunt or while carrying nesting material, near the nest to help strengthen their pair bond.

There is a microphone out at the nest and it works. Some issues have come up with pairing the sound and video feeds and we are working on getting that sound online. I will be writing a weekly “Nest Cam News” journal on the Osprey Cam page with information about osprey reproduction, life history and other cool facts about ospreys! Some other great news is that the Wildlife Drive at Forsythe NWR will be open this weekend!!

• Check out the Osprey Cam!

Ospreys are back and in need of nesting platforms

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

As you may know, ospreys are returning to New Jersey from their wintering grounds in the tropics. Most North American ospreys winter in N. South America, with large concentrations in Columbia. Our “jersey birds” are unaware that our coast was devastated by a huge post-tropical storm in late October last year. Some might be coming home to nests that were damaged or lost to Superstorm Sandy. We’re working diligently to replace or repair any and all platforms that were damaged by the storm. Last week we replaced the first nesting platform in Ocean City. We were lucky to have met a local filmmaker who put together this short film.

Giving Peregrine falcons a safe place to nest

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

We just wrapped up a new project to install a new nesting tower for peregrine falcons along the Atlantic Coast of New Jersey. The tower was installed as mitigation for the construction of a new bridge that spans the Great Egg Bay from Somers Point to Marmora. Previously, in 2012 a pair of peregrine were found to be nesting under the Garden State Parkway bridge and had young. The nest was monitored for the remainder of the nesting season and it was determined that all of the young that had hatched most likely did not survive. The nest was located high up on a pier under the bridge and in that situation it would make it really hard for the young to strengthen their flight muscles and fledge the nest. When the ground under the nest is covered by water this also reduces their likelyhood of fledging.

We hope this new platform becomes occupied and that it helps contribute to the small population of peregrines in New Jersey. Thank you to all the staff from the Endangered & Nongame Species Program and the several volunteers who helped to install the platform!

Conserve Wildlife to repair or replace any platforms lost from Sandy

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

On Saturday, January 19, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ (CWF) will host an osprey platform construction day from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area in Woodbine, New Jersey. Volunteers who signed up in advance are helping to build up to 20 new platforms to replace those lost or damaged in Superstorm Sandy.

Constructing these platforms now will allow CWF time to install them before the start of the osprey nesting season in April. Ospreys mate for life and typically return to the same nest year after year.

Since Sandy slammed into the coast of New Jersey in late October, biologists with CWF have been actively surveying and assessing damage to habitat that wildlife needs to survive. Many osprey nesting platforms were right in the middle of the high winds and strong storm surge associated with Sandy. The majority of the platforms weathered the storm; others need repairs or must be replaced. We have already installed 5 new nesting platforms. Two platforms were installed on December 1st on Herring Island (N. Barnegat Bay) in an area of homes that sustained significant damage. The other three platforms were installed in the Wildwood area.

• Read the full press release
• Report a platform that is missing or damaged
• Learn more about our Osprey Project

Helping wildlife affected by Sandy

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Since Sandy slammed into the coast of New Jersey we have been actively surveying damage to habitat that wildlife need to survive. Ospreys are currently on their wintering grounds in N. South America but their many nesting platforms were right in the middle of the high winds and strong storm surge from Sandy. For the most part, the majority of the platforms weathered the storm. Some of the old, small, and weak platforms were carried away with the surge (like this old duck blind on Herring Island on N. Barnegat Bay).

Ospreys mate for life and have a high level of site fidelity, so the nesting pair (if they survive the wintering season) will return to the same nest, and do so year after year. For the platforms that were occupied and washed away, we aren’t sitting around waiting for issues to arise when ospreys return to their nest sites next March. Since Sandy hit on October 29th we have already installed 5 new nesting platforms. Two platforms were installed on December 1st on Herring Island, which is right in the middle of the area where Sandy had devastating effects on the shoreline. The platforms were built before the storm by Point Pleasant resident Tom Vannostrand. The new platforms were installed to replace an old duck blind that was damaged late last year (possibly from Irene) and washed away by Sandy. When the pair of ospreys returned to nest on the blind this year they found that their nesting structure was damaged and attempted to build a nest on a nearby home. Long story short, the homeowners weren’t so happy and had the nest removed by USDA.

You can help us build and replace other platforms damaged by Sandy. On January 19th, from 10-3pm we are hosting a volunteer build day to construct 20 nesting platforms.