Tag: Shorebirds

An Update on This Season’s Horseshoe Crab Spawn and Shorebird Migration, Ten Days In

By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC

Thousands of shorebirds now fill Delaware Bay’s beaches and marshes in a determined effort to regain lost reserves with free-for-the-taking fatty eggs of the horseshoe crab. The crab spawn began ten days ago and has gained momentum over the last week as the volume of eggs grows like a well-funded savings account. The eggs surface as each new female crab digs up egg clusters laid by other crabs or as wind-driven waves pound the always-fluid sandy beaches. At least 8,000 red knots slowly get fat on the eggs scattered on New Jersey’s Delaware Bay beaches.

Both crabs and birds are the beneficiaries of the increasing number of beaches that are highly suitable for egg-laying. In October, 2012, Hurricane Sandy ravaged two-thirds of New Jersey’s best crab-spawning beaches, its strong westerly winds lifting sand and spreading it far from the sea’s edge. Left behind was a jagged sod bank, completely unsuitable for horseshoe crab breeding. The mucky sod starves eggs of oxygen or gasses them with hydrogen sulfide, the by-product of decaying mud.

 

The American Littoral Society, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation came to the rescue, restoring many of these beaches to a condition superior to that before Sandy. The restoration team even repaired damages that predated Sandy — beaches with tons of rubble that entrapped crabs in nasty concrete, killing them by the thousands. Now beaches like Thompson’s Beach and Fortescue Beach join the growing number of delicate sandy strands that provide excellent spawning habitat.

This week, eggs can be found in many places on the New Jersey side of Delaware Bay, and the birds have the freedom to move to those that best suit them. Earlier this month, strong northwest winds drove red knots from the Reeds Beach area to other, more northerly, beaches that saw good crab spawning — beaches that also provide shelter from the winds. Now that the wind and sea have calmed, the birds have returned to the Reeds Beach area, less than 20 miles away, and have resumed gorging on the plentiful eggs that built up in their absence.

If one were to look for any cloud on the Delaware Bay shorebird horizon, it would lie in the lack of any evidence of horseshoe crab recovery. The current, reduced, population of crabs spawned eggs in great numbers early this May because of a spike in the water temperature, a consequence of unusually warm weather.  So far the promise of this early spawn is holding, and crabs continue to spawn in good numbers. But will it hold until the end of May?

If not, the readers of this blog will witness the outcome. The graph below, developed by long-time team-member Dick Veitch tells the story of a past egg failure. In the early 2000’s, although the population of shorebirds had not yet declined to its current number, the crab population had already fallen to its current number, crushed by the onslaught of a poorly regulated fishing industry.  In those years, all the horseshoe crabs that could spawn had finished by the third week of May and egg densities on the bay plummeted. The birds crammed into the few beaches with eggs like Mispillion Harbor, Delaware, so densely that the beach reeked of off-gassing urinary ammonia.

 

But the number of eggs there was not sufficient to feed the still-large shorebird populations and birds failed to reach a weight – about 180g for red knots — suitable for their journey to the Arctic and subsequent breeding. Where once 80% reached the “good” weight, only 5% did in 2003 (see the second graph).

The percentage has improved thankfully, but only because the number of shorebirds have fallen over the last 10 years, bringing a balance of sorts. Hopefully, with the new beaches, the new protection afforded by the red knot listing and the growing number of volunteers taking part in conservation of the crab and birds, this kind of disaster is behind us.

We shall see.

 

Learn more:

• Delaware Bay Restoration – RestoreNJBayshore.org
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Delaware Bay Shorebird Project

Dr. Larry Niles has led efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years.

Another Season of the Delaware Bay Shorebird Project Underway

By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC

The value of a shorebird stopover like Delaware Bay can be seen in the shaky cam movie by this author.  Red knots – some recently arrived after a grueling 6,000-mile flight over 6 days of continuous flying – arrive on the Bayshore desperate for food. Over the last 10,000 years, the species has evolved to fly directly to the Bay to feed on the eggs of the horseshoe crab.

The 450-million year-old crab – which is actually in the spider family – crawls ashore and lays pin-sized eggs about 6 inches deep in the sand. When there are many crabs, as here on Delaware Bay, one crab often unearths the eggs of another. Thus they leave millions of fatty eggs on the surface, offering an energy-rich, soft feast for the starving birds. In turn, we get to watch the birds racing for an egg ‘hot spot’!

The birds often arrive beyond depleted. A normal weight for a knot is 130 grams.  Many arrive on Delaware Bay below 100 grams, the equivalent of a human in the throes of profound starvation. But when the birds fly north from the coast of northern Brazil, there’s no turning back. Once they go, they must go all the way.

This year, migrating shorebirds faced a freak tropical storm that could have forced them out to sea, far off-course.  In severe cases, some birds with no remaining fat reserves even metabolize their own muscles, like airplanes throwing out vital equipment to stay aloft. Storms can also prevent birds from lifting off on migratory flights. They are capable of detecting atmospheric pressure changes and can just stay put until a storm passes. We think this is what happened this week when a storm, followed by a strong cold front and consequent northwest winds, prevented a movement north.

The sum of these challenges was lower than normal shorebird numbers during the first week of the stopover. The Heislerville impoundments support a good number of short-billed dowitchers and dunlin, but these species usually arrive earlier than the others and probably came in ahead of the adverse winds. Yet there are very few ruddy turnstones, sanderlings and semipalmated sandpipers on the Bay.

The one exception on the Bay is the red knot. At first, we thought that only about 1,000 red knots had arrived in and around Reed’s Beach. Then Jerry Binsfeld and Peter Fullagar, Canadian and Aussie members of our team, found an amazing 7,000 knots at Gandys Beach on the northern Bayshore in New Jersey. Very likely, these are short-distance migrants, coming in from wintering areas in Florida, Georgia and the Caribbean.

Our catch results support this working hypothesis. The knots we caught at Fortescue were at higher weights than normal for this early part of the season, which would be expected if fewer very thin long-distance migrants were part of the average.

Another Season of the Delaware Bay Shorebird Project Underway

By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC

Our 2015 Delaware Bay Shorebird Project began on one of the hottest early-May weekends in memory. Clive Minton, an English-expatriate Australian, and I began the project with an early morning survey of each bay beach – Reeds, Cooks, Kimbles, Pierces, Rutgers, Norburys, Villas – dripping sweat and swatting biting gnats as though it was early June, not early May. The sudden burst of summer weather warmed the bay waters, triggering our first horseshoe crab spawn providing sufficient eggs for newly arriving birds.

 

The birds, on the other hand, followed a more normal schedule. We counted only 400 knots, a smaller number of ruddy turnstones and, surprisingly, no sanderlings. We know the birds are en route; Pat Leary in Florida and Fletcher Smith in Georgia report good numbers of knots, but the birds appear stuck because of the unsettled weather and the rare occurrence of a tropical storm making landfall in North Carolina over the weekend. Soon enough they will come.

The warm weather and the abundant crab spawn bode well for the birds – we want the early bird to gets eggs.  But they point to one of the many difficulties facing the red knot and other shorebirds. Will the insidious effects of climate change unravel this elegant machine that provides horseshoe crabs eggs just at the time Arctic-nesting shorebird need them to fly on to their breeding areas?

Our project is 19 years old and so provides a perspective virtually unique among wildlife projects. A long-running project of this kind has many advantages, not the least of which is the human family that has formed around our love of birds. We have nearly the same core team in 2015 as we did in 1997, losing and gaining a few team members as time marches on, but always maintaining an esprit de corp, a common purpose, a lasting bond. The shorebirds, the crabs and the many people who love the Delaware Bay owe a debt of gratitude to this team of intrepid researchers.

The project’s longevity also creates a perspective rare in the world of bird study. Over 19 years we have seen the collapse of the horseshoe crabs; the dramatic free fall of the red knot that resulted this year in a federal listing as Threatened; the rise of irresponsible commercial exploitation of the natural wealth of the bay; a devastating hurricane and more. And yet each year the birds arrive, the crabs spawn and our team coalesces from every corner of the world. Despite the problems and all the concern, the system persists.

 

But how long will the system persist?

 

The challenges faced by the birds grow every year. They cling to this amazing migratory bird like barnacles on a wooden boat.  Crabs have not recovered from the devastating overharvest of 15 years ago. The international drug cartels still drain the blood of crabs for the valuable chemical lysate without any responsible management. All the while shorebirds, the red knot in particular, face growing threats from climate change: more frequent storms, destroyed coastal habitat, rapidly-changing arctic tundra habitats.

Herein lies the value of a long-term study. This season’s unprecedented early spawn and warm weather could be good or bad.  Either way, by season’s end, the team’s dedication, skill, and plain hard work means we will know what happened and what it means compared to 18 other years.

 

Restoring Critical Delaware Bay Habitat for Migratory Shorebirds

By: Kelsey Lawler, Spring 2015 Intern

Saturday, May 9 is International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) 2015! It is time to celebrate and bring awareness to the spectacular event that is bird migration. Since 1993, IMBD has been serving as a celebration as well as a call to action for migratory bird conservation.

 

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey has been doing their part for bird conservation. We have developed a range of programs to increase the numbers of endangered migratory birds, like the Red Knot, since their decline in the late 1990’s.

 

Red Knots use New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore as a stopover for feeding after their long journey from the Arctic and South America. Delaware Bay plays a major part in the Red Knot life cycle, so we’ve focused our efforts on restoring this critical habitat. The Red Knot migration is timed to take advantage of the spawning of the horseshoe crabs that use the same beaches as breeding grounds. Their eggs provide a rich food source for the Red Knots at a time when they are in desperate need of nutrients.

 

We have been working to benefit both horseshoe crabs and the migratory shorebirds that feed on their eggs, like the Red Knot, through our beach restoration projects, oyster reef construction and monitoring projects. Since Superstorm Sandy, we have successfully restored over a mile of impacted horseshoe crab habitat. We’re working to further protect these beaches from erosion and to create calmer waters for horseshoe crabs through our oyster reef construction experiments. To learn more about our restoration work in Delaware Bay, visit RestoreNJBayshore.org.

 

Of course, we haven’t been able to do this work alone. Volunteers are one of the reasons why these projects are possible!

 

Celebrate International Migratory Bird Day by getting involved in migratory bird conservation:

• Learn more about how you can protect horseshoe crabs through tagging programs and the reTURN the Favor initiative. 
• You can become an advocate for the birds you love through our Shorebird Stewardship program! We are currently recruiting volunteers for next summer.
• Learn more about Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Shorebird Project.
• Support our work to protect migratory shorebirds in New Jersey.

Kelsey Lawler was the 2015 Spring Intern for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

CONTINUING THE 2015 RESTORATION SEASON AT FORTESCUE AND THOMPSON’S BEACH

By: Lindsay McNamara, Communications Coordinator

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and American Littoral Society are moving right along with this season’s restoration work in Delaware Bay! Currently, we are working on projects on Fortescue Beach and Thompson’s Beach. Read more about our restoration work on RestoreNJBayshore.org.

 

Dr. Larry Niles of LJ Niles Associates LLC, a leader in efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years, has shared updates throughout the month of April on the blog of RestoreNJBayshore.org:

• Sand and Spring on the Bayshore
• Oyster Reef Construction and Steady Progress at Both Beaches
• Beaches are Growing and Reefs are Getting Built
• Improving the Local Economy of Bayshore Towns

 

Visit our restoration blog on RestoreNJBayshore.org often to read more updates on our progress!

 

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

 

Starting the 2015 Restoration Season with Fortescue and Thompson’s Beach

By: Lindsay McNamara, Communications Coordinator

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and American Littoral Society have started this season’s restoration work in Delaware Bay! Currently, we are working on projects on Fortescue Beach and Thompson’s Beach. Read more about our restoration work on RestoreNJBayshore.org.

 

Dr. Larry Niles of LJ Niles Associates LLC, a leader in efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years, has shared updates throughout the month of March on the blog of RestoreNJBayshore.org:

• Restoration Underway at Thompson’s Beach
• Work Begins at Fortescue Beach
• Through the Snow, Restoration Continues
• Fortescue Beach Begins to Take Form
• “It’s All Labor:” Fortescue and Thompson’s Beach
• Constructing Fortescue and Thompson’s Beach

 

Visit our restoration blog on RestoreNJBayshore.org often to read more updates on our progress!

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

 

By: Lindsay McNamara, Communications Coordinator

“Moonbird is the most famous, charismatic member of a group of mid-sized shorebirds called Rufa red knots, whose numbers have plummeted so dramatically in the past several decades that they just became the first bird ever listed under the Endangered Species Act with climate change cited as a “primary threat.”

 

Rufa red knots are among the avian world’s most extreme long range flyers (especially in light of their relatively small size). They travel vast distances — some flying over 18,000 miles — in the course of an annual migration that begins in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and extends all the way up to the Canadian Arctic (and back again).

 

Which brings us to Moonbird’s distinction: Because he is so old — he is at least 21 — he is believed to have flown as many as 400,000 miles in his lifetime. The distance to the moon varies, depending on where it is in its orbit, but the average distance is about 237,000 miles. Thus, Moonbird has not only flown the distance it takes to reach the moon — he has also covered the bulk of the return voyage.

 

Assuming that Moonbird is still living — the last sighting was in May — there are reasons to wonder whether there will ever be another bird that is his equal. Why? Simply put, his subspecies has been devastated, and climate change will only make matters worse — making extreme survival of the sort that Moonbird has achieved that much more difficult.”

 

Washington Post Science and Environment Reporter Chris Mooney explores Moonbird’s journey, threats to the species, and the recent Endangered Species Act listing of the Rufa Red Knot:

• Read the article on Washington Post’s Wonkblog.

 

Learn more:

• On Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s blog: Wildlife Beach Restoration Groups Applaud Endangered Species Act Designation for Red Knot 
• Read the Press of Atlantic City article: New Jersey shorebird to get new federal protections
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Delaware Bay Shorebird Conservation Project
• Become a Delaware Bay Shorebird Steward!

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

 

Shorebird now federally protected as threatened species under Endangered Species Act

By: Lindsay McNamara, Communications Coordinator

Wildlife conservation organizations leading the efforts to restore New Jersey’s Delaware Bay beaches for at-risk shorebirds today applauded the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service decision to designate the Red Knot, a migratory shorebird, as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act. A “threatened” designation means a species is at risk of becoming endangered throughout all or a significant portion of its range.

 

“This federal designation will make a big difference in strengthening the protections of this incredible shorebird,” said David Wheeler, Executive Director for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

 

“Here in New Jersey, we are restoring the vital beach habitat that had been decimated by Hurricane Sandy, and this designation ensures the safeguards we are providing can be complemented along the East Coast,” Wheeler added.

 

Since the 1980’s, the Knot’s population has fallen by about 75 percent in some key areas. Wildlife biologists believe the major threat to the Red Knot is the dramatic decline of horseshoe crab eggs, an essential food source at the most critical stop over during their 8,000 mile trip from southern wintering grounds to Arctic breeding territory. High-energy horseshoe crab eggs provide nourishment for Red Knots to refuel and continue their journey.

 

“This is an important and needed step in the conservation and recovery of the Red Knot. It is an essential step in preventing the extinction of this amazing long distance traveler,” stated Tim Dillingham, Executive Director for American Littoral Society.

 

The largest concentration of Red Knots is found in May in the Delaware Bayshore of New Jersey and Delaware, where the shorebirds stop to gorge themselves on the eggs of spawning horseshoe crabs. In just a few days, the birds nearly double their weight to prepare for the final leg of their long journey.

 

“The major decline of horseshoe crabs in Delaware Bay is one of the largest threats to the survival of the shorebird,” explained Dr. Larry Niles, a biologist who leads the beach restoration efforts for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and American Littoral Society, and has studied Red Knots for three decades. “Agency groups have been working hard for the last two years, and will continue for the next two years going forward to rebuild the habitat damaged by Hurricane Sandy that the horseshoe crabs rely on. This work is integral to the recovery of the Red Knot and the shorebird’s best hope for survival.”

 

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, American Littoral Society and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and the New Jersey Recovery Fund to remove 8,000 tons of debris and added 45,000 tons of sand to the beaches just before the annual spring arrival of the Red Knot in 2013.

 

Learn More:

• Read the Press of Atlantic City article: New Jersey shorebird to get new federal protections
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s Delaware Bay Shorebird Conservation Project
• Become a Delaware Bay Shorebird Steward!

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

By: Lindsay McNamara, Communications Coordinator

Data nerds rejoice! Today, Wednesday, November 19 is GIS Day. Geographic information systems (GIS) technology helps our wildlife biologists protect rare species throughout New Jersey. GIS technology is used to create our species range maps and other important tools that show where wildlife occur and what habitat they need to exist.

Conserve Wildlife Foundation is a key player in updating the NJ Endangered and Nongame Species Program’s (ENSP) database of rare wildlife species. The database called “Biotics” is a GIS and Oracle-based system developed by NatureServe, the leading source of information on the precise locations and conditions of rare and threatened species and ecological communities in the Western Hemisphere.

Although CWF and ENSP biologists submit a majority of the data on Biotics, we rely on the help of citizen scientists to fully understand the wildlife picture in New Jersey. Do you want to help biologists monitor certain areas of the state and locate the presence of species of concern? Visit our website to learn how you can get involved.

In addition to the Biotics database, GIS was used to create range maps for all 190 species featured on our online field guide! Check it out.

Have you seen our American Oystercatcher Story Map? GIS was used to create that tool as well! A Story Map is a web-based interactive GIS map embedded with all kinds of content, like text, photographs, and video.

“American Oystercatchers Through the Seasons” tells the story about a species of migratory bird, the American Oystercatcher, which spends the summer breeding season along the New Jersey coast, and is present year-round along the southern New Jersey coast. Learn more about our Story Map.

This GIS Day, take a look at all of the maps around you and consider supporting additional Conserve Wildlife Foundation Story Maps!

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

Shorebirds and Horseshoe crabs have arrived on the Delaware Bay.

by: Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist/ Volunteer Manager

Now is a great time to get out to the Delaware Bay beaches and see the shorebirds. Learn more about the shorebird project and the best spots for viewing  the birds and crabs.

On Monday May 19th CWF volunteer Tom McKelvey took photos of the shorebird project research team banding sanderlings.