A Look at the Pilesgrove Eagles Nest Over Time (2009-2015)
By:Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist and Volunteer Manager
New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Volunteers Jeffrey and Cathy White have been monitoring the Pilesgrove eagle nest since the pair’s first nesting season in 2009. The pair has successfully raised and fledged 9 young for the past six years. This season the pair has two chicks which are currently six weeks old. Jeffrey took a photo of the nest on April 19, 2015. He then went back through his photos and found one that he taken on the same date April 19, 2009 in their first nesting season. This comparison really shows just how large eagle nests can get after years of use.
January 2015 is the Month of the Eagle! CWF is kicking off the new year by celebrating all things eagle. Follow us on social media and be sure to check your email (sign up for our list) for weekly stories on these amazing raptors from our own eagle biologist Larissa Smith. Larissa, a wildlife biologist who has been working for Conserve Wildlife Foundation since 2000, coordinates the New Jersey Bald Eagle Monitoring Project.
By: Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist and Volunteer Manager
During the Month of the Eagle, we have thanked the dedicated Bald Eagle Project volunteers, the backbone of the New Jersey Eagle Project.
Our volunteers get an incredible, intimate look into the lives of eagle pairs. Read their stories:
My best eagle memory comes from May 15, 1996 — my second visit to the first eagle nest I ever monitored. Eric Stiles had called a week earlier to tell me a nest had been found in Smithville and asked if I’d like to become involved in the project. I said “Of course!” and we arranged to get together the next day.
Back then there were only about a dozen nest sites known in the state and he wanted me to keep secret the locale and everything I observed. We drove his truck into the woods out of sight, then walked in through a white cedar forest, whispering as we got close. “It’s two young birds,” he told me, “in a small nest, probably a red-tailed nest they pirated.” Both had flecks of black and brown in the feathering on their heads, especially the male, whose head and tail showed lots of brown. “They may be too young to breed this year,” he explained. “It may be just a housekeeping year.”
“Brownie” flew off soon after we arrived; his mate sat in her pine tree for the full half-hour we watched, looking over-sized for her nest. “We need to keep disturbance to a minimum,” Eric told me as we left. “You shouldn’t come back here more than once a week.”One week later, when I returned to the hiding place in the cedars, I could see the female in the nest with my bins. I unfurled my tripod as quietly as I could, focused my scope — and my heart leaped: a fuzzy blue-gray chick with big black eyes was looking back at me! Soon after, his mother stood up and called into the sky. “Brownie” was coming back.
He landed in the nest, and after more screaming, let his mate take the fish he’d carried in. She carefully pulled it apart, feeding tiny bits to the chick and the larger pieces to herself. I had never seen eagles in action at a nest and was thoroughly enchanted – but there was another surprise to come. As the female turned in the nest ripping at the fish, something flashed. I focused the scope again and saw first a silver band gleaming on one leg and next a green band on the other. She was a New Jersey bird — hatched herself probably in 1991 or 1992, from one of the handful of nests in the state in those years. That was a sweet thrill!
That was the start of a long relationship between “Brownie,” “Greenie,” and me – and the eagles that have come along in the two decades since (the nest has moved two times over those years). I am very grateful to Eric Stiles for involving me originally and to Larissa Smith, Kathy Clark, Larry Niles and all the many hard-working, dedicated folks who have allowed me to participate in this wonderful project. Thanks largely to them, our state now has an order of magnitude more nests than we had in 1996: 150+! Wow! — Jack Connor
Karin Buynie monitors the Crosswicks Creek nest @ Kevin Buynie
We have a lot of good memories through the years of eagle volunteering. None that stand out more than just being able to talk to the many people that stumble upon you trying to figure out what all the gear is for and then seeing the surprise on their face when you tell them you are watching a bald eagle pair raise their young. Being able to pass on all the knowledge you learned from our many conversations with the biologist is very fulfilling. It is nice to see people walk away knowing how far our nation’s symbol has rebounded in our state. We have been able to help 16 eaglets fledge in our seven years of volunteering. — Kevin & Karin Buynie
My best memory was to see the eagle stand up in the nest and the egg pop out.
–Ed Sheppard
Last year was my first year monitoring an eagle’s nest. I guess the best experience was watching the pair behavior, moving sticks around on the nest and then seeing them mating, which was interrupted when an immature eagle came flying by. It was pretty cool. — Karyn Cichocki
Lake Barnegat@Paul Lenzo
My best local sighting was in March of 2009 on Lake Barnegat in Forked River. From the road, as I was driving home, I saw an eagle attacking a cormorant and pulled over. After numerous attempts in the air and on the water, the eagle finally killed the cormorant. After watching for about 15 minute., I drove home to get my cameras (about a ten minute round trip), hoping the eagle would still be there when I returned. To my surprise when I returned a pair of birds was feeding on and fighting over the carcass. — Paul Lenzo
My most awesome experience was participating in the banding of a young male bald eagle chick from the Supawna Meadows nest. How awesome to actually hold the chick while blood was drawn and measurements taken. I will never forget that great experience. — Cheryl Leonard
Donna Poolake monitoring nest
“Busy day at Turkey Point: Upon arrival, one adult was in the nest housekeeping and three juveniles were in a snag about 100 feet to the right of the nest. We think these are most likely last year’s fledglings since the adult was not concerned they were so close. There was an adult that flew over the nest towards open water and out of sight. There were another four juveniles in the trees to the right of the meadow across the creek. Across the street from the crabbing business were six more juveniles perched in the trees.
Another adult flew to the nest and perched just above it. Then it jumped to a different branch in the nest tree. That’s when the adult that was housekeeping in the nest jumped up and bit the tail of the adult that just approached and was perched above the nest. Fluffy feathers floated down from that adult while he flew away towards where the three juveniles were perched and landed in a snag. The housekeeping adult that had just gone after tail feathers flew to the same snag as the adult she just “bit” and perched about 10 feet above him.
All of this caused the three juveniles that were perched there to fly off. So, she was telling him to get home and help while the three youngsters said ‘We’re out of here!'”
This is from several years ago at Turkey Point. We were observing a nest with three chicks in it that were about six weeks old. An adult was perched on a snag not far from the nest. We suddenly got a good view of a chick and noticed that he was much larger than the others. Then we realized this was not a chick but most likely a fledgling from last year. Mom was not too upset but once the fledgling started to eat the fish that was in the nest she flew over, landed in the nest, and chased the juvenile away. It seems she didn’t mind him visiting but he better go get his own meals. The chicks didn’t seem to mind the visitor but became much more active after he left! — Donna & Heiki Poolake
I was astonished to see a pair of eagles take over an osprey nest in the rear of my home several years ago. This is what started me in the eagle program. The eagles did not stay long as the red-tailed hawks and osprey were too annoying. I then started to observe nest in Brick, New Jersey and let Kim Korth know whatever I saw. One day Kim called me and asked if I would like to go and be part of a eagle banding project. I was overjoyed to go. The banding took place in Brick, New Jersey on a private piece of property. I held an eagle for about 15 minutes and it was one of the best things I have ever experenced in my entire life. To actually hold an eagle. WOW! — Richard Gauer
Is it the thrill of the first sighting of that fuzzy little head? Is it the beauty of that majestic bird soaring above with a blue background? Maybe it’s the anticipation of a first sighting of another species? Or the beauty of the area where you are doing your observation, the breath-taking sight of thousands of Snow Geese that perhaps land near-by? For us, it is all of these things and the knowledge we have gained observing these magnificent birds (and all the information Larissa has imparted to us, bless her). We feel it has been an honor to have taken part in the program and we hope to be able to continue for years to come. — Clare Luisi & Anne Stiles
Two adult eagles were perched over the waterway near their nest. But this time instead of both being on a relatively high perch, one was perched on a branch just a few feet from the water. The water level was low and the area beneath the eagle was mucky. The eagle on the low branch was studying the mucky water below. Then it floated off the branch by just opening its wings and dropping down like a parachute into the muck. It flew up from the muck with a turtle in its beak! Then as it lifted hire into the air, it banked around past us and we watched it transfer the turtle from its beak to its talon in mid flight. We are so used to seeing eagles drop their talons into the water to pick up fish, that this eagle’s retrieval of a turtle with its beak was really surprising and wonderful to watch.
— Bonnie Hart & Ted Henning
By: Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist/Volunteer Manager with Conserve Wildlife Foundation
Northern Gray Treefrog @ M. Patterson
It’s the heart of the winter season and cold outside, so the furthest thing from your mind is hearing the calls of New Jersey’s frogs and toads. But now is the time when we start getting ready for the Calling Amphibian Project (CAMP) and thinking ahead to the spring of 2015.
The object of CAMP is to assess the distribution, abundance, and health of New Jersey’s amphibians. This is part of a larger initiative called the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) and the data collected in New Jersey will be submitted into the National database. Volunteers participating in this project will be asked to conduct roadside surveys (after dusk) for calling amphibians along designated routes throughout the state. Each 15-mile route with ten stops will be surveyed three times during the Spring and a structured protocol will be followed to determine which nights to survey, how long to survey, which species are calling, and how to estimate the total number of individuals calling at each site.
In 2014, 24 volunteers participated in CAMP and surveyed a total of 23 routes out of 63. We have many dedicated long-term CAMP volunteers. Unfortunately due to different circumstances some can no longer participate so we currently have 37 routes available for the 2015 survey season. If you are interested in learning more about this project, contact Larissa Smith.
This year we will be holding a meeting for CAMP volunteers in January. The meeting will be a good opportunity to meet other volunteers and the biologists who work on the this project and other amphibian projects. Biologists from CWF, the state ENSP and DLUR will be there to discuss the two “new” NJ frog species and how CAMP data is being used by the state.
The perennial was planted in upland areas surrounding vernal pools, which had been previously constructed as Tiger Salamander habitat. In the spring, native shrubs had also been planted around the three vernal pools.
This marks the third story in Shorebird Week! Our first blog post, on Tuesday, introduced the film “A Race Against Time” and directed you to a free viewing of the film on our website. Our second blog post, highlighted an incredible news story about a resighting of the iconic Red knot B95 on the Delaware Bay! And today’s blog post, will highlight volunteers incredible effort to save stranded horseshoe crabs!
Volunteer Don Senior extracts an impinged horseshoe crab from the rubble on the south end of Fortescue beach along the Delaware Bay on Saturday (c) Phillip Tomlinson South Jersey Times
This story illustrates the incredible efforts of volunteers for Conserve Wildlife Foundation and other conservation groups to save the stranded horseshoe crabs on Delaware Bay beaches. Horseshoe crabs can easily be flipped onto their backs by incoming tides, and they are not able to right themselves on their own. They also get trapped easily by tides and man-made obstacles, such as debris, which leaves them unable to return to the water leaving them to eventually die.
Return the Favor, a multi-group effort, has committed to rescuing as many horseshoe crabs as possible from South Jersey’s Delaware Bay beaches by regularly combing designated stretches of beach and helping to flip the crabs back on their bellies and redirect them back to the water. If possible these volunteers go out daily and rescue all of the flipped or impinged crabs. These efforts have been very successful so far, and they hope to continue these efforts and engage more about who want to volunteer.
Since 2010, Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) has been engaged in the conservation of northern diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin terrapin) in the Little Egg Harbor area. This year, CWF seeks to continue to protect terrapins through additional conservation and education initiatives that include the installation and maintenance of barrier fencing, road patrols on Great Bay Blvd., and the continuation of this student internship. This year we are attempting to replicate a study conducted in 2004 on the same road, and results will help us to better determine how effective our conservation measures have been.
Interns will conduct field work in the lower Barnegat Bay watershed including hourly road patrols on Great Bay Blvd., volunteer steward scheduling and management, educational related activities, and the best part – save hundreds of female terrapins from becoming road kill!
Currently this is a volunteer student internship, but there is an opportunity for this to be a paid internship through the Barnegat Bay Student Grant Program. Willing students must develop a scientific research project to qualify for the grant. The deadline to apply is April 4th.
Eight pairs of NJ eagles are currently incubating (sitting on eggs). The earliest pair to start incubating was confirmed on January 12th, so the birds been keeping the eggs warm throughout the snow and cold weather. Eagle Project volunteers report that pairs all over the state are busy working on their nests in preparation for egg laying.
Eagle Project Volunteer Tom McKelvey captured this photo of one of the juveniles that fledged from the Shark River eagle nest in mid-June. So far this nesting season 157 young eagles have fledged from NJ nests. The juveniles will remain in the nest area for the next few months while they develop their flight and hunting skills.
by Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist/Volunteer Coordinator
Shorebird Steward Liz Hermoso shows beach visitors a clump of horseshoe crab eggs on Cook’s beach.
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.
