The 2020 nesting season is off to a good start for New Jersey’s bald eagles. As of early March, eagles all over the state are incubating eggs, and a handful of nests have already successfully hatched chicks. The eagle cam at Duke Farms broadcast the first chick there hatching on February 26, and the second chick made its appearance on March 1st.
View of hatchlings from the webcam at Duke Farms
Continue reading “Bald Eagle Project 2020 Nesting Season Update”
The diamondback terrapin is one of the most beloved species of New Jersey’s coastal salt marshes. Their popularity has not protected them from the rapid development of our coast however, and climate change is calling their future into question.
Terrapin and human interaction has been fraught with peril for the turtles for a long time. They used to be considered a delicacy and were almost wiped by the 1920s when, in an odd turn of events, they were saved by prohibition. Turns out that once terrapin stew no longer featured copious amounts of alcohol, people noticed they did not, in fact, taste very good.
The fourth episode of our podcast, State of Change, “The Terrapin’s Troubles” features John Wnek, Project Terrapin coordinator and supervisor and researcher at the Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science (MATES), and Ben Wurst, Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) habitat program manager.
Continue reading “The Terrapin’s Troubles, State of Change Podcast, Episode 4”New Jersey High School Students Invited to Speak Up for Wildlife – and win prizes – in the Species on the Edge 2.0 Social Media Contest
High school students from across the state are invited to put their meme making skills and social media savvy to work for wildlife.
Continue reading “Social Media Contest for High School Students”
Join the Mercer County Park Commission, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF), PSE&G and the Wildlife Center Friends for the the second year of “Eyes on Eagles” programming to celebrate the four pairs of bald eagles that nest in Mercer County, including two pairs that have chosen County parks for nest sites.
Continue reading “‘Eyes on Eagles’ Back for Second Year”
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.
Continue reading “Number of Peregrine Falcons Hatched in New Jersey Rose to 78 in 2019”Conserve Wildlife Foundation is excited to release Pollinators in Peril, the third episode of ‘State of Change’, our podcast exploring the impacts of climate change on New Jersey’s wildlife.
by David Wheeler, Executive Director
The New Jersey conservation community lost a great champion with the passing of Diane Soucy of The Raptor Trust this month. Diane was a tireless advocate for New Jersey’s wildlife, and a co-founder and driving force behind the Trust’s amazing success in caring for over 150,000 songbirds, wading birds, waterfowl, hummingbirds, and – of course – raptors.
Greater Newark community invited to January 16 training
with Ridge Street School students to locate Atlantic Coast Leopard Frogs
Conserve Wildlife Foundation is excited to extend an invitation to the Greater Newark community to train as citizen scientists and help a newly discovered frog species.
Continue reading “Newark Area Volunteers Needed to Help Frogs”by Nora DiChiara, Duke Farms Director of Programs and Strategic Planning
There is a new female Bald Eagle in the Duke Farms nest. If you’ve been counting, this is the third female to occupy the nest at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Our nearly 20-year-old male, resident serial monogamist Bald Eagle has sired over 25 bald eagle chicks since the nest creation in 2004.
Continue reading “Duke Farms Guest Post: Real Eagle Wives of New Jersey”