The Sandpaper: LBI photo exhibit benefits CWF

Story by The Sandpaper

Photos by Ben Wurst

Ten percent of artwork sales at a current wildlife photography exhibition – featuring local photographers – at the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences in Loveladies will be donated to Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

“Contributing to this effort will not only support local artists, but also the environment and ecosystem that CWF works to protect,” noted Jillian Schratz, membership and community coordinator.

Union County News: Spot the New Falcon in Town on the Falcon Cam

Story by: Union County Office of Public Information

Union County’s free Falcon Cam captures the view inside the nest of two peregrine falcons on the roof of the County Courthouse Tower in midtown Elizabeth. This screenshot shows bonding behavior as the newly installed female (left) and the male get acquainted and prepare to start a family. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Union County

As the courtship season begins for peregrine falcons, residents of all ages and visitors from all over the world can observe and study one of the fastest animals on earth by tuning in to the Union County Falcon Cam. “The Falcon Cam is a great opportunity for residents of all ages to experience and learn about peregrine falcons up close,” said Freeholder Chair Bette Jane Kowalski. “This season we have a new female falcon, who has taken over the territory on the roof of the Union County Court House.”

Union County’s falcon preservation efforts have been undertaken with the generous assistance of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. Conserve Wildlife Foundation is Union County’s official partner for educational programming related to falcons and the Falcon Cam.

Press of Atlantic City: Illegal turtle trade plagues South Jersey marshes

Story by: Press of Atlantic City


N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife Photo

To the trained eye, it was clear Kevin Courts and Michael Riff were illegal terrapin harvesters.

The Hatboro, Pennsylvania, men, one shirtless, were parked next to a marsh off Sea Isle Boulevard last July, with six nets and a long pole leaning against their green truck, the state said. A conservation officer who approached them spotted a turtle crawling under the driver’s side seat and found a cooler packed with hatchlings.

NorthJersey.com: Bald eagles nesting in New Jersey

Story by North Jersey Record

One of two adult bald eagles near a nest that looks out on Overpeck Creek, where the raptors have been seen for the past few years. (Photo: File photo from northjersey.com)

Bald eagles are New Jersey’s early birds. In the chill of winter, they’re the first to build nests and lay eggs.

Even in the short days of December, these early birds are busy gathering sticks, grass and other materials to build or repair their nests. Only two weeks into the new year, they start laying eggs.

New Jersey 101.5: Record number of ospreys last year

Story by Joe Cutter, New Jersey 101.5

Photo by Ben Wurst, CWF Habitat Program Manager

A new report finds that a record number of ospreys were observed in New Jersey during the year 2018. The report was prepared by the state Division of Fish and Wildlife and The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

Report co-author Benjamin Wurst, of The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, says 932 ospreys were spotted along New Jersey’s coast last year. Wurst says part of the increase has to do with less pollution.

“We are just not seeing the prevalence of these pollutants, in the form where it would actually hurt them,” Wurst said.

NJ.com: It’s seal season in New Jersey

By Michael Sol Warren | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com.

Photo credit: Ed Murray, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Freezing water and colder winds keep most New Jerseyans away from the Shore during the winter months. After all, who wants to spend a day on the beach bundled up and shivering?

But winter on the Shore is a downright balmy vacation for some annual visitors from the Northern Latitudes — it’s seal season again in the Garden State.

Newark student wildlife artists honored at Jewish Museum of NJ

By David Wheeler, Executive Director

A proud fifth-grader shows off her ‘Soaring with Steam’ artwork.

Some of Newark’s top wildlife artists were recently honored at the Jewish Museum of New Jersey – and those talented fifth grade artists brought along their families and friends to help them celebrate!

Newark’s Sussex Avenue Renew School partnered with Congregation Ahavas Sholom to hold their seventh annual art exhibition on Sunday, February 24, 2019, with the main gallery displaying the students’ original art collages representing endangered and threatened wildlife in New Jersey. These works of art were created by fifth-grade students as part of Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s “Soaring with STEAM” programming in Newark Public Schools.

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NJ.com: Number of birdstrikes on the rise in N.J.

Story by Ted Sherman, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Photo Credit: NJ.com

Nearly 10 years ago, a US Airways flight out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport memorably ended up in the Hudson River after striking a flock of Canada geese and losing engine power just northeast of the George Washington Bridge.

The passengers and flight crew survived the so-called “Miracle on the Hudson.” But each year, thousands of planes meet up with birds and other wildlife, and those numbers are growing in New Jersey.

In 2017, there was 366 reports of wildlife strikes in New Jersey. That was up from 326 in 2016. Among those incidents included a September 2017 crash of an ultralight aircraft in Cumberland County, after its pilot was forced to bank hard after a flock of small birds entered his flightpath. A moment later, a larger bird struck the support cable on his right wing and he tried to touch down to check for damage. Hitting the ground hard, the kite-like plane was substantially damaged.

David Wheeler, executive director of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation  of New Jersey, said the increasing number of bird strikes in New Jersey  may be a matter of better reporting, as well as the increasing number of flights in the Northeast.

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Conserving the Nature of the Northeast Blog: Restoration brings back red knots, piping plovers & saltmarsh sparrows

Story by Darci Palmquist, Conserving the Nature of the Northeast

A saltmarsh sparrow photographed in Delaware. Credit: Matt Tillett, creative commons.

Even if you’re not a birder, there are a lot of reasons to care about birds. There are of course their aesthetic qualities — beautiful, charming, euphonious — and their incredible feats of survival as small creatures in a big, ever-changing world.

But like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, when birds aren’t doing well it usually means their habitat is suffering in some way. And if the habitat isn’t functioning, people lose out too; on the benefits that nature provides, from clean air and water to storm defenses.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the Fish and Wildlife Service invested in restoring and protecting natural systems up and down the East Coast that provide important habitat for wildlife while also creating natural defenses for people. A big part of building this stronger coast is making sure that wildlife like shorebirds have the habitat they need — the marshes, beaches and dunes — to nest, feed and raise their young.

Here are stories of how restoration efforts are helping ensure a brighter future for three bird species — red knotpiping plover and saltmarsh sparrow.

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Star Ledger: Earth’s wildlife is disappearing – and NJ is at risk for the same

by Michael Sol Warren, NJ.com

Photo: NJ.com

The world’s wildlife is dying off.

That’s the main takeaway from a new report released earlier this week. The 2018 edition of the Living Planet Report, published by the World Wildlife Fund and the Zoological Society of London, found that the population size of some of the world’s vertebrate species had shrunk by 60 percent between 1970 and 2014.

Though tropical species have suffered the most, according to the report, the rash of wildlife decline hits home in the Garden State.

“It mirrors what we see in New Jersey,” said David Wheeler, the executive director of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.

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