Category: Wildlife Protection

Photo(s) from the field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Volunteers help to “re-plant” leaning osprey platform

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

This past week I was joined by a large group of volunteers to remove and re-plant a leaning osprey tower in Point Pleasant. It all began after Superstorm Sandy barreled through the area a little over a year ago…

This nest, along with many others, were uprooted from where they were originally installed. Many homes in the area were flooded by the storm surge associated with the storm (and many were still rebuilding when we were there). Any and all debris that was created ended up being pushed to the high areas of the marsh and in turn, people’s yards. This platform ended up in a homeowners backyard. Fortunately the platform was not lost and was thankfully re-installed by a bulkheading company who was working on the homeowners house. This was great news for the ospreys! Their nest had been returned to the saltmarsh and was, in turn, used again by them this past summer. They raised one nestling on the platform.

Things a-drift…a strong Nor’easter ended up pushing over the platform, which caused it to lean…significantly. However, the ospreys adapted and added nesting material to make sure their only nestling would not fall out. At the same time we made plans to re-plant the platform in a section of marsh with more soil, so the platform would have a firm foundation and support. A crew of strong and able volunteers met up with me to help fix the problem. They pulled out the platform and then we transported it to the new location. There we dug a new hole (around 2-3′ deep) and they easily dropped the short (around 12′ high) platform into the hole. These volunteers did a great job, and I was happy to see that many of them lived in the local area. It’s great to see locals getting involved in their local environment and I know that they’ll continue to watch over the nest if anything should happen to it in the future. I’m planning on working with the local community association (who owns the land) to install a couple more platforms for ospreys. There’s little suitable nesting habitat for ospreys up on N. Barnegat Bay and in the past we’ve had problems with birds nesting on houses, so this will only help reduce those occurrences.

Not exactly stable...
Not exactly stable…
Not much dry land either...
Not much dry land either…
Down she goes...
Down she goes…
All better!
All better!

Basic Training Course for Wildlife Rehabilitation

Posted on by CWF

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Basic Training Course for Wildlife Rehabilitation

Where:  Mercer County Community College

When:  Weekdays Nov 4 – Nov 8, 2013

 

A young Barn Owl, healed of a leg fracture and about to be returned to its nest. Photo by MacKenzie Hall
A young Barn Owl, healed of a leg fracture and about to be returned to its nest. Photo by MacKenzie Hall

Wildlife rehabilitation is the process of  caring for injured, ill and orphaned native wild animals with the goal of releasing each back to their natural habitat.  This course is designed for individuals interested in becoming licensed wildlife rehabilitators, rehabilitators who wish to include additional species to their current permit and any person wishing to obtain knowledge about native New Jersey wildlife. Over the course of five (5) weekdays, students will have the opportunity to be taught by, interact with, and build relationships with some of the foremost experts in wildlife rehabilitation.

 

Course Description

 

The Basic Training Course for Wildlife Rehabilitation focuses on the skill sets necessary to become a successful wildlife rehabilitator. This course offers information and professional training provided by some of the most knowledgeable instructors in the field of wildlife rehabilitation. It includes history, licensing requirements and regulations, mammal, bird and reptile species identification and anatomy, proper handling, care and nutrition, medical procedures, and much more. Approved by the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife (NJDEP), this course is part of an alternative route program to meet New Jersey State licensing requirements for wildlife rehabilitators. Successful completion of the course will count for 40 hours toward the 200 hour New Jersey apprenticeship licensing requirement. This course will also benefit anyone interested in the handling and care of native wildlife. 

 

Objectives

 

Upon successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:

 

  • better understand all aspects of wildlife rehabilitation
  • know how to provide safe handling and care of wildlife
  • have basic knowledge that encompasses mammal, avian and reptile species

 

The course will run five weekdays Nov 4 through Nov 8, 2013 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm each day. Completion of the course requires attendance at all classes. The course schedule and instructor bios can be found on the CDI website at www.cditraining.org.

Tuition for this program is $499.00, which includes all materials. Registration will be through Mercer County Community College at 609-570-3311. There is no requirement for prior experience or training to attend this course. Please contact Career Development Institute (CDI) with any additional course content questions that you may have:  732-821-6997, www.cditraining.org.

Overview of piping plover flight behavior research

Posted on by CWF
CWF alumni guest blog

By Emily Heiser, Piping Plover Research Technician

Emily Heiser (l) and Lauren Gingerella (r) with piping plovers in hand for banding.
Emily Heiser (l) and Lauren Gingerella (r) with piping plovers in hand for banding.

Call me crazy, but the combination of piping plovers and New Jersey are just too much for me to resist! Over the last six years, I have spent the majority of my time working for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife protecting piping plovers on their nesting grounds. Most recently I worked on a research project with the State University of New York-ESF that dealt with piping plover flight behavior in Stone Harbor, Avalon and Strathmere, New Jersey. The project’s graduate student, Michelle Avis conducted the other half of the study on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The project was specifically designed to look at piping plover flight patterns across their breeding grounds. The results of the study could have implications for the management of coastal wind turbine development. Continue reading “Overview of piping plover flight behavior research”

Interesting recaptures on Great Bay Blvd.

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Barnegat Bay terrapin moves south…

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

ABINOQ. Photo by Ashley Hecht.
ABINOQ. Photo by Ashley Hecht.

Northern diamondback terrapins are known to have a very small home range. Some have only been found to occupy the same small creeks, year after year. To help study the size of terrapin populations in New Jersey researchers have used a method called mark and recapture. No one really knows the size of the terrapins population in New Jersey and throughout the range of the Northern subspecies, which ranges from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras. A portion of the population is captured, marked, and released. The method is repeated and the number of marked individuals is counted and should reflect a proportional number of marked individuals in the entire population.

Since 2001 terrapins have been marked on Great and Barnegat Bays. This past summer we got hits on three females that were PIT tagged (it’s like the Home Again chip for your pet). Their tags were read during road patrols by our intern Ashley. Two of the three were linked back to previous captures. Each is ID’d by the notches on their carapace (upper shell). Each bridge scute on their carapace is assigned a alpha code.

  • ACIJV –  First encountered on June 20, 2008 at age 7. Weighed 805 grams with a carapace length of 157cm. She was recaptured again this summer by Ashley on June 9. She is now 12 years old and weighed 934grams. Her carapace was 170cm long. She moved only .86 miles or 4,561 feet from her last encounter, which is typically the small range seen in terrapins.
  • The second is ABINOQ – she was orginally trapped on Barnegat Bay (near Gunning River and the Barnegat Docks) on August 23, 2011. She was 8 when trapped and weighed 766 grams with a CL of 170mm. She was re-caught this summer while crossing Great Bay Blvd in Little Egg Harbor. This now makes her 10 years old and she weighed 965 grams and had a CL of 180mm. Now she moved a total of 16.7 miles in two years!!
Natural movement of ACIJV around Great Bay Blvd. This is more typical of terrapins.
Natural movement of ACIJV around Great Bay Blvd. This is more typical of terrapins.
The extent of ABINOQ's travels...
The extent of ABINOQ’s range.

I find it really hard to believe that ABINOQ traveled 16 miles south in two years. There are a couple ways that she could have moved that far south. Superstorm Sandy – I think that this is a good possibility. Usually in late October most terrapins should have been entering hibernation, but a few could have still been active. I got a couple calls shortly after the storm hit from residents in the Little Egg Harbor area who found displaced terrapins in their yards. Given the fact that upwards of 6 feet of water were forced onto the coastal marshes with the storm surge, this could have pushed ABINOQ south towards Great Bay Blvd, where she was encountered this summer. Human intervention – this is also a very likely scenario. People often pick up terrapins when they find them on or near roads and sometimes take them home. Other times they take them and put them somewhere else, where they think they should belong… This summer I found a large female on an inland road in Upper Twp. (Cape May County). She was over 1.5 miles from any kind of brackish water…which is a long distance for any aquatic turtle to travel on land!

These findings are really interesting and with the data collected we’ll be able to learn a lot more about the local terrapin population. We hope to expand the use of PIT tags readers by fundraising to purchase additional readers. If you’d like to donate to help us purchase one, please shoot me an email.

Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s New Shorebird Site

Posted on by CWF
Find beautiful photographs like this one of a red knot preening on our new shorebird page. © Jan van de Kam
Find beautiful photos like this one of a red knot preening on our new shorebird page. © Jan van de Kam

 

Wondering how you can learn more about shorebirds? Look no further.

 

Despite its part in one of the world’s most incredible migrations, the annual arrival of tens of thousands of shorebirds in Delaware Bay remains relatively unknown to many New Jersey residents. Only recently have shorebirds received some news coverage, but it’s not good news – their numbers are declining rapidly. Scientists have begun to fear that without concerted conservation efforts, species like the red knot may soon go extinct.

 

Check out the vibrant new migration map on CWF's new shorebird page! © NJDFW
Check out the vibrant new migration map on CWF’s new shorebird page. © NJDFW

The Delaware Bay Shorebird Project, a study led by the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program, has documented shorebird activity in Delaware Bay for nearly thirty years. The result has been an extensive knowledge base that documents every aspect of shorebird life – from measuring food availability and weight gains to tracking migration routes and breeding success – in New Jersey and beyond. Now, as a longtime partner on this project, the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey is proud to introduce a new way to learn about these wonderful birds and the work underway to save them: a brand new shorebird site!

 

CWF's Larry Niles holds a red knot with a geolocator. Read about this research and more on our new shorebird page. © Jan van de Kam
CWF’s Larry Niles holds a red knot with a geolocator. Read about this research and more on our new shorebird page. © Jan van de Kam

These new additions are loaded with content to bring you up to date on all the latest developments in the protection of shorebirds. Learn about these special birds on the Key Species page, and find detailed descriptions about their appearance, life cycle, and where to see them on their own pages in our online Field Guide. Check out the Media page for videos, photos, news articles, scientific publications, and more. Take an in-depth look at all the different areas of shorebird study currently underway on the Research page, and click on the Conservation page to discover how these birds are being protected. Finally, visit our Get Involved page to learn how you can become part of the efforts to help save these remarkable species from extinction.

 

Be sure to check out all the new additions at:  http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/protecting/projects/shorebird/

 

Marine debris: Post-Sandy

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Is there more debris on coastal saltmarshes?

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Use the tennis ball as a reference point...
Use the tennis ball as a reference point…

Last year I started collecting trash and marine debris that I found at osprey nests along the Atlantic Coast. I’ve always removed trash from nests, especially trash that can harm an osprey through entanglement. Now it’s collected to use as an educational tool to make people more aware of the amount of trash that winds up in our waterways. Continue reading “Marine debris: Post-Sandy”

PLOVERPALOOZA!

Posted on by CWF
Piping plover chicks exercise their wings. © Bill Dalton
Piping plover chicks exercise their wings. © Bill Dalton

The entire staff at CWFNJ works tirelessly to protect our state’s at-risk wildlife, educate the public, and raise funds to continue our work.  It is especially gratifying when those efforts are recognized –  We are thankful to the blog,  Readings from the Northside, who recently wrote about CWF’s Todd Pover and his work to protect the piping plovers of Long Beach Island. 

Read the Blog Post here, and make a donation today to help continue our work to protect beach-nesters and all of NJ’s rare wildlife.

CWF Spotlight on Courtney Zinna, CWF Trenton Office Intern

Posted on by CWF
CWF Trenton Office Intern, Courtney Zinna and her friend the Rockhopper Penguin.
CWF Trenton Office Intern, Courtney Zinna and her friend the Rockhopper Penguin.

How many people have known exactly what they wanted to do for the rest of their life at just three years old?  Ever since I was a little girl, my dream has always been to be a veterinarian. My dad played a huge role in my life growing up, by allowing me to save any animal that needed help, wild or domestic. We even had a pet baby squirrel in our house growing up until he was ready to be released back into the wild, as a now healthy adult!

As soon as I turned eighteen and was old enough to volunteer at the animal shelter, I quickly got involved in fundraising and pet adoptions. I then got hired at a kennel part-time and started my undergraduate degree at Rutgers University, majoring in Animal Science.   Through Rutgers and my numerous other jobs, including being a vet technician and pet-care associate at PetSmart, I was able to gain hands on experience working with domestic animals.   I was part of the Companion Animal Science Club at Rutgers and through this club I was able to help the many shelters recovering from losses during Hurricane Sandy by raising money and collecting donations, as well as educating younger classmen.
My favorite experience during school was working on a research project called “Animals Assisting Those with Autism”. I worked with a few other students and an advisor (Dr. Julie Fagan) to help set up different families all across New Jersey (who had a child with autism) with their own therapy handler-dog team. The study aimed to prove that therapy dogs can indeed help children with autism by enhancing their communication and social skills. The study allowed me to become a leader and as Research Coordinator, I was able to deal directly with each family and handler-dog team.   It was such a rewarding experience that I will remember for the rest of my life and hope that with this study we can help change lives.   Just seeing how, in six weeks, a child who was completely afraid of dogs, can now go up and hug a stranger’s dog, is quite astounding!  Many of the families involved in the study have noticed permanent changes in their child’s behavior, such as being able to communicate more efficiently and becoming much more socially active with peers.   Some study families have adopted their own therapy dog or have continued visits with a permanent handler-dog team.

Now that I am finally a Rutgers Alumni, I want to participate in more research involving Animal-Assisted Therapy.  I am in the process of applying to both veterinarian and graduate school and I have learned so much working as an intern at CWF this summer so far.   I was so excited when I received the internship position here, and look forward to getting out into the field. I have not had the opportunity to work with a wildlife organization before interning at CWF, and hope to continue interning throughout the year.   I cannot wait to see what this year has in store for me!

Photo From the Field

Posted on by larissasmith

by Larissa Smith, Wildlife Biologist/Volunteer Manager

Shark River Juvenile © Tom McKelvey
Shark River Juvenile © Tom McKelvey

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.