Category: Wildlife Protection

Human/Wildlife Interactions

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Juvenile eagle released back into the wild

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

The eagle in a carrier to be transported from Sandy Hook to The Raptor Trust. Image courtesy National Park Service.

Last Tuesday I met with Debra and Gail, volunteers with The Raptor Trust in northern New Jersey to help release a juvenile eagle. The release was coordinated by Kathy Clark with the Endangered and Nongame Species Program and Cathy with the Raptor Trust. They transported the eagle for more than 2 hours to see it return to the wild. I was merely there because I have experience with handling birds of prey (in case anything were to happen).

The eagle was found on Gunnison Beach in late June inside Gateway National Recreation Area on Sandy Hook.The eagle was spotted by park visitors on the beach. The eagle was distressed but had no injuries. Jeanne McArthur–Heuser, NPS transported the eagle to the Raptor Trust, located in Millington, New Jersey.

Many juvenile raptors or birds of prey are not 100% successful at catching prey. Some rely on their parents for food until they learn the skills to catch prey that they will use for the rest of their lives.

The eagle takes flight after being rehabilitated at the Raptor Trust. © Debra Falanga

The eagle was rehabilitated at the Raptor Trust for 6 weeks. It was a male and was banded with a federal USGS bird band for future tracking. At the Raptor Trust it got plenty of rest and relaxation under their care. I met Gail and Debra in Millville where we traveled south towards Newport. We released the eagle at a location determined by Kathy Clark in Cumberland County at Nantuxent Wildlife Management Area. The release was uneventful (which is good!!!). We basically stood behind and to the sides of a large dog crate and opened the door. I held the door open and lifted up the back to try and encourage the eagle to leave the crate. After about 45 seconds, the eagle hopped out of the crate and immediately took off into the distance with a strong flight.

Without the care of the National Park Service, The Raptor Trust, and the Endangered and Nongame Species Program, this eagle might not have survived! This is a clear example of how we are all connected and how delicate the balance of nature is! We hope this eagle lives on and is able to flourish in New Jersey!

Lost Connection

Posted on by Ben Wurst
To the internet, not wildlife!

By Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

The office where I work, inside Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area in northern Cape May County, recently lost its connection to the world wide interweb. The office is home to the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife staff and three CWF employees. Since the demise of our connection to the world wide interweb the office has been ghostly quiet. Some have chosen to work at home, use some vacation time, or get some field work done. I just wrapped up my primary field season surveying osprey nests along the Atlantic Coast of NJ so I chose to be constructive, literally. I started constructing some artificial nesting platforms for ospreys. Normally I do this in the winter when field work is very limited, but finishing these now will give me a chance to install them this fall. Late summer and fall are the best times to install platforms. The water and air are warm and the winds are calm, so boots and bulky clothes aren’t required. So, I’m glad the internet is down because it gave me a reason to construct these platforms earlier than usual.

An osprey platform sits while I work on the finishing touches. This image was shot using a technique referred to as HDR. © Ben Wurst

Two platforms will be going up in Lavallette, one near Tuckerton, and the other has yet to be determined (possibly Sea Isle). Stay tuned for more updates and photos!


Photo from the Field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Roads are barriers to wildlife

By Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

This year we started a new project to try and help reduce the amount of road kills of northern diamondback terrapins along Great Bay Blvd. in southern Ocean County. Great Bay Blvd. is a 5 mile long paved road that extends into the coastal saltmarsh. The road leads to the Rutgers Marine Field Station and the old Fish Factory on Seven Island. We were able to fence a small portion of the road, install three crossing signs along the road, and develop an educational brochure (that is available at marinas in the area).

Unfortunately, terrapins are still hit by motor vehicles along other portions of the road. This is inevitable. Fencing the whole road would almost be impossible and very time consuming to maintain. This fall and winter I am going to work with the town (Little Egg Harbor) and NJ Fish and Wildlife (who owns the land around the road) to come up with a plan to minimize road kills along the road. A viable option would be to install speed humps to reduce the speed of motorists along the road and for the town to post and enforce a reduced speed limit (25mph) along the road.

A northern diamondback terrapin pauses while crossing Great Bay Blvd. near Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. © Ben Wurst

We are committed to preserving this incredible species and would like to thank everyone who has helped fund this project.

Monitoring Oystercatchers in New Jersey

Posted on by CWF
Banding American Oystercatchers

By Christopher Haxter, Seasonal Steward

American Oystercatcher. © Chris Davidson

The American Oystercatcher (Haematopus palliates) may not get as much attention as some other species since it’s not listed as endangered or threatened in New Jersey. However, it is listed as a species of special concern because the population is thought to be in decline. On Stone Harbor Point, the site I mainly monitor for my job, I spend a good deal of time finding oystercatcher nests and chicks. Together with Piping Plovers and Least Terns, oystercatchers constitute a large portion of the beach nesting birds found on “the Point”.

Oystercatchers are hard to miss; they stand nearly one and a half feet tall, are boldly colored, and have very loud calls. On average, they lay three eggs per nest, and incubate their eggs from April-June and care for their chicks from May-July. They tend to have much more trouble with predators and flooding during the egg laying stage. Once hatched, the chicks tend to have better survival rates. As of right now on Stone Harbor Point we have at least ten pairs of American Oystercatchers with offspring. One pair is still incubating a nest, nine pairs are brooding a total of thirteen chicks, and one pair has successfully fledged two chicks.

One of the ways to track these birds year after year is to put colored bands on their legs that are marked with letters and numbers so individual birds can be identified. Tom Virzi, one of our research partners (from Rutgers University), has been studying oystercatchers in New Jersey since 2004. Last week I had the privilege of helping two of his interns, Jason Pietrzak and Allison Anholt, band some oystercatcher chicks on Stone Harbor Point.

CWF Seasonal Chris Haxter holding captured American Oystercatcher chick in preparation for banding. Photo courtesy of Tara Hewitt.

The first step was to capture the chicks. Since the chicks can’t fly yet, all we had to do was surround and grab them. Sometimes easier said than done – the two chicks we went after were already a month old, so they were quite fast. Once captured we inspected the chicks, making sure they were healthy and their legs were fully grown. The band that goes around the leg of the chick is a small orange plastic cylinder with a black number/letter code (each state participating in this banding project has a unique color). After banding, we took measurements, including beak/head/wing length, and then collected a few feathers so the chicks could be sexed using DNA analysis.

The chicks were surprisingly calm throughout the process and the parents stood near us watching carefully. When we were finished we released the chicks back to the parents and kept an eye on them to make sure the parents accepted the chicks.

Adult oystercathers are also banded, but because they can fly the process is much different and involves some trickery. To try to capture the adults we set up a decoy, played some oystercatcher calls, and placed a board lined with many tiny nooses in the sand to capture the foot of the bird. When the adults defend their territory and fight with the decoy they get caught in the trap. We did attempt this but were not successful this time.

When a banded bird is re-sighted, and the code is observed and recorded, we are able to follow them for years. The data gathered from banding oystercatchers is essential in studying their long term habits, population trends, chick survival rates, and movement patterns.

Photo from the Field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
An osprey nestling lays low in a nest

By Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

The iris is the thin colored part of an eye that is responsible for controlling the size of the pupil and the amount of light that enters the pupil. As a hatching the iris of an osprey is blood red in color. As a nestling (pictured below) they turn to an amber or orange color. The eye color and plumage of juveniles help distinguish them from adults, which have a yellow iris. Juvenile ospreys also have “buff” or tan feather tips on their contour (body) feathers. This helps camouflage them before they can fly and it also helps distinguish them from adults, who have dark brown body feathers.

An osprey nestling relies on the cryptic coloration of its plumage to protect it from avian predators. © Ben Wurst

To see more photos of ospreys and their young, click here. Check out the slideshow at the top of the page.

Ospreys Love Garbage…but the mix can be deadly

Posted on by larissasmith

By Larissa Smith, Biologist & Volunteer Manager

Rope and fishing line found in an osprey nest © Matt Tribulski

Ospreys love to bring garbage back to their nests. While out checking on nests I’ve found everything from rope, fishing line, flip flops, plastic bags, a Frisbee, hats and even a plastic crab in nests.  The problem is that every year while volunteers and staff are checking on nests at least one chick is found entangled in this garbage. Fishing line gets caught around their feet and legs and a plastic bag can entangle a chick.  If no one went out to check on these nests most of these chicks wouldn’t make it.  It’s not only the chicks that suffer from the garbage we throw out. Adult ospreys have been found dead and hanging from fishing line.  Ospreys and other species whose diet consists of mostly fish are particularly vulnerable to injury and death from fishing line and hooks.  During a visit to an NJ eagle nest a chick was found with a fishing hook embedded in its mouth.  I have also found horseshoe crabs and terrapins entangled in fishing line and these are just a few examples of  how garbage effects wildlife.

Plastic bag in osprey nest © Matt Tribulski
There are some simple steps that we can all take to keep trash out of the environment.
  • Pick up and dispose of any fishing line or hooks you use or find.
  • Use reusable bags instead of plastic whenever possible and encourage others to do the same.

Thank you!

A Day in the Field: Banding Osprey Chicks on Sedge Island

Posted on by CWF
By Agata Kaczkowski, Summer Intern

Hello all! I’m new to this blog so I’m going to introduce myself. My name is Agata Kaczkowski and I’m a student in New Jersey City University. Currently I’m lucky enough to be completing my internship for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. In May, 2012 I’m expecting to graduate with a B.S. in Biology (which explains my love for nature).

As the temperature outside reached 95°F. Ben Wurst and I arrived on Sedge Island on 06/28/2010. A camp composed of middle school students greeted us as we approached the island. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how knowledgeable these kids were on the subject of ospreys! After a brief introduction, Ben and I started our journey to visit over 20 nests with hopes of finding healthy osprey chicks. Even though the weather was extremely hot the cool breeze from the ocean and the ability to soak my feet from time to time in the water made all the difference. The students followed us to the first couple of nests, where they got to hold an osprey chick as it was banded, and they took some photographs with the chicks. As we approached the second nest, the female osprey was flying really low and seemed very aggressively protective of her young. The female is usually larger and more protective of the chicks than the male. She was soaring really low as Ben was banding the chicks at the nest site, the kids observed the whole incident from their kayaks. Ben and I had over 20 nests to visit, so as the kids went back to the island we continued our journey. At the fourth nest we encountered an unpleasant situation- deceased three-week-old chick. Of the two that hatched, one had died, most likely of natural causes. We cleaned the nest and moved along.

The boat was a great way of getting from one nest to the other, although at times we had to push it because the water was too shallow for the boat. My job was to record the nest type, the number of chicks hatched, number of chicks banded and the band number (that was only if Ben thought it safe enough to band them). Most of the chicks were banded, although a couple were too young to band. We ended up banding about 26 osprey chicks around the island.

Cleaning up the fishing nets and balloon ribbons from nests was a must because the young may get tangled in the debris and not survive. I personally found bottles and shopping bags all over, which was frustrating because this is how the habitat gets destroyed. I will keep you all updated on my next field experiences…

Assessing the Population

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Keeping tabs on the osprey population in New Jersey

By Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

An adult osprey flies over me while I band its young. © Ben Wurst

Over the past few weeks volunteers and biologists have been performing ground surveys to help determine the health of the osprey population in New Jersey. The surveys are part of the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife, Endangered and Nongame Species Program, Osprey Management Project. Ospreys are listed as a threatened species in New Jersey. They were originally listed as endangered in 1974 after only 50 nesting pairs were found in 1973. By 1986, their status was upgraded to threatened after their population rebounded to 100 nesting pairs. Today there are over 450 pairs of ospreys that we help to monitor in New Jersey.

Climbing a nest on Great Bay. © Bill Steiner

Ospreys are highly dependent upon humans to provide artificial nesting structures for them and they are highly susceptible to many different heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants like DDT, DDE, PCBs and more recently brominated fire retardants (PBDE) that bio-accumulate in the food chain.

Surveys are performed each year during summer when osprey nestlings are old enough to band (3-6 weeks old) but not old enough to fly. They cover all major nesting areas including, the Delaware Bay, Raritan Bay south to Cape May, and inland.  During ground surveys nestlings are banded with USGS aluminum leg bands for future tracking. I survey areas from Great Bay in Little Egg Harbor north to Fort Monmouth in Oceanport and Mantoloking along the Atlantic Coast.

A five week old osprey nestling. © Ben Wurst

The data we collect (whether or not a nest is active and the # of young produced) is used to calculate the productivity rate. Ospreys need a productivity rate of at least .8 young/nest to sustain the population. In the past 5+ years they have had more than double this rate. The population has grown by 21% from 2006 to 2009. Last year there were 485 nesting pairs in New Jersey. This year we expect there to be even more. Last years results are summarized in the 2009 Newsletter.

Ben Wurst and Jeff Sloane from US Fish and Wildlife stand in front of a platform that was repaired along the Mullica River this year. © Ben Wurst

Last year was a record-breaking year. Before the effects of DDT, habitat loss and persecution decimated the population in the mid-1900’s there were over 500 nesting pairs. Since the mid-1970’s, when the project began the population has slowly risen to its current level. Each year more platforms are damaged by harsh winter weather and the extremes of being located in saltmarshes. Work is continual and never ending. Repairs to existing platforms occur during the “off” season or non-breeding season from late August to the end of March. New platforms (built with stainless and galvanized hardware, that are meant to last) are placed in areas where suitable habitat exists where little to no available nest sites occur. It is our goal to help the population recover to historic numbers.

Preliminary results show that some areas fared very well this year. The colony from Little Egg Harbor to Atlantic City had 25 active nests that produced 57 young. Last year, 36 nests produced 55 young. The climate has been optimal for ospreys, except for the occasional thunderstorm with high winds. Temperatures have been above normal and precipitation has been below normal. Full results from the season will be available this fall once the survey results are collected and summarized.

Our work would not be possible without the support of our members and volunteers. Thank you!

Photo from the Field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Monitoring Ospreys in New Jersey

By Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

On June 29th I visited Fort Monmouth to survey the nesting platforms there. Four structures were occupied including this platform that was placed along a tributary of the Shrewsbury River, an area in need of more nesting structures for ospreys. A total of 8 young were produced there this year. The young were banded with a federal USGS bird band for future tracking.

The view from a man lift that provides easy access to an osprey nesting platform at Fort Monmouth. © Ben Wurst

Our Bat Project Begins to Take Flight

Posted on by CWF
Musings from Austin, TX as our own project gets underway in New Jersey.

By Brian Henderson, GIS Specialist

In April I attended the Anabat Techniques Workshop in Illinois with MacKenzie Hall. The following month I took a brief trip to Austin, TX.

Onlookers watch as Mexican free-tailed bats exit the Congress Avenue Bridge. © Justin Boyle
Onlookers watch as Mexican free-tailed bats exit the Congress Avenue Bridge. © Justin Boyle

The trip wasn’t work related, and was planned before I knew I would be helping with our bat monitoring work in New Jersey.  But it was appropriate because Austin happens to be home to the largest urban bat colony in North America.

Located near the center of the city, the Congress Avenue Bridge spans Lady Bird Lake, a reservoir on the Colorado River.  Renovations made in 1980 created ideal roosting habitat along the bottom of the bridge and it wasn’t long before migrating bats discovered it.  Now, estimates are that 1-1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats roost below the bridge between March and November.  Each night around dusk the bats exit the bridge to forage for insects along the river.  When conditions are right the effect is dramatic: a column of bats silhouetted against the setting sun that can last for 45 minutes as the bats exit the bridge.  Although there were petitions to eradicate the bats when they first took up residence, the city has come to embrace them and it isn’t unusual for several hundred people to line up along the bridge on summer nights to watch the bats exit and begin foraging.

Unfortunately, it was cloudy and slightly cool on the evening I visited the bridge and the bats waited until nearly dark before starting to emerge.  It was difficult to observe the bats except in the illumination of the streetlights lining the bridge or when they veered closer to the shore.  Although it wasn’t the spectacle I’d been hoping for, it was still impressive.  Even under less than ideal conditions I saw hundreds (possibly thousands) of bats-more than I observed in the week of training in Illinois, and probably more than in the rest of my life combined.

Here in New Jersey we don’t have Mexican free-tailed bat and we certainly don’t have any bat populations that rival the numbers of the Congress Avenue Bridge Colony.  Even before the arrival of white-nose syndrome populations at our largest hibernacula numbered in the tens of thousands, not millions.  So it was exciting and encouraging to see such a thriving bat population in person.  It was also impressive to see how the city has embraced the colony as a beneficial, unique and interesting attraction.  Similarly, the response to our acoustic monitoring project in New Jersey has been overwhelmingly positive.  Landowners and the general public all seem interested in learning about bats, concerned about white-nose syndrome, and are eager to help however they can.

Our bat project involves acoustic surveys and forest management practices to benefit Indiana bats (above) as well as more common species. © Justin Boyle

My experience in Austin was also a reminder that even at the best locations, there are  variables that affect what you observe on any single night.  Rain or cool weather reduce bat activity, and there’s still a lot we don’t know about bat foraging behavior; for instance they may actively forage in an area one night but not the next.  So negative results during one visit isn’t enough evidence to decide bats aren’t in the area.  Ideally we would visit each site multiple times to control for this variability.  However with fifteen sites to monitor, only a few staff members and a fairly short survey period (roughly June 1st to July 31st) we know getting to each site once will keep us busy.  As a result, we may have to survey some sites even though the conditions aren’t ideal.  Unfortunately, these are common problems when surveying for endangered species and are something that many at CWF have had to deal with.

Our acoustic bat monitoring project is just getting underway; we’re taking the lessons learned in Illinois and using that knowledge to monitor for bats in New Jersey.  Expect more updates on our techniques and preliminary results as we have a chance to visit more sites.