By Kaiulani Sund, Seasonal Field Technician
My name is Kaiulani and I am the newest beach nesting bird crew member for CWF this year! I was super excited to get back in the field and this job offered a great opportunity to gain experience working with new birds, as well as help with the conservation efforts to protect their breeding habitats.
by: Larissa Smith, Senior Wildlife Biologist
Twenty-nine Shorebirds Stewards were posted at Delaware Bay beaches in Cumberland and Cape May Counties during the annual shorebird migration in May. Stewards help to protect the feeding shorebirds by keeping disturbance to a minimum. Shorebirds birds need to feed and fatten up on horseshoe crab eggs for their journey north to their breeding grounds. Stewards educate the public about this phenomenon and the reasons for the restricted beaches. The 2024 shorebird season went smoothly, the crabs spawned throughout May, so there were plenty of eggs on the beaches. This season the shorebirds were using many of the beaches with restricted access to the public. These beaches had stewards present and viewing areas, allowing people to witness the multitudes of shorebirds, especially the Red-knot, a federally listed species. Thank you to all the stewards for making this a successful shorebird season.
photos by Shorebird Stewards
by Ben Wurst / Senior Wildlife Biologist
There aren’t many times when you get to climb to the roof of a courthouse in a major metropolitan area. Except if you’re a raptor biologist! We recently joined NJ Fish & Wildlife’s Chief of the Endangered and Nongame Species Program, Kathy Clark and Union County staff and guests to band the four young falcons produced at a nest atop the Union County Courthouse, home to the Union County Falcon Cam.
Continue reading “Photos from the Field”by Emmy Casper, Wildlife Biologist
Welcome back to the second season of American Oystercatcher monitoring on New Jersey’s Delaware Bay beaches! CWF, and our partners at the Wetlands Institute and USFWS, have returned to the Bayshore to continue our research project funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). Last year, the CWF-led team surveyed 29 miles of Bayshore beaches, monitored 19 nesting pairs, banded seven adults and four chicks, and conducted invasive species removal. This year, we’re excited to build on that progress and learn more about this previously understudied oystercatcher population.
by Rachel McGovern, Director of Education
Peregrine falcons are fascinating to learn about—they are swift, fierce, and intelligent birds. They are a joy to teach about, too! CWF is fortunate to have the opportunity to teach about these amazing birds of prey with students in Linden Public Schools, due to the generous support from Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery.
Each year, CWF visits every third-grade classroom in the Linden Public School District to deliver in-depth lessons about peregrine falcons. These lessons delve into the life history of peregrines, the reason for their decline, and how they are recovering today. Students explore how these falcons have adapted to modern-day landscapes by nesting on manmade structures rather than exclusively choosing their traditional cliffside sites. For city-dwelling students, it’s a revelation to discover that these endangered raptors thrive in environments like their own.
Central to this educational initiative is the Union County Falcon Cam– a live camera on a falcon nest located just a couple miles from Linden’s elementary schools. This camera has been in operation since 2016. It is run in cooperation with Union County and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. A live feed brings the viewer into a nest on the roof of the Union County Courthouse where Frida and Mango, the current pair at this nest, raise young each year. Students learn about the history of the camera and check in with the birds during their lesson. Teachers are also encouraged to check in with the falcons regularly for students to watch them raise their young.
Continue reading “Third Grade Students Explore the Fascinating World of Peregrine Falcons”by Robert Criollo and Daniel Turcios, GIS Program Managers
In the world of Biotics, it all starts with one upload. An observer can come across the species wandering the forests of New Jersey and snap a photo of it. From there, they upload it to the New Jersey Wildlife Tracker.
A few tracked species are: Eastern Box Turtles, Bobcats, Peregrine Falcons, Red Knots, and Pine Barrens Treefrog.
Continue reading “Expanding Conservation with Biotics”by Leah Wells, Wildlife Biologist
On rainy spring evenings, have you ever encountered large numbers of salamanders and frogs crossing the road? Do you ever wonder where they came from and where they are going? New Jersey’s forests are home to a group of amphibians that breed in small, temporary wetlands called vernal pools. Within northern New Jersey, this group includes wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and Jefferson salamanders.
These salamanders are elusive, often concealed under foliage, moss, or in burrows created by small creatures. They belong to the Ambystomatidae family, earning the nickname “mole salamander” due to their subterranean tendencies. Feeding primarily at night on various invertebrates like earthworms and insects, they, along with wood frogs, play crucial roles in forest ecosystems as vital links in the food chain and are indicators of ecosystem health. Emerging from winter hibernation during rainy nights in late winter and early spring, they embark on journeys to vernal pools for mating and egg-laying, marking the onset of the amphibian migration.
Continue reading “Exploring New Jersey’s Amphibian Migrations”By Christine Healy, Wildlife Biologist
In today’s world, it’s pretty difficult to think of a species that scientists are not concerned about in the face of climate change. The reasons are many and diverse, but in a state where 42% of municipalities are considered “coastal”, it comes as no surprise that sea level rise (SLR) is a big threat here- both to people and wildlife. When the average person imagines which species are most likely to be impacted by SLR, it’s likely that beach nesters, including piping plovers, immediately come to mind. Afterall, they occupy the same environments that recreationalists are worried about losing. Valid point- but they are not the only ones. Eastern tiger salamanders, one of New Jersey’s rarest amphibians, also make the list.
Like our other mole salamanders (spotted, blue-spotted, marbled, and Jefferson), Eastern tiger salamanders require access to temporary wetlands, called vernal pools, to successfully breed. The ephemeral nature of these water bodies is critical because it eliminates fish as potential egg predators and thus increases larval survival. While these salamanders spend much of the year in forested landscapes, adults return annually to their natal pools (in most cases) to reproduce. High fidelity to these sites can put these amphibians in danger if development occurs within their migration corridors or changes transpire within the pools themselves.
Continue reading “Encouraging Development for Tiger Salamanders”by Meaghan Lyon, Wildlife Biologist
In the spring and summer of 2023, CWF set up over 100 field cameras in a variety of habitats along mammal travel paths at the Joint Base in Lakehurst. The study captured a glimpse of what wildlife does when they think no one is watching.
To start, here is an abbreviated species list of most of the wildlife captured on camera. We were not surprised to find that nearly 80% of our captures were of white-tailed deer! Unfortunately, no captures of black bears have been reported in the area in previous years. Check out some of the captures below!
by Ben Wurst / Senior Wildlife Biologist
In coastal New Jersey, during spring and summer the recovery of ospreys is apparent. They grace the skies of most ocean front beaches from Sandy Hook to Cape May in search of prey. Their nests line our shorelines and can be found in a variety of nest structures. Today there are over 800 pairs of ospreys who nest all across New Jersey. Results from the 2023 nesting season illustrate how the osprey population continues to grow but with reduced reproductive success due to extremes in weather and reduced prey availability.
Continue reading “Nor’easter and Prey Shortage Impacts Nesting Ospreys in 2023”