Last year 26 nesting pairs of peregrine falcons were monitored in New Jersey. The core of the state population nests on towers (old hacking towers) and on buildings in urban areas. Each spring we assist NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program to help monitor the core of the population by performing nest checks and by installing a remote, motion-activated “spy” cam in nests to record the adults as they enter and exit nests. The footage captures the legs of peregrines. Why? Many peregrines are banded before they can fly with a federal USGS bird band and a state bi-color, alpha-numeric band. The state bi-color band can be read from the video captured by the camera. The information that these identifications provide is immensely valuable for relating peregrine origin and age to nest success, site fidelity and turnover rate in the population.
Here is a short clip from a nest site in Ocean Gate and the bird in the video was identified as a male (*8/*5, black/green) that was banded in 2005 at Sedge Island.
If you happened to be taking a stroll on a chilly February afternoon on the beaches of New Jersey and you saw a blue and white Cessna in the sky flying in a not-so-straight pattern, well that was me in the back of the teeny 4-seater plane. Last Tuesday I helped complete the New Jersey segment of the American oystercatcher winter survey, which is being directed by Shiloh Schulte from the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, in partnership with the American Oystercatcher Working Group. Other staff from the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the State’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program were on the beach (or in a boat) “ground-truthing” the survey in order to verify the data that were collected during the flight.
Flight path during one portion of the New Jersey survey for American oystercatchers.
After swallowing a motion sickness pill as a precautionary measure (thanks Shiloh!) our four hour flight took off early afternoon from the Cape May County Airport, starting with a survey of Cape May Inlet. We continued our flight north, surveying Hereford, Townsend’s, Corson’s, Great Egg Harbor, Absecon, Brigantine, Little Egg, Barnegat, and Manasquan Inlets and finally Sandy Hook Gateway National Recreation Area. We saw flocks of wintering oystercatchers, from a handful to up to 140 birds, using sand and marsh habitats. It was quite the first-time experience for me. Surveying from the air is NOT the easiest, but especially if a flock is seen at the last second and the plane has to bank hard. I admit I even glanced around for a sick bag a few times, but stayed strong! I don’t get seasick or airsick, but flying in a Cessna and doing numerous turns and banking was a whole new feeling. There were many times all I could see from the backseat was water with no horizon to focus on, all while attempting to take good photographs of the flocks for the count. Try doing that when you are sideways! In the end I managed to do really well at both, taking photos of the flocks and not getting sick during my aerial survey. Go me! Continue reading “Oystercatcher Project in Flight”
Since Sandy slammed into the coast of New Jersey we have been actively surveying damage to habitat that wildlife need to survive. Ospreys are currently on their wintering grounds in N. South America but their many nesting platforms were right in the middle of the high winds and strong storm surge from Sandy. For the most part, the majority of the platforms weathered the storm. Some of the old, small, and weak platforms were carried away with the surge (like this old duck blind on Herring Island on N. Barnegat Bay).
Ospreys mate for life and have a high level of site fidelity, so the nesting pair (if they survive the wintering season) will return to the same nest, and do so year after year. For the platforms that were occupied and washed away, we aren’t sitting around waiting for issues to arise when ospreys return to their nest sites next March. Since Sandy hit on October 29th we have already installed 5 new nesting platforms. Two platforms were installed on December 1st on Herring Island, which is right in the middle of the area where Sandy had devastating effects on the shoreline. The platforms were built before the storm by Point Pleasant resident Tom Vannostrand. The new platforms were installed to replace an old duck blind that was damaged late last year (possibly from Irene) and washed away by Sandy. When the pair of ospreys returned to nest on the blind this year they found that their nesting structure was damaged and attempted to build a nest on a nearby home. Long story short, the homeowners weren’t so happy and had the nest removed by USDA.
You can help us build and replace other platforms damaged by Sandy. On January 19th, from 10-3pm we are hosting a volunteer build day to construct 20 nesting platforms.
When people first hear the word CAMP they might think of going out in the woods and setting up a tent, but CWF’s CAMP project is all about monitoring New Jersey’s amphibian population. CAMP stands for the Calling Amphibian Monitoring Project.
In 2012 33 volunteers participated and surveyed a total of 33 routes out of 63. Volunteers conduct roadside surveys (after dusk) for calling amphibians along designated routes throughout the state. Each 15-mile route is surveyed three times during the spring. Each route has 10 stops, where volunteers stop, listen and record all frog and toad calls for 5 minutes.
In 2012 15 out of the 16 New Jersey amphibian species were detected. The only species not detected was the Eastern Spadefoot. Northern Spring Peepers were the most common species detected on 31 of the routes while Green Frogs were detected on 22 routes. Both the American Bullfrog and Southern Leopard Frog were heard on 16 of the routes.
In NJ there are four frog and toad species of conservation concern; the Southern gray Treefrog is a state endangered species, the Pine Barrens Treefrog is a state threatened species, and the Carpenter Frog and Fowler’s Toad are both special concern species. The Southern Gray Treefrog was detected on 2 of the CAMP route, the Pine Barren Treefrog on 3 of the routes, the Fowler’s Toad on 13 of the routes and the Carpenter Frog on 7 of the routes.
CAMP data is entered into the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program (NAAMP) database housed by the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. All of the occurrence data for these species is extracted from the NAAMP database, quality checked for validity, and entered into the Biotics database by CWF & ENSP staff. These data will then be used in future versions of the Landscape Project maps. These maps are used by planners in various state, county, municipal and private agencies to avoid conflict with critical wildlife habitat.
Thank you to all CAMP volunteers!
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP IN 2013?
Twenty-five routes are available for the 2013 season
For more information on volunteering e-mail: Larissa.Smith@conservewildlifenj.org
LOOKING FOR HELP FROM BIRDWATCHERS TO FILL-IN DATA GAPS
By Michael Davenport, Marine Species & GIS Programs Manager
Young barn owls. Photo by MacKenzie Hall.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation staff work with the New Jersey Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) to manage and populate the state’s official database of rare wildlife, known as Biotics. Currently, this database contains over 35,000 animal and plant records within New Jersey. ENSP and CWF currently collect and enter data for the state’s 173 endangered, threatened, and special concern species.
There are several species of birds for which more observation data would be useful; and it’s likely that birdwatchers or other nature watchers may have the data needed. Most good birdwatchers keep logs of what they’ve observed, when, and where. It would be helpful if anyone with detailed observation data for the species listed at the end of this blog could submit their data for potential inclusion in the Biotics database.
To submit your observation data, please complete a Rare Wildlife Sighting Report Form. The form is available on ENSP’s website for download as well as instructions for completing the form (a map must be attached when submitted). In addition to the species listed below, please feel free to submit one or more forms for any of the state’s endangered, threatened, or special concern species. A complete list of all of the species tracked by the state can be downloaded here.
If you have a large amount of data to submit, please contact Mike Davenport of Conserve Wildlife Foundation at (609) 292-3795 – alternative data submission options may be available (such as submitting Excel spreadsheets or GIS files).
Determining flight movements and patterns of piping plovers
By Sarah Scheffer, CWFNJ Seasonal Field Technician
This year’s chapter of the Beach Nesting Bird Project brought with it many unique opportunities, particularly with the placement of color bands on nearly 30 of our piping plovers at two locations along the New Jersey coastline. Nesting adults and four chicks from Stone Harbor Point and Avalon were given bands, which we have been using to conduct resight surveys to understand how adults and juveniles move about before migrating. In the long term, these bands can be used to determine if birds return to the same breeding grounds or natal sites, and where they overwinter. The banding was carried out by two researchers from the State University of New York, Emily Heiser and Christy Weaver, as part of a project to determine flight movements and patterns of piping plovers in order to be able to minimize risks to these threatened shorebirds when assessing the placement of wind turbines. Luckily, some of the CWFNJ team, including myself, was able to provide assistance and help with the banding!
Placing the funnel trap around Piping Plover nest to capture the birds for banding.
Being able to band the piping plovers was a truly special experience. Nesting adults were captured by manipulating the predator exclosures (wire cages) placed over their nests to create only one entrance and one exit into a netted tunnel. Once captured the plovers were then carefully measured and weighed to determine crucial information such as body mass, wing length, and beak size. Using a small specialized tool, brightly colored plastic bands were placed on the legs of each bird to give them their own unique combination. Banding schemes can vary depending on who performs the banding and can include small flags and metal or plastic bands placed on the legs. At our two New Jersey sites, birds were given four bands, two on the upper portion of each leg. Piping plovers at Stone Harbor Point sport a green band on the top of each leg, while those at Avalon wear blue bands.
Piping Plover from Avalon NJ dubbed Whitney Houston (aka blue/grey blue/green) in hand for color banding. Courtesy of Emily Heiser.
These bands have made it much easier to identify individual birds and to observe their habits. Along with the band combinations, we decided to give the plovers nicknames as well! Although the nicknames are definitely something that adds a little bit of fun to identification, they are actually quite practical as well. The nicknames helped to streamline communication about what was happening at each nesting site. For example, it is much easier to say that Bruce (Springsteen) was observed incubating his nest, than to say the bird with green gray, green yellow (band combinations are read from top to bottom, from left to right) was seen incubating.
During the summer piping plover breeding season, our duties included checking the breeding sites and the individual nests or broods every day. As the season progressed, resight surveys were also performed. A section of beach was regularly traversed and the number, location, and activities of the banded piping plovers were noted. These surveys give us crucial information about the site and the movements of the plovers, as well as when they depart to migrate. After her nest was lost in a flood tide, a banded female nicknamed Ivana was observed to have begun her migration and was spotted soon after in Virginia! As most staff check on the same sites every day, we became well acquainted with each bird and their particular idiosyncrasies. The increased ease of identification of these birds has helped turn up some surprising information. The banding project has resulted in a wealth of knowledge and the possibility to further understand the New Jersey population.
By Michael Davenport, Marine Species & GIS Programs Manager
The former and revised range maps for the Checkered White butterfly in New Jersey.
Just as world maps get updated with the addition of new countries (most recently South Sudan in 2011), wildlife range maps also need to be revised occasionally as new information becomes available.
There are 173 range maps available on Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s on-line field guide web pages for New Jersey’s endangered, threatened, and special concern species. Although some of these maps were created only two years ago, 23 range maps were in need of minor to major revisions since new data had become available. The range maps are based upon data within the NJ Department of Environmental Protection’s Biotics database, the official statewide database of rare wildlife. While some new data was received from biologists’ surveys, a portion of it was received from the general public who submitted Rare Wildlife Sighting Report Forms for their own personal observations.
One of the most striking range map revisions is the Checkered White Butterfly. Previously documented only at Newark Airport, this species has now also been documented in southern New Jersey. Whether or not this disjunct population has been there all these years and not reported (flying under the radar so to speak), or this represents a recent natural range expansion or introduction is unknown at this point.
Take a tour of our on-line field guide – revised maps are labeled “2012”.
By Michael Davenport, Marine Species & GIS Programs Manager
“Can you eat them?” That’s the question I get most often when I tell people that I search for rare freshwater mussels. Most people don’t realize that freshwater mussels even exist and those who do often don’t know how they are related to and different from their marine cousins. I’ve been guilty of mussel misconceptions – as a child, I had believed that all the mussel shells I saw along lake shorelines and shallow waters were discards from a clam (mussel) bake of marine shellfish.
On the left is the freshwater eastern floater mussel and on the right is the marine blue mussel. Photo by Mike Davenport.
Let’s start with mussel similarities – both freshwater and marine mussels are bivalve (two-shells connected with a hinge) mollusks (soft-bodied invertebrates). Both live in water and are filter-feeders, straining plankton (microscopic plants and animals), bacteria and other particles from the water column. And both are known as “mussels” because they somewhat resemble each other, having shells which are longer than wide. That ends the similarities.
Within the phylum Mollusca and the class Bivalvia, freshwater and marine mussels are within separate subclasses: Palaeoheterodonta = freshwater mussels; Pteriomorphia = marine mussels. Based on this separation, marine mussels are more closely related to oysters and scallops than they are to freshwater mussels.
One obvious difference between freshwater and marine mussels is that freshwater mussels live in freshwater streams, rivers, ponds and lakes while marine mussels live in salt water oceans and bays. There is a higher diversity of freshwater mussel species in New Jersey (12 native species) than marine species (~ 3) and most of the freshwater species are imperiled while the marine mussels are still plentiful.
Marine mussels taste wonderful in a garlic butter or marinara sauce while freshwater mussels taste like an old dirty shoe. Most freshwater mussels in New Jersey also have a protected status and cannot be harvested or collected. Even possessing the shell of an endangered or threatened species is illegal without a permit.
Although unpalatable to humans, freshwater mussels are prey for raccoons, otters, and crayfish. Marine mussels are prey for some birds, sea stars, and some marine snails.
Marine mussels reproduce by releasing their eggs and sperm into the water. The young then begin life as floating plankton for between one and six months before settling on the bottom as an adult. With freshwater mussels, the male releases sperm into the water which then enters the female via her incurrent siphon. The eggs are fertilized within the female’s body and the young mussels, known as glochidia, are then released into the water to attach themselves to a passing fish as a parasite. After feeding on the fish during their larval stage, they detach themselves, fall to the bottom, and begin their adult stage.
Most marine mussels (and the invasive freshwater Zebra mussel; which is not within either the Palaeoheterodonta or Pteriomorphia subclasses) use threads calls byssus to attach themselves to underwater rocks, jetties, and other structures. Freshwater mussels are more mobile, using their powerful foot to move along the substrate and bury themselves.
Freshwater mussels are also known for their longevity. Some species are known to live for over 100 years. Although some marine clams are thought to surpass the century mark, marine mussel likely do not.
For more information about New Jersey’s freshwater mussels, please visit the links below:
By Michael Davenport, Marine Species & GIS Programs Manager
Conserve Wildlife Foundation Intern, Nelson Melendez, and I recently had an opportunity to assist Endangered & Nongame Species Program Biologist Sharon Petzinger in her research on golden-winged warblers, a species just added to the state’s list of Endangered species this year. We were banding males which had been observed previously and had already claimed breeding territories. They were being banded in order to obtain data regarding their distribution and habitat use, as well as other life history information.
Only males were being targeted for banding. Males are territorial during the breeding season and do not tolerate the presence of other male golden-winged warblers. Therefore, in order to catch a male, we would use their own territorial instincts to lure them into a mist net (a mist net looks a little like a volley ball net with much finer netting which becomes invisible to birds if set-up properly).
Once a mist net was set-up near a known golden-winged’s territory, Sharon used a custom-painted “toy” bird to play the role of an unwelcome male visitor. She also used a call play-back, a recording of a male golden-winged’s song. The song would lure the male near the net, and the decoy should bring him right into the net.
We went to several locations in northwest New Jersey where golden-winged warblers had been observed earlier in the year to set-up the mist net. On this particular day, however, luck was not with us for no golden-winged warblers were caught. Several other species were captured however, such as a veery, chestnut-sided warbler, and a Brewster’s warbler. The Brewster’s warbler is actually a hybrid of a golden-winged warbler and a blue-winged warbler. Another hybrid form between those two species is known as Lawrence’s warbler.
CWF Intern, Nelson Melendez, holding a chestnut-sided warbler. Photo by Mike Davenport.
The veery and chestnut-sided warbler were released from the net unharmed. Before the Brewster’s was released, a small aluminum band was placed on its leg and measurements such as wing length and weight were taken.
Warblers are often an overlooked group of birds by some birdwatchers due to their small size and relative difficulty in observing. They are stunningly beautiful however, which becomes apparent when you have the opportunity to view them up-close. They are a very diverse species group with a variety of interesting life histories. There is currently one species (the golden-winged) listed as Endangered in the state and 11 additional species listed as Special Concern. To learn more about them, please visit our on-line field guide links below.
Birding by Kayak on Barnegat Bay, surf fishing off Island Beach, night hikes, and more…
CWF is excited to partner with NJ State Parks and offer incredible programs about New Jersey’s natural world. Programs are taking place at both Island Beach State Park and Allaire State Park.
Become a WILDCHILD, take a sunset kayak tour, try your hand at surf-fishing, go bird watching, or discover the night. Whatever you decide, you will be guided by professional educators and naturalists who have plenty of natural and wildlife stories to share with you.
At nearly 10 miles long, Island Beach is New Jersey’s most expansive stretch of undeveloped barrier island. Our programs help you to connect with the beauty of this ecosystem and its ample natural resources. Have your kids participate in a WILDCHILD program including surfing, surf-fishing, and island exploration. Try and catch the big one during a surf-fishing class or discover the beauty of Barnegat Bay through kayaking.
Allaire State Park covers almost 3,000 acres within the coastal plain of New Jersey. An extension of the Pine Barrens, Allaire has sandy soils and forests of oak, cedar, and pine. The Manasquan River flows through the park, creating floodplain that serves as habitat for many species of wildlife, including the barred owl, wood turtle, and bald eagle. Discover moths, take a quiet bird walk, or splash around in the pond and stream during one of our summer programs.
