Tag: osprey

Video from the field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Ospreys, setting more records with a little help from mankind

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

At left, Marty McHugh (former chief of NJ Fish & Wildlife) and Pete McLain (former Deputy Director of NJ Fish & Wildlife) in August 2005 at the Sedge House. Ospreys would not be as numerous today if it weren't for their hard work and determination. © Kathy Clark/ENSP

Last year we installed or relocated a total of 17 osprey nesting platforms. This year we installed or moved another 21. In 2011 there were 25 new pairs, some of which, that nested on these new platforms. This year was another record setting year for ospreys in New Jersey. We recorded an average of 2.07 young per active nest, a new record. We last documented the size of population at 486 nesting pairs in 2009 when we conducted a statewide census.  We now believe that the state population has met recovery goals (of more than 500 nesting pairs) that were set after DDT and habitat loss decimated the population by upwards of 90%. We aren’t the only organization who has helped with the recovery of ospreys. We credit the hard work of biologists with the Endangered and Nongame Species Program in the 1970-present who worked tirelessly to help the population rebound. To name a few, former Deputy Chief of ENSP, Pete McLain; former Director of NJFW, Marty McHugh; former Chief of ENSP Larry Niles, current Chief of ENSP, Dave Jenkins; current Director of NJFW, Dave Chanda; and Supervising Zoologist Kathy Clark who has worked to protect ospreys over her entire 20+ year career with ENSP.

We can also credit the recovery efforts to local environmental and water-quality improvements, like the Barnegat Bay Initiative and restoration of the Meadowlands, and by the grass-roots efforts by concerned citizens and groups who have helped provide nesting platforms to accommodate their population growth.

In the next week ENSP and CWF will be releasing the 2011 Osprey Project Newsletter which summarizes the entire nesting season survey results. In the meantime, check out the video below of myself and two friends who volunteered to help me move a nesting platform on southern Barnegat Bay in late 2010. note: I usually have more than 3 people who assist me when installing an osprey platform. As they say “the more, the merrier…”

 

Photo from the field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Students help provide homes for ospreys on New York Bay

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Students and teachers from Bayonne High School stand in front of an osprey platform that was built this past week. © Ben Wurst

This past week I spent the day with students and teachers at Bayonne High School (BHS). I was there to help students construct three osprey nesting platforms. The platforms are being placed at the Bayonne Golf Club (BGC) along a portion wetland habitat that was restored by the BGC along New York Bay. This whole project began when I was approached a couple months ago by Tom Tokar, a teacher at BHS, about assisting them with the construction and placement of the platforms with some of his students. Tom and Larissa Drennan, a teacher at the Woodrow Wilson School, have involved their students in many environmental projects in Bayonne, one of which is where they grow mussels and seed them at the BCG. Ron D’Argenio, with BGC has supported their efforts from the beginning not only by offering up the BGC as a location to seed the mussels but also through financial assistance. Ron and the BGC are also fully funding this project as well, with a very generous donation to CWF. Continue reading “Photo from the field”

Photo and Report from the Field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
A little human help goes a long way!

written by Maureen Barrett, CWF volunteer/donor/wildlife enthusiast/educator

With wind speeds clocked at 91-92 mph, the osprey nest behind my house didn’t stand a chance! On Tuesday, July 19th around 8:00 P.M., a thunderstorm came barreling into Fortescue from the northeast. It was a wicked storm with thunder, lightning, and even hail. The wind was so strong that my purple martin housing was being blown around like it was a stalk of phragmites. The adult osprey held their positions on the perching supports of the platform for as long as they could, but soon jumped ship. By that time, the pole for the martin house broke and I couldn’t even see the osprey platform through the rain.

After the storm, some moonlight allowed me to see the silhouette of the osprey platform. It was still standing. But I couldn’t see any nesting material inside; it looked empty. I made an attempt to walk through the marsh to get a closer look, but I thought it would be wise to wait until first light. So I waited for the sun to rise.

An image that was taken using a technique called "digiscoping" reveals two osprey young in the nest.

By 5:00 A.M., my suspicions were confirmed. There was not one piece of nesting material on the platform. Fortunately the adults survived the storm and were once again perched on the platform supports, but the nest and chick were gone. The high winds blew everything off the platform. I quickly put my boots on and walked out on the marsh. I was surprised how relatively easy it was to get to the platform after getting a few inches of rain the night before. There was only one very small ditch I had to cross. I soon found the pile of nesting material and on the edge of the pile was a clump of wet feathers. It looked like the storm had taken the chick’s life. But then I saw some movement! It had survived the storm, the fall, and an evening on the ground!

This being my first experience with such an ordeal, I called my friend Bill Miller who lives up the street. (You know who your friends are when you call them before 6:00 A.M. for a favor!) He brought down a ladder and a piece of plywood. We went back on the marsh, dried the chick with a towel, and put it back on the platform. Within a few minutes, the adults returned to the platform to see their chick back in the nest.

Two other nests in Fortescue were also destroyed by the storm. Later that day, Brian Johnson of the Natural Land Trust’s Glades Wildlife Refuge had to place a foster chick in my nest. This chick’s nest was in a tree and totally destroyed. Both chicks are getting along just fine and being fed by the adults.

Photo from the field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Osprey numbers continue to rise!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Three osprey nestlings were a common sight in many nests from Sedge Island to Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. © Ben Wurst

Volunteers, CWF staff, and biologists with NJ Fish & Wildlife recently completed osprey nesting surveys throughout coastal areas of New Jersey. Each year these “osprey banders” complete “ground surveys” (referred to as ground surveys because they are surveying nests by land/sea, not by helicopter) that cover around 70% of the state population. I survey colonies on Barnegat Bay, Little Egg Harbor, and Absecon. The surveys are meant to keep track of the population and determine its health. During the surveys the banders access nesting areas mainly by boat since most ospreys nest in coastal areas or by water (their source of food). We use ladders to access nests where we count the number of young produced and then place an aluminum band on each of the young.  For the past two years we have also been collecting feather samples for a study being conducted by the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia where they are analyzing the stable isotopes to determine what ospreys are eating and how their diet has changed over time. More specifically they’ll be looking for changes in the isotope profiles across the local range of ospreys – something that has never been done before.

In one area, Sedge Island WMA, that I’ve surveyed for the past few years I surveyed 27 nests. 22 of those nests were occupied and produced a total of 47 young. 34 of those young were banded for future tracking. From the survey I can calculate the productivity or reproductive rate which is a measure of how healthy the population of that colony is. The productivity rate for Sedge Island is 2.14 young/active(known-outcome)nest this year which is the highest ever recorded (see chart at right for more details). These awesome results are the result of calm and mild weather conditions this spring and summer, high availability of prey, and possibly the increased amount of experienced breeding birds. Another factor that has surely helped to give the population a boost is the increased availability of suitable nest sites along the coast. Since 2004, I’ve helped to install more than 100 nesting platforms. Many of these platforms replaced old dilapidated structures and now give ospreys a better chance at successfully raising young that will eventually return to New Jersey to reproduce.

 

 

 

Photo from the Field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Stranded osprey gets helping hand

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

I’ve been off work for the past week to spend some time with the newest member of my family, Reed Alexander Wurst. I was planning on heading into the office today to play catch up with a lot of projects that I’ve involved with (having a baby during field season is definitely keeping me busy!). So I started the day by opening up my laptop to download the 90+ emails I’ve gotten in the past week. As I sat down for some breakfast I saw an email from a woman where the subject said “Osprey on our Sailboat and we need help!” Immediately after I saw that I thought, there goes heading into the office… The woman who contacted me was Melissa, who was living on her sailboat that was moored in the harbor at Barnegat Light (BL). She sent me an image and this is what she wrote:

“We read your story in the SandPaper so are contacting you about this situation.

We heard a loud noise around 1am and when we looked with the flashlight we saw this osprey. It tried to fly up and out w/o success and now that it’s light we can see blood and it’s appears that his/her wing is injured.

We are anchored at Barnegat Light across from the town boat ramp. Our boat is Piscator and is the 32′ white and green double-ender.

We have no way to deal with handling this osprey, so really need help!! “

An injured osprey on the deck of s/v Piscator in Barnegat Light, NJ. © Ben Wurst

I called Melissa and I headed up to BL. I met John at the boat ramp and we rode out to the s/v Piscator in his dingy. After the short ride I saw that that osprey had a fracture to it’s left wing in the carpal (wrist) joint. I carefully collected the osprey and saw that she was banded. I looked up the band (788-49090) and she was banded in Sandy Hook on June 30, 2009. This would be her first year back from her wintering areas to breed in New Jersey. Ospreys spend two years after fledging in their wintering areas. One positive aspect is that most two year old birds do not raise young their first year after returning to nest in areas where they originated. So, no young ospreys are dieing b/c of her injury.

I then called Don Bonica with Toms River Avian Care and transported the osprey to Barnegat Animal Clinic where it would temporarily stay. I don’t know if it will heal from its wounds. Ospreys don’t do well in captivity or in rehabilitation settings. I can only hope that its fracture is minor and that it heals quickly!

Melissa knew who to contact after reading a story about my work with ospreys in New Jersey, especially the B. Bay Watershed in The Sandpaper. The story is viewable online until Wednesday, June 15th.

Photo from the field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Not your typical osprey platform!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

A 30 ft. tall osprey platform is installed at Fort Monmouth in Oceanport, NJ. © Ben Wurst

For the past two years we’ve worked with staff from the Army Corps of Engineers to enhance osprey nesting habitat within the Shrewsbury River Watershed inside Fort Monmouth in Oceanport, New Jersey. We first began work during the summer of 2009 when an osprey nested on a utility pole at the Fort. The pair had eggs when their nest caused $10,000 worth of damage to a transformer. To alleviate the problem the nest was going to be removed from the pole and the nest would have been lost.  Instead Joe Fallon, Chief of the Environmental Division at the Fort decided to install a new pole next to the nest on the live power lines. I met with Joe and gave him a platform “top” and braces to attach to the top of the new pole. After the new pole was installed the nest and eggs were moved. The adults immediately took to the nest platform and successfully raised two young that year. In 2010, they raised another two young that we banded with USGS bird bands.

After completion of work this spring there will be a total of 18 nesting platforms there (not including a nest on a light pole over a baseball field). We hope to use part of this funding to install more nesting structures on several islands to the west of Sea Bright and Monmouth Beach in 2012.

A Unique Opportunity

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Manasquan Reservoir Osprey nest repairs

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

A "natural" osprey nest in a snag on the Manasquan Reservoir. Image courtesy Tanya Dinova, Monmouth County Parks.

On January 17th I was forwarded a message from fellow osprey conservationist and colleague Jon Rosky. Jon has been helping provide nesting structures for ospreys since the early 90s with his Osprey Recovery Project. Tanya Dinova, a naturalist/interpreter at the Manasquan Reservoir Environmental Center contacted Jon to get assistance with a snag (a dead standing tree) that held an osprey nest since 2008 on the reservoir. This past October a storm caused the snag to snap and the nest was lost.

Luckily this occurred during the non-breeding season, otherwise the nestlings would not have survived. Tanya reported that the nest produced 2 young in 2010 and 2 in 2009. Great results for a natural nest that is directly over water! One might argue to not do anything and allow ospreys to find another snag to build a nest on. There are multiple snags in the water that could provide another natural nest site. If we were not going to do anything then this would be the likely outcome. However, many of the snags are not large enough to hold an osprey nest and there is a good chance the nest could fall during the breeding season.

Ospreys return to the same nest site year after year. And young adults return to where they originated to reproduce when they are 3 years old. Ospreys usually live till around 10 years old in the wild. The oldest osprey that was ever encountered in New Jersey was a female that was 18 years old. She sustained injuries from a close encounter with an eagle near Avalon several years ago and did not survive.

Here you can see the extent of the damage to the tree. Image courtesy Tanya Dinova, Monmouth County Parks.

In her message Tanya stressed the importance of having ospreys that nest on the reservoir as an educational resource to visitors of the park. A total of 3 pairs of ospreys nest on the reservoir. Naturalists, like Tanya, educate the public about ospreys, their decline, their importance in the ecosystem, and their return to historic numbers in New Jersey. This is a very important part of the recovery of ospreys in New Jersey and it will help foster awareness for them in the future.

Monmouth County has been an area of interest to me. Since I began working with ospreys in 2004 there were only a few nests in Monmouth County that were monitored. In 2010 there were 14 active nests (not including those on Sandy Hook and the Raritan Bay) where nesting observations were made. These observations help us determine the health of the local and state populations. In 2010, productivity averaged 1.86 young/active (known-outcome) nest. It was recorded at 1.25 in 2009. The population is continuing to grow in Monmouth County and with only limited areas to nest, ospreys are nesting in peculiar locations.

Many ospreys are choosing to nest on cell towers, boat lifts, and other tall structures. Because of habitat loss these are the only a few structures that are available to them. Manasquan Reservoir is an exception. When the dam was installed it killed trees when the water levels rose. This created new nest sites for ospreys from the snags that were left. However, today many snags are beginning to decay and osprey nesting sites are lost.

This situation has created a unique opportunity to collaborate and find a solution. I suggested that instead of installing a new nesting platform, to install a box-top (3×3′ wood box) on top of the snag. The box would allow the ospreys to nest in the same tree and it would provide added stability ospreys rely on to incubate eggs and raise young. We will perform this delicate task before ospreys return in mid-March.

New Jersey’s Rare Wildlife

Posted on by Ben Wurst
A year in review: Weather and Disease Impact Populations
It was generally a good season for peregrine falcons, except for no successful nesting at the cliff habitats. © Kathy Clark

Biologists with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey help monitor and manage many endangered and threatened species in New Jersey. We work very closely with the Endangered and Nongame Species Program in the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife. Each year we summarize the results of many surveys and monitoring programs to show the most current information about the status of New Jersey’s wildlife. Whether good or bad news, we like to share this information with the public to make them aware of the conservation needs and successes.

Weather had a huge impact on wildlife this past year. The cold winter lead to a higher than normal loss of young bald eagles while the hot dry summer was favorable to those species impacted by coastal floods, the piping plover, least tern and black skimmer. The hot dry climate also helped ospreys produce a record high number of young. However, disease still impacts our state’s bats and disturbance by people or predators plays a role in fledging success. Check out the full report for detailed information for over 15 species listed as endangered or threatened in New Jersey.

Photo from the Field

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Installing Osprey Platforms

By Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

This past week I installed two osprey nesting platforms with the help of some dedicated volunteers. The platforms were installed on two islands known as Little Sedge Islands off Lavallette in Barnegat Bay. I originally planned on only installing one platform there for a woman who donated to help support our osprey project. However, this past spring on the day we were planning to install the platform my wife went into labor with our first child. So I made up for not having the platform installed before this year’s nesting season by installing two this past week.

The islands are preserved as open space and are great habitat for ospreys. They prefer to nest over or near water (their source of food). Islands provide additional protection from ground predators, like raccoons. There are several nesting platforms nearby that are always occupied, so it’s likely that these platforms will be occupied within the next couple years.

Thank you to everyone who helped out!!

Volunteers finish installing an osprey nesting platform on an island on Barnegat Bay. © Ben Wurst

More photos from the installation:

Fall Migration is Underway!

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Viewing Wildlife and migration studies

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

A juvenile black skimmer is viewed through a spotting scope at Forsythe NWR in Oceanville, NJ. © Ben Wurst

Fall migration is underway! Ospreys are headed south for the winter. Juveniles will spend the next two years in their wintering areas in northern South America. Rob Bierregaard, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has been tracking ospreys from Martha’s Vineyard since 2000. Currently twelve ospreys are fitted with satellite transmitters. Rob uses the data to study migration patterns and the local dispersal of juvenile and adult ospreys. Check out maps from this seasons birds by clicking here. A great place to view ospreys as they travel south is at Cape May Point State Park. Go after a cold front has passed and you should see high numbers of raptors including ospreys on migration.

Red knots, black belly plovers, dunlin, and ruddy turnstones are beginning to show up on beaches along the coastline. Many hop-scotch their way south to their wintering grounds in South America. Great places to view them include Brigantine Inlet, Avalon, Stone Harbor Point, and North Wildwood. Many of these shorebirds are banded with an alpha-numeric color band. If you have a high power spotting scope, then you should be able to read the band. You can contribute your sightings to the International Shorebird Project by submitting your sightings.

Another great website that tracks avian (bird) migration patterns over New Jersey is www.woodcreeper.com. It is run by David La Puma who uses Doppler radar to track movements of birds as they take off on migration, most at night. He is predicting that a large number of birds will take off Wednesday night/Thursday morning after a cold front with winds that prevail from the north passes through. He expects large numbers of migrants to arrive here to “rest and refuel” on Thursday/Friday. Check out this cool graphic of some Doppler radar where you can see birds moving behind the passing cold front (with precipitation).

Get out this weekend and enjoy the beautiful fall weather and watch some of the amazing natural events that take place in New Jersey. Learn key locations to view wildlife by visiting our wildlife viewing map.