Tag: osprey

Now Streaming — Barnegat Light Osprey Cam!

Posted on by CWF

By Ben Wurst

Female Osprey (the width of the leg can help determine sex) holding a striped bass.

This is a project that we’ve dreamed about for some time. As you may know, much of our work with ospreys has been centered around Barnegat Bay, where the population has grown from around 60 pairs to over 140 nesting pairs over the past decade. This new camera will help us raise awareness for protecting this important indicator species in the Barnegat Bay watershed, who have direct implications for the health of our coastal environment.

Continue reading “Now Streaming — Barnegat Light Osprey Cam!”

WHYY: Ospreys begin returning to the Jersey Shore

Posted on by CWF

Story by Justin Auciello, WHYY

An osprey prepares to land on a natural nest in the Barnegat Bay
Photo from Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey

Welcome home!

It’s that time of the year again when ospreys — the raptors that have staged a miraculous comeback in New Jersey since the early 1970s — migrate north from their wintering grounds in Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean.

In recent days, ospreys, also known as fish hawks, were spotted in Ocean County and as far north as the Meadowlands.

New Jersey’s Ospreys: A Symbol of a Healthy Coast ~ Part III

Posted on by Ben Wurst

Support New Jersey’s ospreys with donations matching a $12,500 challenge to help Conserve Wildlife Foundation purchase a boat.

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Surveying a nest on Long Beach Island in 2017, the last year we were able to utilize a state owned boat. photo by Northside Jim.

Ospreys are living barometers. They symbolize the resilience of life along the New Jersey coast. As a top tier predator who feeds exclusively on fish, their collective health is a direct link to the health of our coastal waters. Anyone can tell you that a healthy coast is essential to life at the shore. Clean water with abundant and healthy wildlife equals a booming shore economy. We have all benefited from actions and policy that have protected our air, land and water since the 1970s. Ospreys are no exception.

Continue reading “New Jersey’s Ospreys: A Symbol of a Healthy Coast ~ Part III”

New Jersey’s Ospreys: A Symbol of a Healthy Coast ~ Part II

Posted on by Ben Wurst

New Jersey’s Ospreys: A Symbol of a Healthy Coast

Posted on by Ben Wurst

2018 Becomes most productive year in history.

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Banding osprey nestlings with red auxiliary bands at a nest off LBI. photo by Northside Jim.

If you live along or visit the coast, then it’s no surprise that ospreys continue to thrive in New Jersey. 2018 was yet another banner year for these coastal nesting raptors. Their large stick nests depict our rivers and estuaries while they indicate that we’re doing a good job of protecting our local environment along the coast. Today we’ve published results from last year’s nesting season in the 2018 New Jersey Osprey Project Report.

Continue reading “New Jersey’s Ospreys: A Symbol of a Healthy Coast”

Video from the Field: Osprey Platform Install

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Ensuring Osprey Platforms Remain Resilient

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

On a brisk November morning, a couple dedicated NJ Osprey Project volunteers joined myself and CWF Biologist Larissa Smith to install an osprey platform on the coastal saltmarsh of New Jersey. The new platform was installed to replace a very old and unstable platform that fell this summer. The new structure is more than twice the size of the old one and will give the nesting pair, who return in the spring, a much more resilient nest site. As you can see from the video above, it takes a bit of strength to raise up a 16′ tall wood nest platform. We decided to slow it down when WCC Volunteer, Wayne R. gives it a final push. Continue reading “Video from the Field: Osprey Platform Install”

Documenting the presence of plastics in osprey nests

Posted on by Ben Wurst
The threats are real and these photos should alarm you!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

U.S. Coast Guard assists NJ Fish & Wildlife with recovering an entangled osprey on a channel marker in Cape May Harbor, Summer 2018. photo by Kathy Clark/ENSP

As I work to finalize data from this summer’s osprey surveys, I wanted to look back and highlight an important observation: more plastic is being found and recovered from active osprey nests. I guess it’s no surprise when you hear that “18 billion pounds of plastic waste flows into the oceans every year from coastal regions.” Continue reading “Documenting the presence of plastics in osprey nests”

Just Beneath the Surface: Junior’s 5 Seconds of Fame

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Long Beach Island video series highlights coastal birds of prey and “Junior,” from the Jersey City Falcon Cam!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

When we were contacted to be a part of this LBI centered documentary series, we knew that we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share some of our work with coastal raptors, like the osprey and peregrine falcon, and their importance in the local environment and economy. In this video you’ll see us banding “Junior,” who hatched at the Jersey City Falcon Cam this spring, but was removed from his nest after being examined and found to be malnourished. We was fostered into the falcon nest at Sedge Island. You’ll also see video of ospreys on their nest at sites surrounding Long Beach Island, and interviews with my friend, and CWF supporter, Northside Jim, and Kathy Clark, ENSP Supervisory Zoologist.  Continue reading “Just Beneath the Surface: Junior’s 5 Seconds of Fame”

2018 Osprey Outlook

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Insight Into Important (Bio)Indicators: Ospreys

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

CWF Osprey Banding Apprentice Northside Jim holds a young osprey, 13/K, after banding.

Mid-summer marks the nestling period of nesting ospreys, a coastal raptor, whose diet consists mainly of fish. As a state that’s heavily influenced by its location along the Atlantic Ocean, they play a critical role in our coastal ecosystem. Ospreys are important bioindicators of the health of our coastal waters, through the lens of their prey, where pollutants are biomagnified through the food chain. As we consume many of the same fish, they show the effects of these pollutants long before humans, so the health of their population has implications for our coastal waters and us! Continue reading “2018 Osprey Outlook”

Asbury Park students meet ospreys at high school football field

Posted on by CWF

Story by Michelle Gladden, Asbury Park Sun

Photos courtesy of Chanta L Jackson, Asbury Park School District Communications Director unless otherwise noted.

It is only week two of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) Summer Learning Experience program, a part of the Asbury Park School District Summer Camp offerings, and third-grade students have had the opportunity to not only see an osprey up close and personal but to visit a local nest and learn to simulate building the predatory bird’s nesting place.

Continue reading “Asbury Park students meet ospreys at high school football field”