Compiled by Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager
American oystercatcher.
The Beach Nesting Bird Project is one of our major initiatives here at the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. During the spring and summer months, we employ several field technicians to help us carry out our mission of monitoring and protecting endangered piping plovers, least terns, and black skimmers, as well as American oystercatchers. We also help oversee the seasonal staff from the state’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program on this project.
As a slight change of pace for a blog, I thought it would be both fun and insightful to hear a little bit of their perspective from the field. So, I asked everyone from the joint beachnester crew to submit a short entry about what they like and dislike most about the project, as well as a favorite or unique photo. I will kick it off with my thoughts…Because the main goal of the project is to recover at-risk species, obviously the most satisfying aspect of the project is when the birds have a successful year. But that isn’t always the case, so my personal favorite thing is finding the first piping plover nests of the season. Aside from the challenge of actually locating the well-camouflaged nests, those first eggs embody the eternal hope of each new season. Early in the season, before spring tides wash away eggs, predators discover helpless chicks, and the crush of beachgoers squeezes out colonies, you still believe every nest will successfully produce young.We interact with the public on a daily basis on this project and for the most part we meet nice people. But we also deal with our share of people who do not support the effort. Our motto is “share the shore” and, in fact, only a small percentage of our state’s coastline is protected for beach nesting birds and many of the restriction put in place to help the birds are seasonal in nature. Nonetheless, the “plover fence” brings out the worst in some people, and when that anger is directed at you personally it can be pretty unpleasant and frustrating.
Conserve Wildlife Foundation staff recently assisted researchers from the
State University of New York with a piping plover project that involves
collecting flight pattern data about plovers in New Jersey and
Massachusetts. The information collected will be used to help determine
potential impacts of wind turbines on this federally listed species. The
field work is being headed up in New Jersey by CWFNJ “alumni” Emily Heiser.
Piping plovers and American oystercatchers have already begun to return to New Jersey to breed. Least terns and black skimmers will follow in another couple of weeks. This is a busy time for the Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s (CWF) Beach Nesting Bird Project – our program to protect these birds, some of the state’s most at-risk species, kicks into high gear as the birds arrive.
Employees from the Edison, NJ and Philadelphia, PA offices of CDM Smith who helped put up fence and signs at the Belmar Shark River Inlet nesting area.
The first major task at hand is to protect the habitat where the birds nest from human disturbance associated with intensive recreational use of our beaches. Working closely with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, CWF typically helps fence off and post 20-25 beach sites annually.
And we couldn’t complete this massive job without the assistance of volunteers. This year we have gotten volunteer help from a diverse group of organizations, ranging from the New Jersey Beach Buggy Association to Wetland Institute to Manasquan High School Environmental Club. A huge THANKS to all those groups and individuals that pitched in to help!
Click here to learn more information about our Beach Nesting Bird Program.
Crossing into new territory – Todd Pover, CWFNJ, wading across a mangrove inlet in the Bahamas to conduct the Piping Plover survey.
In earlier installments of this series (It’sBetter in the Bahamas – Part 1 & 2), I reported on the results of the winter segment of the 2011 International Piping Plover Census in the Bahamas, in which I participated, and also the partnerships developed along the way. For this final installment I am foregoing the biological results and conservation lessons, the usual story themes, because sometimes our readers just want to hear about the adventurous side of what we do here at the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey.
Having surveyed piping plovers on their breeding grounds in New Jersey for 15 years now, at times it feels like I know every nook and cranny that plovers could possibly be found in our state – to some extent the sense of mystery is gone. I knew that wouldn’t be the case with the Bahamas winter survey. I had never been to Abaco, the island I was assigned to survey along with Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Coastal Waterbird Program, but I knew it had miles of coastline on its main island and numerous offshore barrier islands and cays that needed to be checked as well. Our pre-trip research of the habitat on the islands suggested it was going to be difficult to cover all that ground in one week even with our 4-6 person survey team, but I was excited by the challenge. Continue reading “It’s Better in the Bahamas – Part 3”
New Jersey partners being honored at the Coastal America Award ceremony for the Lower Cape May Meadows restoration project (Stephanie Egger, second from the right).
As a new staff member of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey (CWF) a blog entry seemed like a good way to introduce myself. So here goes. “The wheel has come full circle,” meaning to go full circle, complete an entire cycle or to return to an original position, is an old adage thought to originate from Shakespeare in King Lear 5:3. Apparently there is some truth to this expression. I really didn’t see it coming though, especially not to my career, my passion, which has focused on endangered species, namely the piping plover, for the last five years.
I actually started working with piping plovers as a monitor for the Beach Nesting Bird Program in 2006. Fresh out of grad school, looking to get my foot in the door, I came across an opening to manage piping plovers on the Jersey shore. Perfect I thought! I can work on my tan while I’m working! Totally kidding! I have to admit at that point in my life I had never even heard of the infamous piping plover (I know, I still can’t believe it myself). How did I miss a bird that’s been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1986 and nesting on the very same NJ beaches that I spent every summer vacationing since I was a toddler? My previous two years were consumed researching northern diamondback terrapins for my Master’s degree, but this opportunity seemed to be calling me. My then supervisor (CWF’s own Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Program Manager), took a chance on me and little did I know it would set the stage for the next five years of my career and the beginning of that circle.
My job as a plover monitor did not last long, only a few short months, when I had to bid farewell to my life in the field with the birds as a new adventure began for me with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New Jersey Field Office (USFWS). As luck would have it, the job also focused on plovers. Not so much on the ground, getting down and dirty with plovers, but managing the plovers by helping implement conservation measures to increase their survival and recovery, and minimize or eliminate adverse impacts of numerous beach related projects on the birds. How does one begin to achieve this? Partnering. Continue reading “From Plovers to Partners and Back Again – Coming Full Circle”
Here on the Conserve Wildlife Foundation blog we have talked a lot about piping plovers and the conservation efforts we enact when we find a nest. But have you ever wondered how we locate their nests? The key is knowing where to look. This is my second summer working on the beach nesting bird project and this year I have been able to observe a behavior which I had only heard about the year before. Piping plovers return to the same breeding site year after year, a behavior called site fidelity.
Plovers Evolved to Nest on the Beach
This behavior is thought to help maintain the adaptation of a population to a very specific environment. In this case the piping plovers have evolved to nesting on the beach and those that nest elsewhere may not be successful. Natural selection favors the birds who exhibit site fidelity. Another benefit to this behavior comes at the beginning of the nesting season. When the plovers return to the same spot they spend less time fighting with other plovers over territory. When a nest is destroyed or predated, it takes time to re-nest; so those plovers that nest sooner have a greater chance at fledging chicks. Continue reading “The Great Piping Plover Nest Search”
There is not too much more we could have guessed would happen to a particular pair of piping plovers that nested at the North Brigantine Natural Area (NBNA) this season. Every time one of the staff members ventured out to NBNA, it seemed as though a soap opera was unfolding with dramatic twists and turns to the story! Disturbance, flooding, and the infamous Brigantine foxes were all to blame for the failure of three nests that a single pair of plovers laid. And just when we thought this pair was done for the season, they surprised us by laying their fourth nest! Over the course of two months, this very special pair of piping plovers determinedly laid 14 eggs! Continue reading “If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try and Try Again!”
Piping Plovers and Conservation Partners in the Tropics
By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager
Todd Pover, CWFNJ Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager and Ellen Jedrey, of Massachusetts Audubon Society “making friends” in the Bahamas
We found the first piping plover nest of the season in New Jersey this week. In the course of our nest searching we also spotted two piping plovers marked with color bands indicating they had been banded in the Bahamas last winter. It is hard to believe that just a month ago these small birds were still settled in for the winter more than 1000 miles from our state.
And as I reported in an earlier installment of this series (It’s Better in the Bahamas – Part 1), I also spent a week in the Bahamas in January/February searching for piping plovers as part of the winter segment of the International Piping Plover Census. As exciting as it was to be part of the survey team scouring the islands and cays of the Bahamas looking for plovers, the Abaco (island) portion of the survey, which I participated in, was just as much about building conservation partners as it was about the survey work itself.
The Bahamas portion of the winter census was sponsored by the U.S. Geological Survey, in close collaboration with the Bahamas National Trust and the National Audubon Society, itself a great partnership. My participation came about because of a partnership I have been cultivating with Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Coastal Waterbird Program. They were already slated to assist with the Bahamas survey and suggested I come along as well.
Even before we boarded a plane to head to the Bahamas, numerous local contacts had been established. Nobody on the Abaco survey team had ever been to the Bahamas and there were dozens of islands and miles of shoreline to be searched. We were headed there to help because of our expertise about piping plovers, not local geography – so in the end the success of the project really hinged on local knowledge and participation to help direct our efforts.
And there was local assistance from the moment we arrived. I was met at the airport by
David Knowles, Chief Park Warden for the Bahamas National Trust on Abaco, who generously took time from his busy schedule to orient me around the island. Within minutes of piling into his car, we were discussing similar problems we faced dealing with cats striking ground nesting birds – in my case with beach nesting birds and in his case with the Bahama Parrot, whose stronghold is the southern part of Abaco. David was a critical link in establishing key contacts on the island and helping us gain assess to some sites that would have otherwise been off-limits.
Important support came from the Friends of the Environment, a conservation group dedicated to protecting Abaco’s marine and terrestrial environment. They hosted a public information session at their headquarters which allowed our research team to discuss the survey and raise awareness, but also garner feedback from locals as to where our efforts might be focused.
Important advice came from plenty of individuals as well. Woody Bracey, a well-known bird expert from Treasure Cay, shared much needed information prior to and during the census, provided logistical support when it came to housing and transportation, and participated in various segments of the survey. (He was also a great boat captain and brought us to an awesome sand flat on Green Turtle Cay – one of the highlights of our trip). Bruce Wolck provided similar birding expertise and support on Elbow Cay. Beyond that, these folks invited us into their homes to share stories – they were all around great “hosts”.
We were introduced to Loggerhead Productions, a local film production company, who tagged along to shoot footage of plovers and interview us. They are now interested in coming to the states to film piping plovers on their breeding grounds – this connection may lead to a compelling film about plovers sometime down the road.
We met and talked to bonefisherman and boat captains, sometimes hiring them on the spot to transport us out to hard to reach locations (there was no shortage of those). We coordinated with resort managers and even picked the brains of random folks lying under a palm tree if that’s what it took. It truly took a “village” to complete the surveys.
I have talked extensively in the past about developing conservation partnerships – to the extent I fear it is starting to sound like a “soapbox” – but it really is the model we need to follow, especially for migratory species, such as piping plover, that cross state and international borders.
Being so vested in piping plovers that nest in New Jersey, I can get a little possessive about “my” birds. The trip to the Bahamas was a good reminder that they actually spend the majority of the year elsewhere – if anything, the plovers I saw in the Bahamas are “their” birds. That was one of the messages we tried to leave with the groups and individuals we met along the way in the Bahamas. But I guess the real message should be that they are “our” birds. Ultimately, if we are going to be successful in recovering piping plovers, we all have an important conservation role to play, right here in New Jersey and a thousand miles away in the Bahamas.
This week I had the opportunity to speak to a group of 5th grade students at the Ocean City Intermediate School. The group of 44 students are in Mrs. Rosander’s science class. Over the holidays the students earned money for a charity and this year they chose to adopt a piping plover for their classroom through the CWF Adopt a species program.
As part of the adoption they received a classroom visit by a CWF staff person, which was me. I spoke about NJ’s rare wildlife and of course their adopted species the Piping Plover. The students were already very knowledgeable about NJ Endangered and Threatened species. One of their class assignments was to write an essay or draw a picture of one of NJ’s E & T species. For extra credit they could do both and those were entered in the Species on the Edge Art & Essay contest. The students had a lot of great questions for me and I think there are some future environmentalists in the group!
The Search for Piping Plovers on their Wintering Grounds
By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager
Todd Pover, CWFNJ Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager in search of Piping Plovers in the Bahamas.
One of the most frequently asked questions about piping plovers is, “where do they go in the winter?” In the most general sense, piping plovers that breed along the Atlantic Coast winter from North Carolina to Florida, along parts of the Gulf Coast, and on some Caribbean islands. Where our birds from New Jersey specifically spend the winter is largely unknown.
But research conducted over the past several years suggests that the Bahamas is a particularly important wintering site for piping plovers. Last winter under the auspices of Dr. Cheri Gratto-Trevor from Environment Canada, a total of 57 piping plovers were color banded in the Bahamas. All of the 41 banded piping plovers that were resighted on the breeding grounds last summer were found on sites along the Atlantic coast, including two that nested in New Jersey (Sandy Hook and North Brigantine Natural Area).
Every five years starting in 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has conducted an International Piping Plover Census, which includes both a breeding and wintering component. In 2001, just 35 piping plovers were reported in the Bahamas, although it was noted that there was not a coordinated effort to survey the islands that winter. In 2006, a total of 417 piping plovers were found in the Bahamas on the winter census, a significant increase that was attributed to a more intensive survey effort. Even at that, given that there are hundreds of islands and sand flats in the Bahamas, many of them difficult to access, it is believed even more piping plovers likely winter there.
Piping Plover banded in the Bahamas in the Winter of 2010.
This brings us to 2011, which is once again an international census year. The USGS, in association with the Bahamas National Trust and the National Audubon Society have made the Bahamas a high priority for this year’s winter census. Towards this end, a number of piping plover biologists and researchers that work on the breeding grounds in the U.S. and Canada were asked to assist with the Bahamas survey. The survey was conducted from January 24-February 6, and I was one of about a dozen or so members of the research team fortunate enough to help out.
The USGS has just begun to tally the survey results, but a rough preliminary tally indicates just over 1000 piping plovers being recorded in the Bahamas this winter, a significant increase over previous surveys. If most of those birds are from the Atlantic Coast population, as banding results suggest, at least a quarter of that population may winter in the Bahamas. By all accounts, it appears it very well may be “Better in The Bahamas” for our piping plovers!
Stay tuned. Over the next several weeks, I plan on penning more installments about my Bahamas piping plover adventure, including details about the surveys themselves, the logistical difficulties encountered, and the various local partnerships developed along the way.
