Tag: Sedge Island

Wakefern Food Corp. interns join Species on the Edge Art & Essay Contest Winners at Sedge Island

Posted on by CWF

By Summer 2018 Wakefern Food Corp. Interns: Nadia Saponara, Sustainability & Niki Tripathi, Corporate Communications

Wakefern Food Corp. interns Niki Tripathi and Nadia Saponara

This summer, we happily traded in our summer intern cubicles, laptops and professional attire for kayaks, clam rakes and bathing suits for a trip to Barnegat Bay. We headed to Sedge Island, off of Island Beach State Park, and kicked off the day with a boat ride to the island. There, we joined fifth grade “Species on the Edge” art and essay contest winners, their parents, and state wildlife biologists with their seasoned interns.

How did we land this day-long getaway? Well, for many years, Wakefern Food Corp. (ShopRite, The Fresh Grocer, Price Rite, and Dearborn Market) has worked closely with CWF. Our company supports the “Species on the Edge” calendar contest and the bald eagle preservation program. (To find out more, visit our website). Continue reading “Wakefern Food Corp. interns join Species on the Edge Art & Essay Contest Winners at Sedge Island”

New video highlights Barnegat Bay wildlife programs

Posted on by CWF

by Jasmine Lee

Conserve Wildlife Foundation today released a video featuring the range of nature programs available at Sedge Island Marine Conservation Zone and Island Beach State Park, from kayaking and fishing to birdwatching and diamondback terrapin releases. Edited by CWF videography intern Melinda Tibbitts and written by Executive Director David Wheeler, “Get Wild This Summer at the Jersey Shore” explores these unique ecosystems along the Barnegat Bay – with a special focus on the Sedge Islands Celebration Day earlier this summer!

Watch the video here.

Learn more about Sedge Island activities by clicking here.

Consider signing up for near-daily programs at Island Beach State Park by visiting here.

Identifying “Bandit” at Pete McLain Osprey Cam Nest

Posted on by Ben Wurst
The Amazing History of a Breeding Adult Male Osprey at Island Beach State Park

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Bandit in flight while carrying nesting material. He has been nesting at the Pete McLain Osprey Cam nest since 2013. photo by Karl Soehnlein.

Around 3% of ospreys who were banded with USGS aluminum bird bands as nestlings in New Jersey are re-sighted after fledging or leaving their nest. Most of those recoveries or resightings are centered around mortality based events where a bird is injured or killed and the band is then close enough to read. Since the numbers on the leg bands are so small, it is often hard to read when they are still alive. However, when enough photos are obtained or a camera is installed on a nest then the likelihood of reading the band on a live bird increases.  Continue reading “Identifying “Bandit” at Pete McLain Osprey Cam Nest”

News 12 New Jersey Highlights CWF’s Osprey Project and Species Recovery

Posted on by Ben Wurst

On a cool and cloudy Monday morning, CWF Habitat Program Manager, Ben Wurst was joined by News 12 New Jersey reporter, Tony Caputo to highlight the osprey’s triumphant recovery in the Garden State. Ben was working in the field to repair a few osprey nests and complete the first of several nest checks at a nearby peregrine falcon nest. We work tirelessly to ensure that when ospreys return from their wintering areas that their nesting platform are in good condition.

Ospreys have recovered from around 50 nests in the early 1970s to a record 668 nests documented in 2017.

Click on the screenshot above or here to watch online.

Project RedBand Alumni Update!

Posted on by Ben Wurst
Osprey 44/C re-sighted at Island Beach State Park!

by Ben Wurst, Habitat Program Manager

Project RedBand Osprey 44/C was re-sighted by Shayna Marchese on Island Beach State Park on July 3, 2016.
Project RedBand Osprey 44/C was re-sighted by Shayna Marchese on Island Beach State Park on July 3, 2016.

Really exciting news. For the first time this year, a (live and well) red banded osprey was re-sighted! 44/C was banded as a nestling on July 12, 2014 and photographed by Shayna Marchese on July 3, 2016 at Island Beach State Park. Young ospreys spend two years on their wintering grounds before returning to their natal areas. This is the first year that 44/C has returned to New Jersey. 44/C appears to be a male, and males have a higher level of site fidelity than females do, so they are more likely to return to the same area that they originated from. We aren’t surprised that one of our first red banded birds to be re-sighted in New Jersey was at Island Beach State Park, just outside Sedge Island Wildlife Management Area. For anyone who is not familiar with Sedge, it is the state’s most densely populated osprey colony in New Jersey. Around 30 pairs of ospreys nest at Sedge which is less than 3 square miles. Continue reading “Project RedBand Alumni Update!”

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.

 

 

 

Barnegat Bay Birder-in-Residence

Posted on by CWF
Educating people about Barnegat Bay and its bird populations

By Skyler Streich, Barnegat Bay Birder-in-Residence

My name is Skyler Streich.  I am an avid birder with excellent identification skills of eastern bird species of the United States.  I have been birdwatching intensely for 5 years and since then have accumulated quite a knowledge and understanding of birds, their habitats and behavior.  My background is a BS in Geology with a concentration in Paleontology. I got into birds when I was studying abroad in Costa Rica and one day on my campus in San Jose I saw a hummingbird fly to a flower to drink the nectar.  Since then I became hooked and fascinated with birds. I have had positions with the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife as a Piping Plover Monitor, The Nature Conservancy as a Seasonal Field Biologist working with the endangered Black-capped Vireo, and a Natural Educator for both Island Beach State Park and Cattus Island Park, NJ. I have also conducted numerous bird surveys for The Audubon Society of Rhode Island, International Shorebird Surveys and CBC counts.   Nationally I have birded all through the eastern states as well as through southern Florida, Texas, southeast Arizona, western Washington, here and there throughout the interior states and Hawaii.  Internationally I have birded in Costa Rica, Panama, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Nova Scotia and PEI, British Columbia, England, France, Spain and Portugal and Tanzania.  For my position with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ as a Barnegat Bay Birder-in-Residence I will be conducting morning bird walks and kayak birding tours at Island Beach State Park, NJ.  I will also be a roving interpreter at IBSP and helping out with research with the marsh and beach-nesting birds in NJ.