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2023: NJ Eagle Project Volunteer Photos

Thursday, July 27th, 2023

by: Larissa Smith, Senior Biologist

photo by Dallas Hetherington

NJ Eagle Project Volunteers monitor nests during the nesting season. Since they spend a lot of time observing the nest and eagles behavior they get to see some pretty interesting things and many of them are able to document with photos. I asked volunteers to send me their three favorite photos from the eagle nesting season. Thank you to all the eagle project volunteers for their dedication

Enjoy the slideshow.

  • Manville-The Hatch @ Rose Joy
  • Adult bringing a fish to Junior at the Mercer Co. nest @ Kevin & Karin Buynie
  • Alloway E, nestling @ Clare Luisi
  • “Back together with our mentor (Kim Korth) @ Kevin & Karin Buynie
  • photo by: Blake Alan
  • photo by: Blake Alan
  • Bull Island, “This pair worked diligently during the early months,then abandoned this nest which had been productive for at least a decade! @ Barb McKee
  • photo by: Cheryl Leonard
  • Photo by: Cheryl Leonard
  • photo by: Cheryl Leonard
  • Crosswicks A @ Colleen Graham
  • Crosswicks A @ Colleen Graham
  • Crosswicks A @ Colleen Graham
  • Culver’s Gap @ Jeffrey Crawn
  • Culver’s Gap @ Jeffrey Crawn
  • Culver’s Gap pair @ Jeffrey Crawn
  • D/72 soaking wet after a heavy fog @ Rich Nicol
  • D/72 sunning herself@ Rich Nicol
  • photo by Dallas Hetherington
  • photo by Dallas Hetherington
  • photo by Dallas Hetherington
  • photo by Dennis Peterson
  • photo by Dennis Peterson
  • photo by Dennis Peterson
  • Denville-Nestlings@ Margaret & chuck Blewett
  • Denville-wayward fledgling @Margaret & Chuck Blewett
  • Denville-fledgling returning to nest@Margaret & Chuck Blewett
  • Duke Farm May 5th @ Diane Cook
  • Duke Farm, Family Time May 13th @ Diane Cook
  • Difficult challenges for the Atlantic City nest, high power lines and nearby windmills. This nest had successful last year but was unsuccessful this season@ Bill Reinert
  • Eagle Point_Red Bank nest@ Rick & Tina Clegg
  • Eagle Point_Red bank @ Rick & Tina Clegg
  • Cape May “Family Portrait @ John King
  • Higbee “good luck kiss from Mom before Junior’s first flight” @ John King
  • Group who renested the two Princeton eaglets
  • “Double trouble” @ Blake Alan
  • Linden @ Tony Gregorio
  • Lower Patcong-single fledgling @ Bill Reinert
  • “male returning with Herring Gull” @ Rich Nicol
  • Manville- “fledged for four weeks” @ Rose Joy
  • Manville Mom feeding triplets @Rose Joy
  • Duke Farms March 2nd @ Diane Cook
  • Merrill Creek eagle after trying to catch a fish@ Louis Schwarz
  • Merrill Creek pair@Louis Schwarz
  • Mt. Airy “Woohoo-Ready to fly@Barb McKee
  • Overpeck juvenile@ D. DeSantis
  • Overpeck@ D. DeSantis
  • Overpeck adult @ D. DeSantis
  • Pine Tavern pair @ Clare Luisi
  • Princeton chicks (H38 & H39) back in their new nest built by John Heilferty
  • Quinton B trio@ Clare Luisi
  • Rainbow Lake fledge (Kathy Clark & Heiki Poolake) @ Donna Poolake
  • School House pair with chick @ Poolake’s
  • Schoolhouse nest @ Poolake’s
  • South River’s fledgling pair joined by a Great Blue Heron @ Bill Reinert
  • Audubon nestling @ Spence Bennett
  • Audubon @ Spence Bennett
  • Audubon pair @ Spence Bennett
  • Three Bridges eagle cam Feb. 7th @ Mary Ellen Hill
  • Three Bridges eagle cam, Kestrel Jan, 24th @ Mary Ellen Hill
  • Three Bridges eagle cam @ Mary Ellen Hill
  • Woodschurch nest-two chicks, within days of fledging @ Barb McKee

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Posted in Eagles, Raptors, Volunteer Programs | 3 Comments »

Eaglets Get a New Nest

Tuesday, June 20th, 2023

by: Larissa Smith, CWF Senior Biologist

Princeton eaglets in their new nest; photo by John Heilferty

The Princeton eagle nest collapsed sometime between Friday June 2nd and early Saturday June 3rd. The Princeton pair had two chicks that were ten weeks old and close to fledging. NJ Eagle Project volunteers, Kevin and Karin Buynie monitor this nest and went out as soon as they were notified. When they arrived one chick was perched up in the tree and one was on the ground. The grounded chick was taken to Mercer County Wildlife Center for evaluation. The next day Kevin returned to the nest site and found the second chick now on the ground, so that chick was also captured and taken to MCWC. Both chicks were found to be uninjured and ready to return to the nest. A plan was formed to build a new nest in the tree and renest the two chicks. On June 11th, a group of volunteers and staff from Mercer County Wildlife Center met at the nest site. John Heilferty, retired ENSP Chief, climbed the nest tree and built the nest as volunteers helped to send up the needed materials. Diane Nickerson with the MCWC brought the two chicks, which were banded with Green NJ band H/39 and H/38 and silver federal bands. The chicks were then placed back up in the nest. One of them decided to fledge and the other perched on a branch near the nest. The recently fledged chick did return to the nest that evening and the second chick fledged June 16th. Thank you to Karin and Kevin Buynie, Diane Nickerson and volunteers Daniel and Hope with Mercer County Wildlife, John Heilferty, Kim Korth, and Roger Smith.

Scroll through the slideshow to view photos from the renest.

  • Princeton nest after collapse
  • Remains of nest
  • eaglets at Mercer County Wildlife Center
  • eaglets at MCWC
  • Nest tree
  • nest building materials
  • John Heilferty climbing tree
  • John working on nest platform
  • nest construction
  • platform finished
  • adding sticks
  • finished nest
  • Kevin Buynie with eaglet
  • Diane Nickerson, Kevin Buynie and Karin Buynie band the eaglet
  • eagle returning to new nest in duffel bag
  • eagle in nest
  • One eagle branched
  • The eagle renest team!

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Posted in Eagles, Raptors, Volunteer Programs, Wildlife News | 4 Comments »

Three Bridges Eagle Cam: Season Highlights

Thursday, March 30th, 2023

by: Larissa Smith, CWF Senior Biologist

For the second year in a row there haven’t been eagles nesting on the Three Bridges platform in view of eagle cam. The pair used the platform when it was first installed in 2021 and viewers got to watch the two chicks grow up and fledge. In 2022 & 2023 the pair have nested in a tree nest instead of the platform. While it’s disappointing that the pair didn’t use the platform, there was still plenty of avian action at the tower this season. There were several immature eagles visiting the platform this season, perhaps in the next few years one of these eagles will pair up and use the platform.

Slideshow: Highlights from the 2023 Three Bridges Eagle cam season

  • December 4th, 2022, photo by: Mary Ellen Hill
  • December 9, 2022; photo by, Barb McKee
  • eagle pair chase off Red- tailed hawk
  • American Kestrels
  • Peregrine Falcon
  • Red-tailed hawk
  • Northern Flicker

The eagle cam will be turned off April 1st.

Thank you to all the viewers who watch and enjoy this eagle cam. During the 2023 season there were 22,981 views of the cam. Thank you to the the eagle project volunteers, especially Mary Ellen Hill, who grab screenshots from the cam. We also thank PSE&G for hosting and supporting the eagle camera.

See you next season!

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Posted in Eagles, Raptors | 1 Comment »

History of The Duke Farms Eagle Pair

Thursday, March 2nd, 2023

by Larissa Smith, Senior Biologist

The Duke Farms eagle cam is extremely popular and just this week viewers watched as two chicks hatched. These two chicks will be watched by a multitude of viewers over the next few months as they grow to become juveniles and leave the nest. As with anything in Nature, this pair has had it’s ups and downs. I wanted to summarize the history of this pair and nest. The male is a NJ banded bird (A/59) and has been in the pair from the beginning, he is 23 years old. Interestingly, there have been several females in the pair over the years. Thank you to Duke Farms for hosting the cam and their tech team that keeps it running smoothly when issues arise. The cam location has changed as well as the cam itself over the years and the quality of the picture has improved.

(more…)

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Posted in Birds, Duke Farms eagle cam, Eagles, Education, Raptors, Wildlife News | 1 Comment »

New Jersey Eagles Soar to New Heights in 2022

Saturday, January 21st, 2023

by: Larissa Smith, CWF Senior Biologist

photo by NJ Eagle Project Nest Monitor, Paul Lenzo

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Fish and Wildlife have released the 2022 New Jersey Bald Eagle Project Report. The 2022 eagle nesting season was a record year for New Jersey’s nesting eagle population with 250 active nests identified.

The 250 active nests (meaning the nests produced eggs) represent an increase of 28 active nests since 2021. Of those nests, 83 percent were successful and collectively produced 335 offspring. The productivity rate for nests with known outcomes was 1.42 young per nest, which is above the range required to maintain healthy population numbers. The 2022 NJ Bald Eagle Report includes details on the nesting season, resightings and recoveries.

One of the three fledges from the 2022 Manville nest: photo by NJ Nest Monitor, Rose Joy

These numbers could not have been achieved or documented without the dedicated efforts of the
150 New Jersey Eagle Project volunteers who conduct the majority of the nest-observation work
vital to tracking the population and nest distribution of our state’s Bald eagles in all 21 counties.
CWF is honored to manage these volunteers in partnership with the Endangered and Nongame
Species Program and thanks them for their invaluable service.

CWF would also like to thank our partners, who make our bald eagle conservation work
possible, including PSE&G, Wells Fargo Advisors, Wakefern Food Corp./ShopRite Stores,
Mercer County Parks, Wildlife Center Friends, the American Eagle Foundation, and the
Zoological Society of New Jersey.

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Posted in Eagles, Raptors, Volunteer Programs, Wildlife News | 2 Comments »

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