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Posts Tagged ‘beach nesting bird’

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PIPING PLOVER BREEDING UPDATE

Friday, August 10th, 2012

A HAPPY ENDING TO A TOUGH YEAR

By Todd Pover, Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager

Piping Plover with Injured Wing at Cape May Point State Park

There is no way to sugar coat it – this has not been a stellar year for piping plovers in New Jersey. Due to a number of ill-timed severe storms, high tides, and heat waves, chick productivity was low this year. There was some comfort in knowing that these events were largely out of our control, so at least it wasn’t something we could have prevented. At the same time, there is a nagging feeling that years such as this are the new “normal” as we enter an era of climate change where more extreme weather is predicted.

While there were a number of tough moments throughout the season, one incident was especially frustrating for the staff. Several days after a piping plover chick reached its fledge (flying) date at Cape May Point State Park, where it had battled marauding crows for over a month, CWFNJ field technician Sarah Scheffer discovered the fledgling dragging its wing. This is never a good sign – usually it indicates a broken wing. Fortunately, because we monitor the site daily, we caught the problem immediately. (more…)

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Viewpoint from the Field

Sunday, July 15th, 2012
A Beach Nester Scrapbook

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.

(more…)

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Banding American Oystercatchers!

Saturday, June 9th, 2012

Dr. Virzi and Stephanie Egger (CWFNJ) banding an American oystercatcher chick.

By Stephanie Egger, Wildlife Biologist

Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ (CWFNJ) and the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife – Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) assisted in the banding of American oystercatchers chicks and adults this week.  Oystercatchers in New Jersey are banded as part of a long-term mark recapture research project by Dr. Tom Virzi of Rutgers University in collaboration with CWFNJ and ENSP.  One breeding adult that was recaptured yesterday was originally banded over a winter in Georgia!  Data collected included band color and combination, sex, age, weight, other physical measurements (wing, head, culmen, nares, leg) and a feather sample for DNA purposes.  Check out our video from that day!

Over the last few years, widespread mark recapture efforts along the Atlantic coast have revealed connections between breeding and wintering sites and information of the complexity of patterns of movement and dispersal.  For more information on the New Jersey data and other state efforts please see the American Oystercatcher Working Group website.

Pam Prichard (Monmouth County Monitor for ENSP) ready to release the American oystercatcher chick after all data was collected.An adult American Oystercatcher originally tagged in Georgia, breeding in New Jersey.

An adult American Oystercatcher originally tagged in Georgia, breeding in New Jersey.

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AMERICAN OYSTERCATCHERS TAGGED AND READY FOR MIGRATION

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

TRACKING THEIR PATH AS THEY HEAD SOUTH FOR THE WINTER

By Allison Anholt, Field Technician, (NJDFW) and Emily Heiser, Field Technician, (CWFNJ)

Color band being placed on oystercatcher.

Color band being placed on oystercatcher chick at Stone Harbor, N.J.

Throughout the fall, there is a remarkable sight to see along New Jersey’s coastline.  Thousands of shorebirds group together in huge flocks, using our state’s coastline as a migration stopover point to rest and feed.  One particularly interesting shorebird is the American oystercatcher, which is listed as a species of special concern in New Jersey.   At the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, we work with biologists from the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife to survey these birds throughout the fall season.

The oystercatcher is an especially easy bird to survey during fall migration due to its distinct features. Not only do they stand apart from other shorebird species with their unique orange bill and striking coloration, but color bands help us determine individuals as well.  Banding efforts have been underway in New Jersey since 2004 in order to give insight to researchers regarding the
oystercatcher’s breeding habits, pair behavior, and migration patterns. About 300 oystercatchers have been banded in New Jersey to date, including a significant percentage of the state’s estimated 400 breeding pairs. (more…)

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Storm Report From the Field

Monday, August 29th, 2011
New Jersey’s Black Skimmers Survive Hurricane Irene

By Todd Pover, CWFNJ Beach Nesting Bird Project Manager

Black Skimmers liftoff at Seaview Harbor Marina where they survived Hurricane Irene.

Most of us spent the weekend worrying about the potential damage Hurricane Irene might inflict on our homes and loved ones. As a biologist, I was also concerned about the impact of the storm on our state’s wildlife, in my case, the beach nesting birds I help manage and protect.

Hurricanes and other severe weather can be a matter of life or death for nesting birds. Young chicks are particularly vulnerable, but even adults are at risk in the most extreme storms. Although most of our state’s beach nesting birds have completed the breeding cycle for the season, the majority of the Atlantic coast population of piping plovers and many least terns are in the midst of migration and would have been in the path of Hurricane Irene. We have no way of knowing for sure what impact the storm had on them, but long distance migration is tough on birds in the best of circumstances. Survival of young during their first year is typically very low so this was not a good start to the post breeding season.

We had two active nesting colonies remaining in New Jersey heading into the storm – a least tern colony at Townsend’s Inlet (Cape May County) and a black skimmer colony at Seaview Harbor Marina (Atlantic County). Residents in this area had a mandatory evacuation order, but our birds didn’t have that option. Today I completed an assessment of our beaches and nesting birds in the southern portion of the coast and I am happy to report that both the skimmer and tern colony escaped the storm largely unscathed.

Going into the storm, the tern colony was almost done for the season anyhow so any losses there would have been minimal. The skimmer colony, on the other hand, still had a number of chicks remaining and about 800 just fledged (able to fly) young. And over 1800 adults! This is the state’s only major skimmer colony representing nearly the entire state breeding population. So you can imagine it was a big relief when I walked out on the beach and heard thousands of raucous skimmers and saw there was no visible reduction in the colony’s size. Like our homes and loved ones, Irene appears to have spared our beachnesters.

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