Depending on where you look and who you talk to, the fate of many osprey nests might bring tears to your eyes. Since a nor’easter impacted the coast with strong onshore winds for several days, young ospreys have been dying of starvation in plain sight. Over the past week, several reports of adults who abandoned their nests with young have been received. This year, weather has impacted the availability of fish and outcomes of nests in the Garden State.
With about 50 pairs of both piping plovers and American oystercatchers nesting this year at Holgate, a unit of the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR, CWF’s seasonal staff that monitors breeding activity for the Refuge has been working at a non-stop pace. We asked them to take a short break from their field tasks to reflect on their season, for some this is their first experience with beach nesting birds. Specifically, they were asked about their favorite and most surprising things about the birds, so far. Read their responses below, including a little twist of the “least favorite” thing in one case.
CWF’s 2023 beach nesting bird monitoring crew for Edwin B. Forsythe NWR and Horseshoe Island. Morgan Phillips, Gianna Canale, Audrey Randazzo, Amy Kopec, Dakota Bell (l to r).
Kelly Scott, Resource Interpretive Specialist 3, NJ State Park Service holds Bayley before releasing her into the wild.
This past Monday I joined several partners to release a very special northern diamondback terrapin back into the wild. This adult female terrapin had been illegally collected and sold into the black market pet trade. Over the past couple years we have been working on a plan to get her back the wild.
Each of these partners, including Dr. John Wnek, MATES/Project Terrapin, Kelly Scott, NJ State Park Service, Brian Zarate, NJDEP Fish & Wildlife played an important role in her successful release (you can read about each of their roles in a story by Dr. Wnek below). We gathered in the parking lot of a former marina which CWF & NJDEP Fish & Wildlife converted into suitable nesting habitat for female terrapins. For all of us, I think it’s safe to say that it was bittersweet to see her swim off into the brackish water. She was home.
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
In the May 16th blog, Shorebird Stewards On the Bay in May, it’s mentioned that some beaches along the Delaware Bay have restricted access every year from May 7th to June 7th. This is due to the migratory shorebirds that travel thousands of miles and need a place to stop to feed. Our beaches contain excellent food sources to help birds gain weight to continue their journey- horseshoe crab eggs. They are filled with fat and protein. The Delaware Bay is the largest spawning area for horseshoe crabs in the world!
Now what do the Shorebird Stewards, such as myself, do all day? We monitor our assigned beaches and educate the public about this incredible phenomenon! My favorite beaches are Roosevelt Blvd. beach and Cook’s Beach because I see the most active flocks of shorebirds at these locations.
A group of the infamous Red Knots: Calidris canutus, Semipalmated Sandpipers: Calidrus pusilla, and Ruddy Turnstones: Arenaria interpres, at the beach on Roosevelt Blvd., photo: C. Franceschini
On a quiet day with not many people to educate, there are many things for us Stewards to do. Some Stewards read their books, watch movies, listen to music/podcasts, color/paint, take walks, research, etc. I do all of the above! Since we have a love for these special shorebirds, most Stewards also birdwatch! It’s a must to bring your binoculars or scope to observe these beautiful birds. Sometimes, you observe other interesting animals, too!
American Oystercatcher at Cook’s beach: Haematopus palliatus photo: C. FranceschiniBald Eagles, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, photo: C. Franceschini
Another activity to do in the down-time is to flip the spawning Atlantic Horseshoe crabs, Limulus polyphemus, back onto their legs so they can crawl back into the bay. When the tide rise, these crabs get overturned by the waves and have no way of returning back to their feet! Personally, this is my favorite activity to do. When you return after your “crab walk”, you get to see the tracks of their feet traveling back into the bay where they belong. Below on the left is a picture of flipped and rescued crabs: the one on the left is a male who decided to bury himself in the sand to preserve water until the tide comes back in, and the one on the right is a male who decided to make the trek back into the bay. When the tide comes in, the horseshoe crabs come up and begin spawning. Pictured below in the middle is an example of how crowded the beaches get with these creatures! On the right, is a photo of a tagged crab I found, and reported it to the US Fish and Wildlife Service so that they can collect data on the tagged crabs.
You can also get involved with helping these critters! “Return the Favor” is an organization dedicated to conducting beach walks to flip overturned horseshoe crabs on the NJ beaches of the Delaware Bay. You can join public walks that are held by walk leaders or sign up to be a volunteer and conduct your own walk (until July 15th, 2023 or next year). I am a volunteer and walk leader and it is one of my favorite things to do. Flipping horseshoe crabs is such a special event because that means you’re saving those crabs so they can continue to spawn and produce eggs for the shorebirds. With your help, you could help save hundreds of crabs just by flipping them over! Of course I had to capture this special moment of me flipping a crab (picture below)!
On these walks, you experience much more than just crabs. You get to see other wildlife that emerges during dusk or dawn. You can also go on the closed beaches to save the crabs that can’t be rescued during the day. During my walk, I got to see thousands of horseshoe crab eggs!
C. FranceschiniHorseshoe crab eggs photo: C. FranceschiniFemale horseshoe crab, photo: C. Franceschini
