Conserve Wildlife Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Delaware Bayshore’

« Older Entries

Documenting Bird Life in Delaware Bay Salt Marshes

Wednesday, July 17th, 2024

by Harrison Hepding, CWF Biological Technician

The remote coastal salt marshes of the Delaware Bayshore harbor a unique and seldom observed ecosystem, boasting a rich natural history and diverse wildlife. To help prevent the loss of these valuable habitats and their inhabitants, CWF is participating in a partner-driven, multi-year project led by Ducks Unlimited and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to enhance habitat quality and restore natural hydrology to salt marshes in Delaware and New Jersey. CWF is actively involved in the second season of biological monitoring at select Bayshore salt marshes targeted for restoration efforts designed to revegetate mudflats existing on old salt hay farms (read more about salt hay farming impacts here). At this stage of the project, our role is to gather important pre-restoration data to evaluate the anticipated impact and effectiveness of restoration techniques.

A view from one of our survey points at Dix Wildlife Management Area.
Photo courtesy of Emmy Casper, CWF Wildlife Biologist.
(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Birds, Habitat Restoration, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Candid Camera: The Role of Game Cameras in American Oystercatcher Monitoring

Thursday, August 3rd, 2023

by Emmy Casper, Wildlife Biologist

This year, CWF embarked on a new, ambitious project to monitor and characterize the previously understudied population of American oystercatchers nesting along the Delaware Bayshore. Since so little is known about this breeding population, we had a lot of ground to cover this first field season, both physically and metaphorically. One of the goals of the project is to characterize threats to oystercatcher nest success on the bayshore, whether it be predators, flooding, or something else entirely. It sounds straightforward, but when you consider the span of the project (35 sites across approximately 45 miles of bayshore), monitoring nesting pairs gets a bit more challenging. That’s where game cameras come in.

.CWF biological technician Caroline Abramowitz deploying a trail camera to monitor an oystercatcher nest.

Game cameras are an extremely useful tool for wildlife monitoring. Cameras deployed at nest sites can provide valuable information about oystercatcher behavior, predator presence, and nest fate (whether the nest hatched or was lost prior to hatching). This is especially important for our Delaware Bay sites, many of which are remote and cannot be monitored as frequently as other locations. Game cameras enhance our in-the-field monitoring and can pinpoint the true cause of nest loss that would otherwise be difficult to determine in the field. Accurate knowledge of nest fate and predator presence is crucial for understanding which factors significantly impact oystercatcher success along the bayshore.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Beach Nesting Birds | 2 Comments »

Ecological Lockdown for Horseshoe Crabs – A Delaware Bay 2020 Update

Tuesday, May 19th, 2020

Guest post by: Dr. Larry Niles

When asked to describe the ecological conditions of any one year of our 23 years of work on Delaware Bay, Humphrey Sitters, one of the first biologists to understand the value of Delaware Bay to shorebirds would respond “every year is unprecedented”. And so it seemed until this year.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Beach Nesting Birds, Birds, horseshoe crabs, Shorebirds, Wildlife Protection | 2 Comments »

Tierra del Fuego: The View from Above

Saturday, March 24th, 2018

Just above and to the right of the plane shadow, thousands of shorebirds gather. Photo by Joe Smith

CWF scientists recently returned from a trip to Tierra del Fuego where they studied red knots and other migratory shorebirds that spend the month of May at New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore.

CWF consultant Joe Smith captured some incredible aerial images of the coastline holding a flock of thousands of shorebirds in his blog story. See more photos of the flock and read Joe’s introductory overview about the trip here. Stay tuned for more installments about this vital trip.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Beach Nesting Birds, Birds, horseshoe crabs, Shorebirds | Comments Off on Tierra del Fuego: The View from Above

Reef dedication, seining to help celebrate Veterans Day on Delaware Bay

Thursday, October 20th, 2016

Oyster reef to be dedicated to New Jersey Veterans at second annual event

By Emily Hofmann, Project Coordinator

a-seine-net-about-75-feet-long-is-dredged-in-the-bay-and-brought-up-on-the-beach-to-collect-the-species-for-study

A seine net about 75 feet long is dredged in the bay and brought up on the beach to collect the species for study. Photo courtesy of Middle Township Gazette.

You and your family are “whelk-come” to join American Littoral Society and Conserve Wildlife Foundation and for our 2nd Annual Veterans Day on the Bay on Saturday, November 12 from 11:00 AM -2:00 PM at Moores Beach on the Delaware Bayshore! In April, we held our 2nd Annual Shell-A-Bration where proud volunteers braved the elements and helped build an oyster reef at Moores Beach.

2ndannualveteransdayflyer_v1

The 1st Annual Veterans Day on the Bay was held on November 11, 2015 at South Reeds Beach. The oyster reef was dedicated to all veterans and highlighted veteran involvement in the effort to restore New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore. Event attendees honored their own military veterans by inscribing that special person’s name on a shell and placing that shell on “Veterans Reef.”

 

This year we’d like to continue to show our appreciation and mark the progress we’ve made by dedicating another reef to a specific military branch.

 

Please join us for the 2nd Annual Veterans Day on the Bay, which will feature:

  • Raw oysters and fare from Spanky’s BBQ
  • Beach Clean-up
  • Seining and marine wildlife study
  • Arts and crafts for children

davidbensonshells1

Photo courtesy of David Benson.

Help us study the wildlife living in this new reef with hands-on, interactive marine science activities like seining and species identification!

 

The highlight of the event will be the dedication of Moores Beach oyster reef in honor of our military veterans. Attendees are invited to honor their own military veterans by inscribing that special person’s name on a shell and placing that shell on the reef.

 

This family fun day and volunteer event will be held from 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM; with the reef dedication ceremony taking place at 12:30 PM. Veterans Day on the Bay is rain or shine. The celebration will be a picnic-style event, so please bring blankets and chairs.

 

Join us at Moores Beach, at the end of Moores Beach Road (which intersects with NJ Route 47 near Delmont United Methodist Church) Maurice River, New Jersey, 08314.

 

RSVP appreciated to Quinn Whitesall, quinn@littoralsociety.org or Emily Hofmann, emily.hofmann@conservewildlifenj.org by November 7.

 

LEARN MORE:

 

Emily Hofmann is a Project Coordinator with Conserve Wildlife Foundation.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Education, Events, Get Involved, Habitat Restoration, Marine, Outdoor Recreation, Shorebirds, Volunteer Programs, Wildlife News, Wildlife Protection | Comments Off on Reef dedication, seining to help celebrate Veterans Day on Delaware Bay

« Older Entries