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Posts Tagged ‘Little Egg Inlet’

A Return to Horseshoe Island

Thursday, November 16th, 2023

by Todd Pover, Senior Wildlife Biologist

This marked the second year that CWF worked in close partnership with New Jersey Fish and Wildlife and Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (EBF) to monitor and manage birds on Horseshoe Island. The island, located just offshore on the southern edge of the Little Egg Inlet, has quickly become one of the most important sites for beach nesting birds in the state, as well as a critical resting and feeding site for migratory shorebirds.

Horseshoe Island hosted the state’s largest black skimmer (state endangered) colony this year with just over 1400 total adults or about 700 pairs. Although flooding and some avian predators impacted the overall nesting success at the island, at least 225 skimmer chicks “fledged” from the site. Horseshoe’s skimmer fledglings, along with those from nearby Holgate, a unit of EBF, and especially from Stone Harbor Point in Cape May County, made 2023 a moderately good productivity year for black skimmers in New Jersey.

A small portion of the black skimmer and royal tern colony on Horseshoe Island.
Photo credit: Teri Bowers
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Horseshoe Island- A Haven for Beach Nesting Birds

Friday, May 19th, 2023

by Todd Pover, Senior Wildlife Biologist

Horseshoe Island, located just offshore of Little Beach on the southern edge of the Little Egg Inlet, is teeming with wildlife again this year. Last year, under a five-year Management Rights Agreement secured from the state’s Tidelands Resource Council, the site was closed to the public from March 1- September 30 to benefit wildlife, in particular endangered and at-risk beach nesting birds and migratory shorebirds. The seasonal public closure of the island and its surrounding tidal areas is in place again this season.

Aerial view of Horseshoe Island
Courtesy of New Jersey Fish and Wildlife
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New Horseshoe Island Video Highlights Nesting and Migratory Bird Protection Efforts

Tuesday, October 4th, 2022

by Todd Pover, Senior Wildlife Biologist

Earlier this year we announced that Horseshoe Island, which recently formed just offshore near Little Egg Inlet, would be seasonally closed to the public to benefit nesting and migratory birds. The closure from March 1 to September 30 is part of a plan put forth by New Jersey Fish and Wildlife and the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, who were granted rights by the state to manage the island and its adjacent intertidal waters. CWF played a key role, helping monitor bird activity on the island this year through a cooperative agreement with the Refuge. With the closure period coming to an end, we are happy to report that it was a successful season, especially for colonial nesting species such as the state endangered black skimmer. A full report of the results will be issued later this year but in the meantime, NJFW has released a video about Horseshoe Island. The video features CWF biologists Todd Pover and Emmy Casper, who helped lead the on-the-ground monitoring effort.


Click below to view the video. 

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