First install of 2014!

This first install will provide a safe place for a pair of ospreys to nest inside Great Bay Blvd WMA.

Mark your calendars. At 1pm on February 18th, volunteers are needed to help install an osprey platform off of Great Bay Blvd (GBB) in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey. The pair that formally nested on a short cluster of pilings (147-A-023) that is an "old electric transfer structure utilized to power submerged water pumps when active marsh flooding and draining research was conducted nearby." Two years ago 2 young were produced at this nest and last year the nest failed to produce young. It's low and provides no protection from ground predators, and it's too close to the boardwalk that connects the Rutgers Marine Field Station to GBB. The new site will be far away from disturbance and will also provide protection from predators giving the pair the best chance they have for successfully raising young on the Jersey shore.

Volunteers (at least 6 are needed) will need to bring knee boots, hip or chest waders to wear and a pair of work gloves. We'll meet near the end of the road. You'll see the platform staged along the side of the road.

If you'd like to help, please RSVP to Ben Wurst. Heavy rain will cancel.

Volunteers needed!!

Volunteers are needed to help move an osprey platform in Waretown at the Lighthouse Center for Natural Resource Education. The proposed work is to performed on February 22nd beginning at 9:30am. A total of 3-4 strong able-bodied volunteers are needed. They should bring work gloves and a pair of knee/hip boots or waders. If you would like to help, please Email Ben.

For Directions:

View Larger Map Get Directions View Bird's Eye

Another Installation...

Mild Weather Great for Platform Installations

This week I finally got the chance to move a platform located on an island in Little Egg Harbor. Earlier this year I mistakenly placed a new platform on private property (a small island off Brant Beach on Long Beach Island) which I thought was owned by US Fish and Wildlife Service. It was not occupied this year, but you can tell ospreys used the platform as a perch. When I performed a survey this summer, I saw one adult on the platform but no nesting material. 

Well, long story short, the owner of the property didn't want the platform on his property. He believed that it would only attract gulls. I asked if we could keep it up for another year to give ospreys another chance at nesting on it. He declined and asked that we take it down. Yesterday, two friends and volunteers helped me move this platform to its new home on an island that is owned by US Fish and Wildlife Service. The (Marshelder) island is located approximately 1.3 miles to the south off of North Beach Haven. 

We shot video of the installation to be used in the creation of a video tutorial to demonstrate how to properly install an osprey nesting platform. Some of it will also be used in a documentary that I will be filming over the next few years. The documentary will highlight the projects history with interviews with biologists and others who worked to restore the population of ospreys in New Jersey. It will also address the current threats (pollution from run-off, contaminants, and litter; disturbance, and climate change) to ospreys.

Volunteers Paul Petrone and Joe Bilotta stand next to a platform that was installed on an island off Brant Beach in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey.

Cold Weather Ices Over Installations

This winter has been cold. Bone-chilling cold. Arctic winds have blanketed our area for some time now. They have drastically reduced surface water temperatures to the point where small bays, creeks, and ditches are frozen over. These cold temperatures have also delayed any osprey platform work (repairs and installations) until March unless temperatures rise for an extended period of time.

I have three platforms that are built and need to be installed. One in Lavallette, Little Egg Harbor, and Fortescue.

Several more platforms need repairs. Two need repairs on the Mullica River. One in Somers Point, and a few more.

Currently plans are being made to construct several more (six) osprey platforms in early February (weather permitting) at my house in New Gretna. If you are interested in helping out with repairs or installations, please let me know.

-Ben

609.628.2103

ben.wurst@conservewildlifenj.org

Osprey Banding update

Hey all, So far I've gotten more than enough responses from people who would like to help out the project by volunteering to band osprey young. From the responses, I think that we will be able to fill all the areas in need with dedicated individuals.

For now I am no longer looking for people to help with banding, but there will be opportunities to help construct and install platforms, so stay tuned....

-Ben

1. Sedge Islands WMA (inside Island Beach State Park)
   
2. N. Barnegat Bay (Forked River, Ocean Gate, Cattus Island Park, Lavallette)
   
3. Barnegat and Manahwkin Bays (LBI area) - position filled
   
4. Absecon WMA and Atlantic City - position filled
   
5. Great Egg Harbor (Ventnor, Margate, Somers Point, Ocean City) - position filled
   
6. Tuckahoe, Middle River, and Great Egg Harbor River - position filled
   
7. Avalon - position filled

Raptor bander wanted!!

**PLEASE SEE POST ON NOV. 24th**

• Do you support wildlife conservation?
• Enjoy being outdoors?
  
• Do you have any experience handling birds?
• Do you have a small boat?
• Do you live in along the Atlantic coastal region of NJ?
• Are you available to volunteer several days during weekdays/ends during late June/early July?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then we could use your help!

The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ and the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife's Endangered and Nongame Species Program seek to find a dedicated and responsible individual to survey osprey nesting platforms and band their young. We currently have several different areas along the Atlantic coast that need a volunteer to survey. Those areas are:

1. Sedge Islands WMA (inside Island Beach State Park)
   
2. N. Barnegat Bay (Forked River, Ocean Gate, Cattus Island Park, Lavallette)
   
3. Barnegat and Manahwkin Bays (LBI area) - position filled
   
4. Absecon WMA and Atlantic City - position filled
   
5. Great Egg Harbor (Ventnor, Margate, Somers Point, Ocean City) - position filled
   
6. Tuckahoe, Middle River, and Great Egg Harbor River - position filled
   
7. Avalon - position filled
   

The volunteer(s) will be trained by NJ Fish and Wildlife and CWF biologists to properly survey, handle, and band osprey young. He/she will be responsible for submitting survey results at end of season. We would also like for you to become involved with the maintenance, construction, and placement of osprey platforms.

**Note - Interested individuals should be comfortable being outdoors for long periods of time in direct sunlight. You will be working in muddy, buggy conditions. Only a few volunteers will be selected for the next season, so I am not guaranteeing that all will be chosen. If you have a resume, please include it in the email. Good luck!

If you are interested or would like more information, please contact me: ben.wurst@conservewildlifenj.org

Winter Project - HELP WANTED!!

Hey, Above you'll find a map of the Great Bay Blvd. Wildlife Management Area (WMA). This winter, with funding from AmerGen, we (CWF and volunteers, if you want to help out, let me know; we'll be building them at my house in New Gretna) plan to build and erect a total of 10 platforms here to support the growing population (blue points are proposed locations, white are existing nest locations). This year while doing the ground survey to determine the productivity (# young produced/nest) I noticed that all available platforms were occupied. Earlier this year, in April I noticed a pair trying to build on the telephone pole after the last bridge on the right (you can't miss it, see pic below); however, they weren't successful this year b/c of disturbance. I could tell that people were accessing the mrsh by walking right underneath the nest..... So I tried to alveiate the problem by posting the area with endangered species signs, but the pair failed to build a nest and raise young. Next year the pair will have more choices for where they plan to nest and raise young. Another pair nested on a houseboat which is turned on it's side; they raised 3 young.

Posting to deter disturbance.

Adult on nest in early April.

If you'd like to help me with construction and installation of the platforms this winter, let me know. 609.628.2103 or ben.wurst@conservewildlifenj.org

-Ben