Birding Heathcote Meadows

Trail through swampy woods at Heathcote Meadows

Yesterday morning I visited Heathcote Meadows Preserve near Kingston. I had never been there before and wanted to find out what the preserve looked like and what the birding was like. The preserve is actually part of a complex of five natural areas that form a greenbelt along tributaries of the Millstone River.

Apparently it was the right day to go because the volume of birdsong was overwhelming. Most of the volume was from fairly common birds – I counted 33 Gray Catbirds along a two-mile route. There were some gems, though. Northern Waterthrush can be hard to find in Middlesex County, but I saw two of them yesterday. I heard and then saw a Blue-winged Warbler, and I heard a Blackburnian Warbler – my second in three days. In addition, I had some nice looks at some favorites like Swamp Sparrow and Black-throated Blue Warbler and some other flashy birds like Scarlet Tanager and Common Yellowthroat. All told, I saw 13 species of warbler as well as many other birds. Unfortunately I missed a Pileated Woodpecker that lives in the preserve.

The portion of the preserve was mostly a narrow strip of swampy woods that border a stream. There was also a large field with an old barn. I expected to see and hear more meadow species than I did. Perhaps that was because it was late morning by the time I walked through the meadow portion.  It would be great if the county turned the meadow area into a native grassland, but so far that does not seem to be the case.

Old barn in the meadow portion of the preserve

This park seems like a spot worth visiting again in the future.

Review: Wild New Jersey by David Wheeler

New Jersey is the fifth-smallest – and the most densely-populated – state in the United States. A wide ribbon of urbanization stretches across the state from Philadelphia to New York, and another strip of urbanization runs along the state's Atlantic coast. The state has a long history of industrialization stretching back into the 18th century. The early start on the Industrial Revolution and two subsequent centuries of industrialization left toxic sites around much of the state. Now much of the industry is gone, and New Jersey is left with more Superfund sites than any other state (which is less surprising if you consider that New Jersey politicians were instrumental in drafting Superfund and getting it passed).

Despite all this, New Jersey supports a wealth of biodiversity. This may be ascribed to its geology, latitude, and proximity to the coast. The northern part of the state, particularly the mountainous northwest corner, supports plant and wildlife communities similar to those found much further north. Likewise, the southern half of the state has winters just warm enough to support plants and animals found much further south. As a result, many species find the northern limit of their ranges in or near New Jersey, and many others find their southern limit here. Chickadees are an example of this phenomenon: the ranges of northerly Black-capped and southerly Carolina Chickadees meet in the middle of the state, close to the boundary of the coastal plain.

David Wheeler gives readers a taste of this natural diversity in his recent book, Wild New Jersey: Nature Adventures in the Garden State. Each chapter narrates a visit to a refuge or an encounter with New Jersey's natural world, starting with a search for black bears in northwestern New Jersey and continuing with visits to sites such as the Meadowlands, various points along the shore, and up again through the Pine Barrens and central Piedmont region. In some cases, a chapter is focused on a single trip, but in most cases Wheeler includes a few sites centered around the same habitat type or activities such as fossil-hunting and birdwatching. While there are far too many interesting natural places and ecological problems in the state to cover in a single book, Wheeler does well in selecting a representative sample. I was particularly pleased to see sites from the state's urban core included in the book.

The sites are grouped into parts by geographic region, and each part is prefaced by a map showing approximate locations for the sites mentioned in the following chapters. I noticed one error on the map for part 3 (The Jersey Shore), which places Cheesequake State Park in Monmouth County. (It is actually in Middlesex County.) The chapters are illustrated with black and white photos, many of which were taken by David Wheeler while others were supplied by other photographers (often the people that he interviews in the same chapter). Color photos are printed on plates in the center of the book; I especially liked one of a Bald Eagle flying across the path of a rower on the Millstone Aqueduct.

The narrative is informed by interviews with the people who work or volunteer at those locations or who visit them regularly. In many cases, the people Wheeler interviews are responsible for keeping New Jersey's natural areas wild or restoring degraded habitats. Middlesex County's Dismal Swamp, for instance, might not exist as a natural area without the efforts of Robert Spiegel, one of the many environmentalists who appear in the book. In other cases, the interviews add expert commentary on ecology or historical background.

It is great to read about someone else's experience in a park or refuge, but I wish books like this gave a little more information about visiting sites. Theoretically a park or refuge should be good in any season, but in my experience each shines especially in one season over others, and the prime season is not always obvious. For larger refuges (or obscure sites) is there a preferred entry point? Is a site open to the public or only by special permission? I think information like this would be helpful for moving people from reading about New Jersey's natural areas to visiting and enjoying them.

That said, Wild New Jersey provides a window into New Jersey's natural history. It will likely be most interesting to newcomers to the state or people who grew up in the state but have not explored its wild side in depth. Readers who (like me) have spent a lot of time in New Jersey's natural areas will probably find much that is already familiar. I have visited sites from at least half of the book's chapters and have met many of the people interviewed for it. Even so, I found much of interest here, and I imagine other readers would as well.

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This review was based on a review copy provided by the publisher.

Loose Feathers #341

Atlantic Puffins / USFWS Photo

News about birds and birding

• Environmental groups are seeking endangered species protection for the Black-backed Woodpecker, which has declined in part because of fire suppression practices and post-fire salvage logging. The species depends on eating beetle larvae in recently-burned trees.
• The American Bird Conservancy created a map of places where birds would be most harmed by wind energy development, in the hopes of guiding such development away from those areas.
• Wandering Albatrosses that breed on South Georgia are now start breeding 2.2 days earlier than they did 30 years ago.
• Ornithologists in Peru are investigating the deaths of 538 pelicans and 54 Peruvian Boobies that were found dead on the beaches there. 
• A Whooping Crane hatched in the wild in Wisconsin.
• White-tailed Sea Eagles are nesting in Ireland for the first time in over 100 years.
• A Bald Eagle in Pennsylvania somehow managed to survive lead poisoning, being shot with a BB gun, and being hit by a car – long enough for wildlife rehabilitators to find it and start treatment.
• The male Red-tailed Hawk of the pair that has been nesting at the Franklin Institute disappeared over the weekend and is presumed dead. See also this blog post, which reports that someone saw a Red-tailed Hawk get struck by a car on the Schuylkill Expressway, within the pair's territory.
• Raptor nest cams are pretty common (and popular), but there are nest cams for other birds, too. Cornell Lab of Ornithology is running a webcam in a Great Blue Heron nest.

Nature and science blogging

• Sibley Guides: The annual plumage cycle of a male American Goldfinch
• 10,000 Birds: Polyandry and Polygynandry on the Tundra
• ABA Blog: Mic up that iPhone: Follow Up
• Earbirding.com: Identifying Eastern and Western Warbling Vireos
• Beetles in the Bush: Adult male Hentzia palmarum jumping spider
• The Dragonfly Woman: A New Bee House
• Compound Eye: 6 Sources of Free Images for Science Blogging
• Tetrapod Zoology: Putting petrels in their place and the possibly weird evolution of albatrosses (petrels part IV)
• Skeptical Science: Lessons from Past Predictions: Hansen 1981 
• Dinosaur Tracking: New Wrinkle to the Story of the Last Dinosaurs

Environment and biodiversity

• A recent study found that trees with a diameter of three feet or more accounted for almost half of Yosemite National Park's biomass, even though such wide trees are only 1% of the trees growing there.
• Experiments underestimate how fast spring is advancing in response to warming.
• A new extinct species of coelacanth has been identified from fossils found in British Columbia. This fish was sleeker than previously-known coelacanths and could pursue prey over longer distances. 
• The share of energy generation from renewable sources rose in many states over the past ten years. The link includes a map of renewable energy generation by state.
• According to a new study, biodiversity loss is just as serious of an environmental problem as climate change and most likely is among the top five contributors to climate change.
• The Knight Science Journalism Tracker looks at media coverage of the report on wind farms causing (local) warming.
• A paper in the journal Zootaxa announced the discovery of 24 new species skink species in the Caribbean, many of which were identified from museum specimens. Unfortunately many of the newly-discovered species may already be extinct due to predation by invasive mongooses and habitat loss.
• Energy development in the Yellowstone area is discouraging pronghorn from using their traditional wintering grounds.
• Here is a guide to common edible wild plants.
• Hurricane Irene was the 6th most damaging hurricane on record due to extreme flooding in New England.
• The Asbury Park Press lists what it considers the top ten outdoor spots in New Jersey.
• A Rutgers project is trying to find ways of making data centers more energy-efficient.

Consequences of the USDA's Wildlife-Killing Program

Coyote at Tule Lake NWR / USFWS Photo

This week The Sacramento Bee is reporting on the results of its investigation into the wildlife-killing practices of USDA Wildlife Services. The report is in three parts. Two have already been published, and the third will run on Sunday, May 6. The articles are long and maddening but very much worth reading, as this is some excellent investigative reporting. The articles are based on interviews with past and present USDA employees, as well as outside scientists and documents obtained through FOIA requests. The article focuses on mammals since that is the USDA's primary target in the western states, but the agency's actions affect birds as well.

This federal agency originated in the early 20th century as a means to protect livestock from wolves. Since then its role has expanded to reduce all manner of wildlife impacts on agriculture such as blackbirds eating sunflower seeds. It also includes other missions such as protecting endangered species from predation and airplanes from bird strikes. That all may sound reasonable, but the reality is that Wildlife Services causes a great deal of collateral damage in the process, including killings of species of conservation concern.

In all, more than 150 species have been killed by mistake by Wildlife Services traps, snares and cyanide poison since 2000, records show. A list could fill a field guide. Here are some examples:

Armadillos, badgers, great-horned owls, hog-nosed skunks, javelina, pronghorn antelope, porcupines, great blue herons, ruddy ducks, snapping turtles, turkey vultures, long-tailed weasels, marmots, mourning doves, red-tailed hawks, sandhill cranes and ringtails.

Many are off-limits to hunters and trappers. And some species, including swift foxes, kit foxes and river otter, are the focus of conservation and restoration efforts.

"The irony is state governments and the federal government are spending millions of dollars to preserve species and then … (you have) Wildlife Services out there killing the same animals," said Michael Mares, president of the American Society of Mammalogists. "It boggles the mind."

One critical loss occurred two years ago when a wolverine, one of the rarest mammals in America, stepped into a Wildlife Services leg-hold trap in Payette National Forest in Idaho. It was the third wolverine captured in agency traps since 2004 (the other two were released alive.)

"Shot wolverine due to bad foot," the trapper wrote in his field diary, which The Bee obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The collateral damage is not limited to wildlife; it includes pet dogs and people, sometimes even USDA employees. Even when the agency is successful in killing the target species, it is unclear that the killings are actually beneficial, either to agriculture or to the ecosystems. This is discussed in detail in part 2 of the series, which focuses on coyote extermination. And yes, coyote extermination is not a thing of the past. Over 500,000 coyotes were killed by the USDA between 2006 and 2011, but coyotes still prosper:

In Nevada, scientists found that when Wildlife Services began killing coyotes to protect deer south of Ely in 2004, the average coyote litter size jumped from one pup to 3.5. In 2007, one coyote killed by a Wildlife Services hunter in Nevada had 13 fetuses in its uterus.

Just how coyotes prosper amid persecution remains a mystery. But many believe they benefit from better dining opportunities that emerge over time as coyotes are killed and rabbits and mice begin to multiply.

"A lot of it comes down to nutrition and competition. When you have fewer animals (coyotes) on the landscape, you have more food available per individual. There is a ton of food on the landscape. Why not have a bigger litter?" said Stewart, the Nevada ecologist.

Coyote extermination is usually carried out either to protect mule deer or (more commonly) to protect livestock. However, the actual impacts of coyotes (and other wild predators) are probably exaggerated:

Wildlife Services spends about $30 million a year to protect livestock from predators – mostly coyotes. On its Web page, it says losses to predators top more than $127 million a year....

Like a crime scene investigator, Niemeyer journeyed into the field to inspect sheep and cattle that ranchers said had been killed by predators. Often, his verdict was not guilty.

"You start looking and you realize nothing killed this," said Niemeyer. "They died from a multitude of things: birthing problems, old age, bad hooves, cut by barbed wire. There were an awful lot of things attributed to predation that really were not."

Niemeyer is not the only former Wildlife Services employee to raise questions about agency practices. In California, biologist Mike Jaeger did, too, with studies in Mendocino County that showed most coyotes don't prey on sheep at all and those that do are the hardest to kill with nonselective traps and poison.

As one ecologist quoted in the article says:

"There is a widespread perception that predators are the root of all evil and I'm tired of it," said Stewart. "More often than not, if you have predation on a mule deer population, you're going to have a healthier population."

Many readers will not find the agency's actions surprising. I was already aware of the agency's existence and that it often killed non-target species, but the extent of the killings and the details of the investigation were still sickening. I can see a case for lethal control of wildlife under some circumstances, such as protecting the nesting areas of endangered birds or individual animals that cause repeated damage or kill humans. Reducing the numbers of large herbivores like white-tailed deer that have no remaining natural predators makes sense if they start affecting other species. However, the widespread and indiscriminate killing is unacceptable, especially when it results in the deaths of thousands of non-target animals. For that reason, I am glad that WildEarth Guardians has filed a suit to force the USDA to stop killing wildlife until it conducts a new analysis of the environmental impacts.

Jamaica Bay Osprey Being Tracked

One of the male Ospreys that nest at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, New York, is now wearing a satellite transmitter that will report its movements around the refuge and during migration.

On Tuesday morning, the banding team first startled a pair of ospreys off their nest, leaving behind four speckled eggs. The team then put a large mesh net over the eggs. The female bird flew back and became entangled in the net, and the team removed her and held her out of her mate’s view. When the male returned to the nest, he was captured and taken to the visitors’ center. The female, meanwhile, was released and returned to the nest within a minute.

There, Don Riepe of the American Littoral Society, who serves as the Jamaica Bay guardian, held the osprey still while Bob Kennedy, a prominent ornithologist enlisted by the conservancy, carefully sewed the harness — a kind of raptor backpack — that held the solar-powered transmitter, about the size of a pack of gum, on the bird’s back.

“He’s been a very good sport,” Mr. Kennedy said after the job was done, carrying the male bird back to the bay, where he was released.

Relatively few ospreys have been banded with satellite transmitters across the country, partly because the tags are expensive. The equipment alone can cost $4,000, Mr. Kennedy said, and there is a $50 monthly fee for the data downloads. Coleman P. Burke, a board director of the harbor conservancy, provided a grant to cover the expense of the Jamaica Bay operation. He had followed two other ospreys that Mr. Kennedy had helped band using GPS on Nantucket in the past few years. 

Birders will be able to follow this Osprey's movements via a website, jamaicabayosprey.org. Unfortunately the site will not be online until June