Good news for Delaware bay Shore Birds

Jeff.....here it is... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai_uxZo-giM


My opinion they should have spent more time on the impact of the energy boom on the habitat, and therefore the denizens of the sage brush, but you the goal is "watchers" in things like this and very few people will watch 50 minutes of "doom and gloom" but will tolerate the insinuation if is kept in the background....


Anyone that isn't drawn into the vastness of the Sage Brush Sea while they're watching the first minute or so of this video is dead from the neck up.......(individual mileage may vary.....amongst the brain dead)...


Steve


oopppss that's the trailer...here's the full episode..... http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/sagebrush-sea-full-episode/12341/
 
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Thanks Steve!

Jode, I think I would have liked South Jersey better, but it still would have been too hot for me. Where I grew up 80 was a hot summer day, and 90 was almost unheard of. Even on the hottest days, by mid-afternoon the wind would shift onshore and drop things to the comfortable range.

Teaching in an un-air conditioned 3rd floor classroom--at a school that held classes in July, no less--was a challenge.
 
Good morning, Brad~

Forsythe is my #1 spot - and I sent a note off to Paul earlier this week. I am mostly thinking about timing. I have half-decided to go to the Tuckerton show in late September - and will definitely chase shorebirds at that time. I am mostly wondering if I should make a separate earlier trip.

All the best,

JS
 
Good morning, Jode~

Is late September - near the Tuckerton show - too late?

Craig Kessler and I have some very tentative plans to go to Tuckerton then down to Cape May - both watching shorebirds and getting a start on our next project (Black Ducks). I would also hope to meet you and stop by your shop on one of these trips.

All the best,

SJS
 
Steve, if you want to come south to see the bulk of the migration, which seems tied to the horseshoe crab breeding, you need to wander down soon.
 
Brad et al~

I become more awestruck by Leopold the longer I live. I use his quote: "To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering.” in my "beginning Ornithology" presentation. I illustrate it with a diagram of a pocket watch.

His message reflects an intellectual humility not captured by purely economic arguments for rare things or biodiversity.

All the best,

SJS
 
Good morning, George~

I wish I could - but have to stay on task here until late-July. I used to watch the Knots and 'crabs during our June surveys of Terns and other beach nesters on Long Island. Maybe I can get dsown your way next spring.

All the best,

SJS
 
Jode, great picture. I wish my family had a photographic record of the changes that they witnessed.
For the record, I have no skin in the game, my grandfather was last of my family to make a living on the bay as fisherman, guide (and if tales to be told, rum). So while perhaps my comments were construed to be anti-harvesting that is not the case. Just that most ecological problems are more complicated than a simple harvesting ban solution. Yes, Steve, egg production is critical and without the sandy beaches, no eggs can be laid. And when over 50% of said sandy beach is gone on the jersey side, replaced by sod cliffs. No egg production. This has been neglected by the state and NGO conservation groups for decades. We blast BILLIONS of dollars of sand on ocean beaches but none to protect these beaches and marshes and then congratulate our sagacity of banning watermen from collecting bait? I think the calculation is skewed. Only last year did CMBO (and i am sure others) step up with financial support to begin beach restoration at Pierces Point and Moores Beach and this year at Fortescue and Thompsons beach to remediate some of the sandy beaches. (google it) I personally believe this will be much more helpful to the horsehoe crabs and consequently the birds than a ban, but again, it all works together. And by the way those crabs that get gathered for blood draws, generally I have seen them returned not to the bay but rather dumped from Route 47 bridges into the various creeks feeding the bay, thus question the "renewability" of the resource.
respectfully, rich
PS: Jode, so you can place a face to the post, we initially met at the CMBO art show a few yrs back and talked over the old sneakbox on display.
 
The old saw in community ecology is: Diversity in an ecosystem maintains ecosystem stability...a lesson we, as a species, seem loathe to incorporate in our culture.
 
Steve,
I have not watched the shore bird PBS video you posted yet but I went and found the full version of the sage grouse one. I am waiting on a fed ex delivery this morning for work and had down time. It was well worth the time to watch. I agree I think more attention could have been paid to the impact humans are having on that landscape. They alluded to it but never directly addressed it. I will find some time to watch the shorebird one as well.

Here is the full video if anyone wants to watch it. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/sagebrush-sea-full-episode/12341/
 
Rich, I thought the name sounded familiar.....good to have your input here. Hopefully the whole bayshore community and those with a vested interest (birders, hunters, crabbers, etc) will continue to work together in a positive direction.

Good thing for the gnats and green heads or the bay would look like Wildwood IMHO. The whole ditching of the marshes trying to eradicate them in the mid 1900 is another great example of failed environmental policy.
 
Steve, Late Sept. is on the tail end of the migration, but still should be plenty good by most standards. Especially if we have an Indian summer like we have the past few years.

You'll have a great time at the show and also birding, plus our biggest crabs of the year are on the move then should you want to take a day and combine a birding trip with some blue claws. Your more than welcome to stop by anytime.
 
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My son Ethan and I had a bad case of crab fever today, highly contagious and had to miss school. Only know remedy is plenty of mud, sand, sun and fun.

We saw tons of birds today, but besides a crappy phone pics my skill with a lens is nil..........Notables were the Red Knots, semi Palmated Sandpipers (100's) , black Belly Plover, dozens of Willets, Ruddy Turnstone, Oyster Catchers, and Greater Yellowlegs, and Sanderlings.

Multiple Bald Eagles, Osprey, Great Egret, Blue heron, and lots of Ducks...(My son was intrigued by flightless black duck that has dropped his primaries early) .












 
Jode,
Looks like a most excellent adventure! (and you got it in before the Bayshore Aerial Defense Force was in full strength).
And for Steve birding, Cape May point state park has the CMBO hawk watch going from labor day til thanksgiving...not too mention early goose season!!!!
 
LOVE the Terrapin....they nest in my yard in Florida and we on rare occasion find the little ones.....other than Sea Turtles they gotta be the cutest of them all.....before I left the last time I built a brushpile under the end of my dock...Dani went down over Memorial Day to check on the house for me and says that the brushpile is now a home for several Terrapins making them a reliable sighting....now if the Snook would just move in and the Crabs would come back....


Great shots and a worthy "had to miss school" reason....


Steve
 
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Good morning, Steve~

The Terrapin has always been one of my favorites, too. Love those white chins - especially when you get a bunch treading water in a small pool and staring at you.

Question: What are the brush piles used for? Are they used only in the cooler months? "Hibernaculum" seems somehow inappropriate in the Sunshine State. And, do they share them with a tangle of writhing vipers?????

All the best,

SJS
 
Thanks Steve, the terrapins were out by the 100s yesterday. This big momma was on a gravel bar looking for a place to lay her eggs. She was missing half of her rear left flipper but it was healed over and she could move along nicely.

In a lot of area like this were they nest on road edges etc folks will marks the nest so they don't get ran over and watch them, then help the hatchling once the emerge.

On the flip side I watched a female digging a nest get intentionally squashed by some jerk last year trailering his boat down the road. I surely though it was a accident.....when I commented to him about it he laughed and made a dumb comment about the new " speed bumps". Hard to believe some are so callous.....


On another note I was unaware NJ had a lucrative terrapin trapping season until recent headlines made me aware. The short season got closed last spring because of over harvest and under reporting. Turns out the black market cash for these is unreal, so the small quota was being way exceeded for the Asian market.

http://www.state.nj.us/dep/newsrel/2015/15_0017.htm


BTW I watched the sage documentary last night and all I can say is wow. The cinematography is amazing and I had no idea the sage country was once so vast. Pretty amazing stuff.
 
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I think he learned a hell of lot more spending the day with you in the marsh vs. being in school!!
 
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