Tag Archives: NJ Audubon

BIRDING: Harbor Herons video

     This two-minute video is about the Harbor Herons Project, a collaboration of NYC Audubon, NJ Audubon, the Meadowlands Commission and many volunteers. Img_0608
   
It should be played with the "sound" on.
    Several great egrets and double-crested cormorant fledglings that were banded earlier this summer are now being spotted in the Meadowlands, confirmation that our marshes are pivotal to the success of herons in the entire metropolitan region.

 Here is a link to our previous post on the Harbor Herons Project, including a link to the project’s Web pages. 

   Click "Continue reading…" for more information and photos from this project.

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BIRDING: Harbor Herons Project

     For the Img_0599past few years, the Meadowlands Commission and a bunch of volunteers have been helping New Jersey Audubon and New York City Audubon with a project called the Harbor Herons Project.

    The object is to study the foraging behavior of egrets and herons that roost on the East River and near Staten Island to see if the birds from different nesting colonies are foraging at different sites and to see how the birds use the metropolitan landscape, including the Meadowlands.

   This year, researchers have banded several birds and put transmitters on some in an effort to keep track of their travels. Img_0598

   Some of those birds — great egrets, and double-crested cormorants, have been seen in the Meadowlands — and the great egret’s radio signals have been picked up here.

   You can help the research by keeping your eye out for banded/transmitter birds.

    The photo on the left is of a great egret youngster with a silver band on its right leg and a transmitter on its left leg  (image  enlarged on right).

   Kate Ruskin of NJ Audubon sums up the progress:

   * 17 great egret fledglings radio-tagged (transmitter is below right:Img_0796
      – Black letters on white
      – Positioned on the left leg, above the joint with the antenna pointing down (they’re small, less than 3% of their body weight, but visible)

   Click "Continue reading" immediately below to learn more.

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