Many hands making an impact

A large project is underway to reintroduce a small species of tiger beetle to an area they have historically referred to as ‘home’.  When the puritan tiger beetles were listed as threatened in 1990, conservation efforts began to help protect current habitats locations and keep the beetle from becoming further extirpated.

Puritan tiger beetle
Photo Credit: Chris Wirth

The Puritan Tiger Beetle Recovery Project was initiated to help restore the beetle to its current and historic habitats along the Connecticut River.  The Project consists of students and interns from several northeast colleges, the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, and volunteers throughout Western Massachusetts.  The team utilizes the Richard Cronin Aquatic Resource Center in Sunderland, MA as the official site to conduct the necessary lab work for the project where they work together everyday to ensure the project runs smoothly.

Let’s Meet Some of these dedicated people…

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Rodger Gwiazdowski, Principle Investigator and Team Leader

Rodger imagined a project like this when he got curious about tiger beetles as an undergraduate. When describing the projects focus, he says “To learn how we establish stable puritan tiger beetle populations throughout the Connecticut River, our project has two broad questions: 1) What ecological conditions make ‘good habitats’ good?, and 2) How can captive reared larvae be used to establish new populations?” In the wild, it takes the puritan tiger beetle about two years to reach their adult stage. The lab-reared larvae grow in a fraction of this time. This process ensures they’re reintroduced without the substantial loss that would naturally occur in the wild.

Chris Davis, Research and Field Technician

Since 1997, Chris has been conducting research on puritan tiger beetles by conducting larval surveys, habitat management, and translocation of larvae to augment the population in Massachusetts. Currently, Chris is conducting adult counts by visual survey and assessing a new location for reintroduction. “It’s the old adage, ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’,” Chris says. “Puritan tiger beetle presence here in the Pioneer Valley gives us an opportunity to contribute, educate, and learn about many issues related to endangered species, their management, and how we can work with others to put shared values into action.”

Robin Saudade, Population Surveyor

Robin is currently studying the puritan tiger beetle populations in Cromwell, CT and Northampton, MA in order to create a life table for them. Robin surveys the total number and the larval stages of each burrow in order to learn the survival rate of each instar (stages). By incorporating egg hatching percentages from Rodger’s lab data and adult populations from Chris Davis’ field surveys, Robin will be able to calculate an overall survival rate from egg to adult of puritan tiger beetle.

Kate Froburg, Assistant Laboratory Manager and American Conservation Experience Intern

Kate is one of two assistant laboratory managers. Her main focus is maintaining the beetles in the lab, and assisting with student projects. Kate is also working on a project of her own aside from the Puritan Tiger Beetle Recover Project. Kate’s project aims to understand how sediment (sand/silt/clay) type influences oviposition (egg laying) in the laboratory environment, and whether female puritan tiger beetles prefer a specific sediment type.

Neil Kapitulik, Community Volunteer and Population and Site Surveyor for the puritan tiger beetles

Neil assists with the collection of adult puritan tiger beetle for lab rearing, and spends most of his time in the field observing the beetles in their natural habitat. Neil is currently in the process of identifying a potential habitat in Vermont.

“Surveys and monitoring adults for many years now has given us a good understanding of population trends and will enable us to connect external environmental factors such as high water and cold weather,” Neil explains. “Through surveys we will know if we reach the recovery goals for puritan tiger beetles.”

Caleb Robitaille, Graduate Student from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Caleb is striving to succeed in the field as a wildlife biologist. He is currently working on a research paper where he explores what puritan tiger beetles are eating. “It is often assumed that they are generalists”, Caleb explains, “but I am looking to see if there is any particular prey that makes up a larger portion of their diet”. Caleb also explains that this information will be useful in reintroducing the Puritan Tiger Beetle to their habitat since the presence of potential prey at a new site could be an indicator of survival success.

Mary Apessos, Student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Establishes Dynamic Feeders for Insect Colonies

While adults and larvae are in the lab, Mary maintains colonies of various feeder insects to feed the captive puritan tiger beetle. “The goal is to keep their diet relatively diverse (2-3 different species of feeder insects), and to keep them well fed”, Mary explains. Growing larvae rely on large amounts of food in order to effectively develop into their next instar (stages), and they’re surprisingly aggressive eaters.

Ellie Dufraine, Student and American Conservation Experience Intern

Her project aims to map the density of first, second and third instar puritan tiger beetle larvae of a successful population on the Connecticut River. By breaking the habitat up into measured square meter sections, the larval burrows can be identified by instar “age” based on size and as a particular species based on the angle of the burrow in the earth. This information can be used to visually determine where larvae inhabit the beach from vegetation to water-line, and the characteristics of preferred habitat for puritan tiger beetle larvae can then be concluded for future reintroduction efforts.

Laura Pickering, Intern and Manages the Clay Processing and the Sprayer System

The sprayer system was built to aid in finding the puritan tiger beetle eggs. Using a hose and an air tattoo gun, Laura uses a faucet in the lab to give the sprayer a continuous water stream. Laura also constructed the bin and platform for the strainer to strain out the sediment and find the eggs. This system saves hours every day, when looking for eggs, and is a much safer search than digging.

The clay processing is essential for the puritan tiger beetle to lay their eggs. In the lab, sand is put into deep petri dishes for the puritan tiger beetle to lay their eggs in. To help with this, clay which has been specially quarried from the Connecticut River by the puritan tiger beetle team, is mixed, dried, kneaded, sanitized, and kneaded again to be places around the petri dishes so that the puritan tiger beetle can climb up into the sand-filled petri dishes to lay their eggs. Without these special ramps, puritan tiger beetle are less likely to lay their eggs.

Sara Wisner, Assistant Laboratory Manager and American Conservation Experience Intern

Sara is our other assistant laboratory manager for the puritan tiger beetle Lab. Sara would like to bring live tiger beetles to a wider audience. For this, she is designing, and creating a unique portable terrarium that will act as a type of “ant farm” display. In this way the larvae will develop their vertical tunnels against a glass window, which can then be used to educate the public to the life cycle of the puritan tiger beetle. However, due to the puritan tiger beetle’s endangered status, Sara will be using the bronze tiger beetle (Cicindela repanda) because they are a common species, with a similar life cycle.

Hal Weeks, Volunteer Coordinator

Hal joined the Puritan Tiger Beetle Recovery Project this year to coordinate the community of volunteers helping with the project. In addition, Hal offers scientific advice, and a career’s worth of research, and applied conservation experience to benefit the project results.

Kevin Hannon, Information Technology & wireless hardware

For his day job, Kevin is Director of Information Systems for the town of Belchertown, MA, where he helps keep the town digitally connected. In his spare time, Kevin volunteers to digitally connect the recovery team with the puritan tiger beetle Lab. In the lab, the puritan tiger beetle adults and larvae live in a carefully controlled environmental room. For this room, Kevin has built custom computers and written code for them to create an internet-capable computing system which controls, monitors, and records data on all aspects of the beetle’s environment. With Kevin’s system, the lab team is instantly alerted by text and email if the building looses power, internet, or the environmental conditions change.

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Above are just a few of the people who are dedicating their time to conserve the puritan tiger beetle. Working in the field of conservation takes collaboration from everyone including many more folks working in Federal, State, NGO, Academic, and other vital volunteer roles for the team. Everyone involved in any conservation project has a different project or task that will not only aid the group as a whole, but also creates greater benefits for the group, by pooling their resources. The overall outcome is rewarding!

To volunteer with the puritan tiger beetle Team, visit:  http://ptblabvolunteers.blogspot.com/

The Puritan Tiger Beetle Recovery Project provides collaborative opportunities for those interested in working in the field of conservation. In particular, for students looking for a career in conservation, it provides a venue to conduct scientific experiments and studies of their own, while also interacting with professional biologists in the field. All the combined work and effort will not only aid in the reintroduction of the puritan tiger beetle, it’s something students can use toward a future career path.

Stay tuned for the next blog post that will talk about the reintroduction and the projects progress….

Saving the Lives of Our Feathered Friends: Bird-friendly Building Hacks

Most of us have experienced that sudden thud against the window, and we peek outside only to see a stunned sparrow lying limp on the ground. Sadly, bird-building collisions kill up to one billion birds each year in the United States. Some ornithologists believe that collisions with human-built structures are the leading cause of migratory bird mortality in North America.

Following along could make this American robin happy. Photo credit – Steve Arena

There are a few reasons why these collisions occur. During the day, windows reflect the sky, trees, and other surroundings in a bird’s urban or suburban habitat, or a bird may see potted plants on the other side. Because they can’t detect the pane of glass, they fly into it unknowingly. Collisions also happen at night, especially during migration. Birds that migrate at night are attracted to the bright lights left on in buildings overnight in urban areas. Additionally, territorial birds may collide with a window in attempt to chase the “other” bird away.

Fortunately, steps can be taken to help reduce bird mortality due to collisions with buildings. For example, windows can be marked with soap, decals, tape, and other things to help make windows more detectable by birds. But when staff at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge did not have success with these measures, they were committed to doing further research. Their newly built visitor center was designed with several massive windows. Upon the building’s completion, they began to experience bird deaths due to collisions with the windows; they were averaging one bird death per week.

In 2013, a summer intern named Hope Kanarvogel was moved to take on the problem and attempt to save some feathered friends. After some initial research, she made contact with a company that sells a paracord-based system to prevent bird-window collisions. They also provide detailed instructions on their website on how to make your own cord system. Generally, the paracord is fastened to a runner above the window and to one below the window so that vertical lines – spaced about three inches apart – break up reflections in the glass.

Hope Kanarvogel with the installed bird-friendly upgrade

Hope gathered the supplies which consisted of wooden runners and bulk paracord and got to work. Supplies totaled about $50. With a little help from colleagues, the cord system was fully assembled and installed in two days. And while the system has not eliminated the problem altogether, it has significantly reduced the number of collisions from one per week to one per month at Chincoteague.

Interns at Patuxent assembling zen wind curtains

Similarly, staff at Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, Maryland, have had comparable success has with a “zen wind curtain” which is the same basic design as was used at Chincoteague, except the bottom of the paracord is not secured. Visitor Services Manager, Jennifer McNicoll, is very happy with the success they have had in reducing bird strikes with windows at their staff offices. McNicoll was once an employee at the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Pennsylvania where the “zen wind curtain” was designed. She says that they have been able to reduce bird mortality due to window strikes at the staff offices by 100 percent. McNicoll suggests soaking the paracord before hanging to allow it to shrink before installation.

Other successful techniques being used at Patuxent include perforated screening, artistic window decals, and tempera paint. The perforated screening allows people inside to see out but appears opaque to birds on the outside. McNicoll admits that while the screening is effective, it is not the most aesthetically pleasing solution. Enter artist Lynne Parks. The Baltimore-based artist is known for her photographic portraits of birds that have died from window strikes. Parks was commissioned to design a series of silhouettes of local flora and fauna that were printed and installed on a film that now covers four of the visitors’ center windows.

Additionally, tempera-paint murals have been painted on the outsides of windows at Patuxent that make them more visible to birds. McNicoll is currently spearheading a campaign that encourages schools and students to get creative with paint on windows to reduce strikes at their schools.

The Lynne Parks – designed mural at Patuxent

Installing the window art at Patuxent

Painting the windows at Patuxent

Patuxent intern Abraham Lopez painting staff window

Its art for bird safety!

Other inexpensive solutions to bird-window collisions offered by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology include marking windows with soap, hanging sun catchers, mylar tape, affixing masking tape, and even sticky notes. It is important that anything applied to the window is affixed to the outside of the window to be seen by birds. Most of these techniques are only effective when placed close together (about three inches apart) and covering most of the window. Generally, one or two raptor silhouettes will not prevent bird collisions with glass.

While the numbers of bird deaths due to window strikes are staggering, the good news is that we can greatly reduce the danger to birds. At your home or office building, identify problem windows by going outside and looking at the windows from a bird’s point of view. If you see trees or sky reflected in the glass, that’s how birds will see it, too. With a little bit of effort and a few supplies, everyone can contribute to bird safety around buildings.

Jennifer Lynch Murphy is a wildlife biologist with C&S Engineers, specializing bird-aircraft collisions. She lives in Sunderland, MA with her husband, Kevin, and dog, Levi.

 

A Conservation and Family Tradition

Judy Sefchick Edwards, Wildlife Biologist, shares the conservation and family traditions at Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge. 

Ducks in the air and leaves on the ground mark both the end of summer, and the beginning of a long-held tradition.  The refuge boat launch is bustling with young, smiling faces, animated chatter, and enthusiastic adults taking photos, to preserve great future memories.  It’s the start of Vermont’s duck hunting season, with the Youth Waterfowl Hunting Weekend at Missisquoi NWR!

Surrounded by the genuine fervor and excitement, I can’t help but smile.  Not only did this crew have a successful refuge hunt, but they also had a memorable family day outdoors.  Again, I’m reminded that the conservation tradition of waterfowl hunting, and the purchase of Federal Duck Stamps, has made it possible for us all to experience and enjoy our National Wildlife Refuge System.

Practicing skills at Missisquoi NWR’s Junior Waterfowl Hunter Training

Volunteers like Chris Smith are instrumental in helping band ducks at Missisquoi NWR. Zach, his son, is learning the ropes by handing ducks to banders.

“Missisquoi NWR has one of the northeast’s largest, natural, freshwater wetland complexes, and is one of the last truly wild places in Vermont,” says native Vermonter, Chris Smith, an avid first-generation duck hunter, and father as well as mentor, to junior duck hunters, Zach and Caleb.  Not only are the Missisquoi Delta and Bay Wetlands important stopover sites for migratory waterfowl in the Atlantic Flyway, but they’re RAMSAR designated “Wetlands of International Importance” too.

What’s more, this refuge is living proof that duck stamps do more than provide a license to hunt.  With ninety-eight cents of every dollar going towards National Wildlife Refuge System lands, it’s no surprise that 87.5% of Missisquoi NWR was bought with duck stamp dollars.  Chris is proud to buy them and says, “Without duck stamps, the number of waterfowl, water birds, and other wetland-dependent species would decline, as would the opportunities to recreate in these special places.”

Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp. Click image for more information about Duck Stamps.

This weekend, the Smiths arrived at the refuge with great anticipation and preparation.  Chris says, “I enjoy seeing all the ‘firsts’ for young hunters:  wearing waders, getting stuck in mud, or shooting certain ducks.”  A month earlier, the family attended the refuge’s annual Junior Waterfowl Hunter Training, to improve skills and discuss safe, ethical hunting, and wildlife conservation.  Completion of the training, and a subsequent lottery draw, gave these juniors a chance to hunt in sought-after refuge blinds.

As a mentor, Chris won’t hunt, but says, “It’s rewarding to pass along knowledge and experience, and have an opportunity for real quality time with my sons.”  He’s proud to have passed this tradition down to them.  Chris remembers when both boys shot their first banded ducks at the refuge.  “I’ll never forget their excitement and pride,” he said, then added, “Without the refuge, my hunting experiences would be greatly diminished, but the loss of wildlife would be even more devastating.”

Caleb and Zach Smith at the end of a hunt on Missisquoi NWR

Missisquoi NWR means different things to different people, but the age-old tradition of waterfowl hunting is the reason this refuge exists.  For some, like Caleb, the refuge represents a chance to observe and hunt near the greatest concentration of waterfowl in Vermont. “Seeing lots of ducks and having many opportunities to shoot, sets the refuge apart,” he said.  To others, like Zach, “It’s a place where I can get out of the house and do stuff I love—whether it’s hunting, fishing, or banding ducks with Judy.  It’s a great place.”