Archive for month: April, 2021

Michele Klimczak, FIConservancy’s Marine Debris Coordinator hauls debris from Fishers Island beach.

Fishers Island is being inundated with marine debris: we’ve cleared and hauled away over 10 tons in the past two years.

Michele Klimczak, FIConservancy’s Marine Debris Coordinator, has the monumental task of clearing this pollution year-round to help conserve our Island and protect our wildlife and community. But there’s still more shoreline to cover and more debris to collect.

We need your help! Do you have a favorite beach or a private beach that you are willing to clear of debris?

Join our effort by adopting a beach. Here’s how:

• Step 1: Sign up here!
• Step 2: Review our Beach Cleanup Safety Guidelines below, gather friends and family and head out to clear your beach.
• Step 3: Text Michele at 631-800-9394 whenever you have a full bag so she can collect the debris and snap a photo of your team with your haul.
• Step 4: Repeat steps 2 & 3 when you can.

Michele will then remove, weigh and sort the debris, properly disposing of anything that cannot be reused.

Your team’s photo, beach and weight of debris collected will be posted on FIConservancy’s social media (if you’d like) and will be included in our monthly website Marine Debris Cleanup report.

There will be prizes for the top three teams that collect the most marine debris throughout the summer.

We’re so grateful to Michele for her hard work and we thank you for your continued support. Together, we can help conserve Fishers Island and its waters.

 

IMPORTANT: Beach Cleanup Safety Guidelines

Rusted metal, hypodermic needles, glass and sharp plastic are commonly encountered during beach cleanup. The following guidelines should be followed to ensure safety.

What to bring:

• Large bags, preferably reusable, in which to place the debris
• A “sharps container” for items found such as needles, metal or glass
• A trash/debris nabber, if you have one

What to wear:

• Thick work gloves to protect your hands
• Fully enclosed, supportive shoes (no sandals or open-toed shoes)
• Long pants are preferable and don’t forget sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat

What to do:

• Bags should be carried an arm’s length from body for your safety
• Follow the steps listed above and have fun!

In late April, Michele Klimczak discovered a roll of wooden fencing as she cleared marine debris on a beach. Today that fencing forms a protective barrier next to nesting shorebirds on South Beach. Geb Cook Photo

Three-year-old juvenile bald eagle flies over Fishers Island, Jan. 20, 2021. John Spofford Photo

Reports of bald eagle sightings have filtered through the Fishers Island community for the past three years. It makes sense, since there are four times as many bald eagles in the lower 48 states than there were a decade ago.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in March reported 316,708 bald eagles in the lower 48. The 71,467 nesting pairs observed are double the number in 2009 and a stark contrast to the all-time recorded low of 417 known bald eagle nests in 1963.

On Fishers Island in the 1960s and early 1970s, before DDT (banned in 1972) had nearly decimated osprey and bald eagle populations, the only osprey nest observed on Fishers Island was near Airport Road. In 2018, Andrew Edwards used a drone to count 17 active osprey nests and 34 fledglings on Fishers Island.

If bald eagles start nesting on Fishers Island, they will be looking for food. They eat birds, reptiles, amphibians, rabbits and muskrat (both live or as carrion). But they also love fish, which comprise 99 percent of the osprey’s diet.

Ospreys and opportunistic bald eagles share much of the same habitat, and ospreys are often on the losing end. Rather than doing their own hunting, bald eagles will sometimes harass ospreys, stealing fish directly from their talons or making them drop fish they’ve just caught, grabbing the fish in midair. Bald eagles are also known to raid osprey nests and snatch fledglings, whether small or just ready to fly.

Ospreys do their best to stand up to the brute force of bald eagles by buzzing them in the sky and sometimes attacking them on the ground.

Using citizen science to help count bald eagles and nesting pairs, USFWS Migratory Birds Program integrated data from its aerial surveys with data collected from observations by 180,000 birders, which had been collated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The bald eagle (l) is one of the largest birds in North America, with an average 80-inch wingspan and weighing 6.5 to nearly 14 pounds. Osprey (r) have an average 59- to 70-inch wingspan and weigh 3-4 pounds. They have long, narrow wings with a marked kink (not as apparent in this image) that makes them look like an M-shape from below.

Coyote at Middle Farms Driving Range, Nov. 1, 2020. Thought to be one of the most adaptable animals on earth, coyotes have “plasticity”, enabling them to adapt to changes in food availability, cover and habitat. Eastern coyotes are part western coyote (62 percent), western wolf (14 percent), eastern wolf (13 percent), and domestic dog (11 percent). Prue Gary Photo

Island residents were “up in arms” last fall after a bold daytime coyote attack led to the death of a beloved family pet. Coyote sightings on Fishers Island are no longer unusual. Unfortunately, nothing can be done to control their numbers.

Other than dealing with a bold coyote, this adaptable species is here to stay. In fact, indiscriminate killing of coyotes encourages more breeding. Also, coyotes self-regulate their population by having larger or smaller litters depending on availability of territory and food.

Mass killings of coyotes began in the 1850s. Since then, their geographical range has tripled in the United States, an estimated 40 percent since the 1950s. Originally restricted to the western two-thirds of North America, the species now stretches across most of the continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific seaboard and from Alaska to Panama.

Biologists theorize that the coyote expanded east to fill a vacant ecological niche left by the extirpation of gray wolves, cougars and jaguars. By 1920, coyotes were established in northern New York State.

Coyotes are programmed to pursue and kill prey, but they are also opportunistic feeders and will take advantage of the most available food source. They will consume small mammals, birds, livestock, pets, fruits, vegetables, carrion and garbage. Their habitat has expanded to include not only forests and fields, scrublands and wetlands, but also major cities, wooded suburbs, parks, golf courses and beach fronts.

The first coyote was spotted on Fishers Island between 12-15 years ago. At least one breeding pair was documented in 2017. It is difficult to know how many are on the Island, and frequent sightings are often thought to be the same coyote. Coyotes are smart, become easily habituated to human environments and have few natural enemies other than the great horned owl, which may take a few pups.

Scientists, however, are quick to remind the public that coyotes can play an integral role maintaining healthy ecosystems. They hunt foxes, raccoons, opossums and skunks, and provide rodent control by killing destructive, vegetation-eating rodents that comprise 80% of a coyote’s diet. Their primary foods are rodents, fruits, berries and insects.

Preventing coyotes from associating humans with food or shelter is the best method for minimizing conflicts with them. Eliminate easy access to outside food sources, such as dog food, bird seed and garbage. Supervise pets while outside; keep cats indoors.

Sent as eblast April 16, 2020