Bridge-nesting peregrine falcon fledglings take a tumble but get helping hands toward survival
A winning combination of citizen awareness, DNREC Division of Fish & Wildlife Enforcement, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service collaborated recently to rescue and subsequently return a pair of juvenile peregrine falcons to their nesting location on the St. Georges Bridge over the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal after the birds had “crash-landed” on the bridge’s roadway while attempting their first flight.
DNREC Fish & Wildlife Enforcement Blotter: June 4-11; Reminder for the week: Visitors to C&D Canal Conservation Area reminded to heed signs
To achieve public compliance through education and enforcement actions that help conserve Delaware’s fish and wildlife resources and ensure safe boating and public safety, DNREC Division of Fish & Wildlife Enforcement agents between June 4 and 11 made 1,649 contacts with anglers, hunters, boaters and the general public, including 83 boating safety/fishing regulation compliance checks. Agents responded to 38 complaints and issued 39 citations, 17 of which were associated with increased Fish and Wildlife Enforcement presence at the C&D Canal Conservation Area (formerly the C&D Canal Wildlife Area) and the associated recreational trail currently under construction.
New artificial bait developed by U of D from project funded by DNREC could reduce number of horseshoe crabs used to catch eel and whelk
A new alternative bait product that will help reduce the number of horseshoe crabs harvested from the Delaware Bay was introduced today. A team of University of Delaware researchers led by Dr. Nancy Targett, DuPont scientists, fisheries biologists, watermen and conservation groups were joined by DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara to make the announcement this morning at UD’s Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes.
DNREC’s first beneficial-reuse marsh restoration project succeeds with thin-layer spray application
Delaware’s first foray into beneficial-reuse marsh restoration recently twinned maintenance dredging and “thin-layer” spray application of dredge spoil material as a one-two punch for reinvigorating a faltering marsh on Pepper Creek in Dagsboro. The project – a collaborative effort with the Center for Inland Bays, spearheaded by DNREC’s Division of Watershed Stewardship and entailing many other department programs – involved extensive planning, environmental permitting and the customizing of equipment for the innovative dredging and thin-layer application.
Stretch of beach at Cape Henlopen State Park closed to safeguard nesting piping plovers
The first piping plover nest of the season at Gordon’s Pond Beach in Cape Henlopen State Park has been discovered, with the parents-to-be defending their territory, DNREC Wildlife Biologist Matthew Bailey announced. The nest was found late last week, and when last observed, contained three eggs.
