First Reported Case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis in NJ Deer

The NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife is advising hunters and anyone who spends time outdoors to take precautions against mosquito bites as the first reported case of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in deer in New Jersey has recently been documented in Winslow Township, Camden County. Four human cases have been reported in New Jersey this year.

The disease, which is similar to West Nile virus, can infect humans, mammals and birds through the bites of mosquitoes that have fed on infected reservoir hosts. While most people infected with the EEE virus show no signs of illness and make a full recovery, the disease is serious with 4 to 5 percent of those infected developing flu-like symptoms that advance rapidly, often leading to permanent disability. The virus can also cause death.

The deer in Winslow was described as disoriented, thin, and drooling. When it was approached it was unafraid and was lying down with its head up. The deer was euthanized by a Division of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Police Officer and submitted to the NJ Department of Agriculture for testing.

Other symptoms in deer can include depression, weakness, loss of coordination, circling, seizures, blindness, excitability, aggression, and irritability. The disease appears to minimally impact deer populations in North America and is unlikely to significantly impact the overall deer population.

Most birds with EEE do not show any symptoms and never become ill. However, EEE can cause illness and death in some bird species including pigeons, pheasants, turkeys, emu, and quail. Birds infected with EEE may exhibit a staggering gait, drooping wings, twisted neck, or tremors.

If you observe wild birds or mammals exhibiting unusual behaviors or the symptoms described above, please call the Division's Wildlife Pathology Office at 908-735-6398 or the DEP Hotline at 877-WARN-DEP (877-927-6337).

The Division offers the following tips to reduce the potential for contracting EEE:

• Use insect repellent when outdoors and cover exposed skin, especially at dusk when mosquitoes are most active. 
• Standing water around homes also should be removed because mosquitoes lay their eggs in water. Host seeking mosquito activity may persist during the day at this time of year if temperatures are warm enough for mosquitos to fly (55 degrees F and higher). The first killing frost is the official end of the adult mosquito season in any given area.
• Take precautions when field-dressing harvested animals to avoid contracting potentially infectious diseases. Wear gloves when field dressing, skinning, and/or processing game. and clean knives thoroughly before and after using them. Thoroughly wash hands when through.

SOURCE: njfishandwildlife.com/news/2019/eee_advisory.htm

Endangered Plants of New Jersey

The Fish and Wildlife Service website lists endangered plants and animals. There are 947 plants listed but only six listed species are believed to or known to occur in New Jersey.

Five of those are listed as "threatened" in NJ and only the American Chaffseed is listed as endangered in our state.

Endangered and threatened plants don't get the attention that animals do - which probably threatens them even more.

American chaffseed - USFWS, NJ Field Office

American Chaffseed (Schwalbea americana) is the sole species currently classified in the genus Schwalbea. It is an erect, hemiparasitic, perennial herb that is native to the southeastern United States where it is found in wet acidic grasslands. But the species has declined tremendously from its historical range due to fire suppression, and it is currently listed as "Endangered" by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

American chaffseed occurs in sandy (sandy peat, sandy loam), acidic, seasonally-moist to dry soils. It is generally found in early successional habitats described as open, moist pine flatwoods, fire-maintained savannas, areas between peaty wetlands and xeric (dry) sandy soils, bog borders, and other open grass-sedge systems.

American chaffseed is dependent on factors such as fire, mowing, or fluctuating water tables to maintain the crucial open to partly-open conditions that it requires. The species appears to be shade intolerant. American chaffseed occurs in species-rich plant communities where grasses, sedges, and savanna dicots are numerous.

American chaffseed is currently known to occur only in Burlington County, but the species formerly occurred in Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, Cumberland, and Cape May Counties.

More at https://www.fws.gov/northeast/njfieldoffice/endangered/chaffseed.html

The other plants listed as threatened in NJ are:

• Amaranth, seabeach (Amaranthus pumilus)
• Beaked-rush, Knieskern's (Rhynchospora knieskernii)
• Pogonia, small whorled (Isotria medeoloides)
• Pink, swamp (Helonias bullata)
• Joint-vetch, Sensitive (Aeschynomene virginica)

Endangered Sea Turtles Off New Jersey

The US Fish and Wildlife Service lists two endangered sea turtles that can be found in the Atlantic Ocean off our the New Jersey coast.

The endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is one of seven species of sea turtles found throughout the world. It is one of the smaller sea turtles. It has overlapping scutes (plates) that are thicker than those of other sea turtles which protects them from being battered against sharp coral and rocks during storm events.

We can say they are "smaller" but adults range in size from 30 to 36 inches (0.8-1.0 meters) carapace length, and weigh 100 to 200 pounds (45-90 kilograms). Its carapace (upper shell) is an attractive dark brown with faint yellow streaks and blotches and a yellow plastron (under shell). The name "hawksbill" refers to the turtle's prominent hooked beak.

Eritmochelys imbricata, Hawksbill Sea Turtle - Photo: Caroline S. Rogers, available through NOAA

At the other extreme in size is the Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest, deepest diving, and most migratory and wide-ranging of all sea turtles. The adult leatherback can reach 4 to 8 feet in length and 500 to 2000 pounds in weight.

Its shell is composed of a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin with seven longitudinal ridges or keels. The skin is predominantly black with varying degrees of pale spotting. There is a notable pink spot on the dorsal surface of the head in adults. A toothlike cusp is located on each side of the gray upper jaw and the lower jaw is hooked anteriorly. The paddle-like clawless limbs are black with white margins and pale spotting.

Female Leatherback, Dermochelys coriacea,  Photo by Claudia Lombard, USFWS at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, US Virgin Islands

Carnivorous Pitcher Plants

                  Pitcher plants in Edwin Forsythe NWR, NJ - Photo: R.Albers/USFWS

October is baseball playoffs time but these pitchers have a longer season and can be deadly. The pitcher plant is one of those plants that is best known for letting flies and insects think they’re getting a free meal and then making them their own meal.

Pitcher plants tend to grow where most other plants can’t grow. The soils in which they grow are poor in minerals and extremely acidic. The plants don’t require insects to survive but it is thought that extra nutrients from insects allow plants to grow larger and healthier, and are more likely to reproduce.

They are named for their tall, tube-like stems, which resemble pitchers for water.

Sarracenia purpurea is commonly known as the purple pitcher plant, northern pitcher plant, turtle socks, or side-saddle flower and is a carnivorous plant in the family Sarraceniaceae.

In New Jersey, they’re common in the bogs and swamps of the Pine Barrens and can also be found in Kuser Bog at High Point State Park in Sussex County (a cedar bog believed to be the highest in the world) and in the White Lake Natural Resource Area in Warren County.

Prey insects, often small flies and ants, are attracted by the plant’s scent. Evidently, the plant’s chemical compounds attract various insects.

The pitcher plant’s frilly leaf tips have stiff, downward-pointing hairs. These hairs prevent the insects from climbing back out and they end up in a pool of liquid at the bottom of the pitcher. The liquid contains digestive enzymes that break down the insects and allow the plant to absorb the nutrients.

Pitcher plant showing the hairs - Photo by Kmmeyer - Northern Minnesota, CC BY-SA 3.0 

New Jersey actually has three groups of native carnivorous plants. Besides pitcher plants, we have sundews and bladderworts. Carnivorous plants evolved to eat animals because they grow in wet, nutrient-poor soils and so have adapted to get nutrition in other ways.

The purple pitcher plant is the showiest of the three with bright foliage and red flowers it will stand out in a bog or swamp plants and can often be seen growing from sphagnum moss.

Coyote Encounters on the Increase in New Jersey

Coyotes were not always native of New Jersey and other places, but this very adaptable animal has extended its range north and east across Canada from its original range the mid-west.

There are stories in the news about coyote interactions in our state
A woman and a dog were injured this month in separate coyote attacks in Ramapo Valley County Reservation in Mahwah. Township police and the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office closed the reservation that afternoon. It was not known if the separate attacks were done by the same coyote, but coyote attacks are not rare in the township. In August, a woman walking in Mahwah encountered a coyote that was initially chasing a deer but then stopped and bit her twice.

This is not a new thing. The first record of a coyote in New Jersey was documented near Lambertville, Hunterdon County in 1939. The species may have bred with gray wolves, emerged into the New England states and extended its range south through New Jersey. However, evidence also suggests at least some coyotes were imported from western states by people. NJ Fish and Wildlife has never imported coyotes for any reason at any time into our state.

The strain of coyote (or coywolf) has more variations in fur color and is actually of a larger body size than their western counterpart. Color variations in NJ eastern coyotes range from the typical “western” coyote gray-tan through almost white to reddish to black. And, everything in between.

In New Jersey, adult males generally weigh between 35 and 40 pounds, with a few animals in the 45 to 50-pound range. Females generally weigh about 5 pounds less, in the 30-35 pound range.

At a distance, the coyote looks similar to a German Shepherd, but when viewed up-close you can see it has a thinner muzzle and fox-like "brush" tail that are distinctive.

Sightings of coyotes have increased throughout New Jersey since the 1990s because of the coyote’s ability to co-exist with man, and to adapt to different habitat types and food sources.

Coyotes have been documented in all 21 New Jersey counties.

When encountering a coyote, Township police have advised people to not turn their backs to the animal. Instead, make noise and throw small sticks to scare the coyote away.

If you encounter a coyote. DO NOT TURN YOUR BACK & RUN Make yourself as big and loud as possible, throw small sticks to scare them away and call 9-1-1.

As with bears and other wildlife, it is best to keep your pets inside, and secure your trash receptacles.

New Jersey's Smallest Turtle and State Reptile

Bog Turtle (NJ) - Photo: Rosie Walunas/USFWS

The Northeast is home to North America's smallest turtle, the threatened bog turtle. Its carapace measures about 10 centimeters (4 in) long when fully grown. The bog turtle is the state reptile of New Jersey.

The bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii ) is a critically endangered species of semiaquatic turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the eastern United States. The bog turtle was listed as an endangered species in New Jersey in 1974, and in 1997, the US Fish and Wildlife Service included the bog turtle on its list of federally threatened species.

Although the bog turtle is similar in appearance to the painted or spotted turtles, its closest relative is actually the somewhat larger wood turtle. The bog turtle can be found from Vermont in the north, south to Georgia, and west to Ohio.

Diurnal and secretive, it spends most of its time buried in mud and during the winter months, it goes into hibernation.

The bog turtle is omnivorous, feeding mainly on small invertebrates.

The bog turtle has a low reproduction rate; females lay one clutch per year, with an average of three eggs each. The young tend to grow rapidly, reaching sexual maturity between the ages of 4 and 10 years. Bog turtles live for an average of 20 to 30 years in the wild. Since 1973, the Bronx Zoo has successfully bred the bog turtle in captivity.

Protected under the United States Federal Endangered Species Act, the bog turtle is considered threatened in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

The invasion of non-native plants, especially purple loosestrife, reed canary grass, and reeds, into its habitat is a large threat to the bog turtles'survival. These thick and tall plants hinder the movement of the turtles and overtake the native species in the bog turtle's habitat.

The development of new neighborhoods and roadways obstructs the bog turtle's movement between wetlands, thus inhibiting the establishment of new bog turtle colonies.

Bog turtles are also illegally collected as pets.

Pesticides, runoff, and industrial discharge are all harmful to the bog turtles' habitat and food supply.

The rebounding of bog turtle colonies now depends on private intervention, land surveys, remote sensing and controlled burns to limit the encroachment of overshadowing trees and bushes.

As of 2018, the Department of Environmental Protection's Endangered and Nongame Species Program estimates that there are fewer than 2,000 of these inhabitants of groundwater-fed freshwater wetlands left in the state.

MORE

• www.conservewildlifenj.org/species/fieldguide/view/Glyptemys%20muhlenbergii/
• www.fws.gov/northeast
• www.facebook.com/usfwsnortheast