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It is only week two of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation Summer Learning Experience program, a part of the Asbury Park School District Summer Camp offerings, and third-grade students have had the opportunity to not only see an osprey up close and personal but to visit a local nest and learn to simulate building the predatory bird’s nesting place.  

Sponsored by New Jersey Natural Gas, the 5-week program is a part of the Asbury Park School District’s hands on Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, And Math [STEAAM] focused summer programming.

“We are pleased to join with Conserve Wildlife Foundation and the Asbury Park school district to support lifelong learning,” Steve Westhoven, COO of New Jersey Natural Gas, said in a written statement. “By encouraging a greater appreciation of the world around us, together with today’s young people, we can protect our natural resources and create a promising future for us all.”

At 9:30 a.m. Wednesday the state’s leading osprey biologist Ben Wurst met with close to 50 students at the William ‘Butch’ Bruno Football Stadium, where a known osprey nest overlooks the field. Many may recognize Wurst for his widely publicized rescue in late June of an osprey entangled in balloon ribbon at Island Beach State Park.

With binoculars and spotting scopes in hand the students learned that the large predatory birds feed on fish, about this raptor’s life cycle and nesting behavior.

They were joined by Board of Education members, district educators, parents, and members of the Asbury Park Mayor and City Council.

“Ospreys are indigenous to the area and the fact that we are able to offer our students this opportunity to learn about a native bird is just part of our mission to provide them with high level instruction that fosters critical thinking ” Superintendent Sancha Gray said. “In the Asbury Park School District, we are committed to providing experiential learning opportunities for our students in our APSD Summer STEAAM Academy that looks fundamentally different from the regular school day/year. We are delighted to partner with Conserve Wildlife Foundation through a grant provided by New Jersey Natural Gas that allows our third graders to think critically about their surroundings and the impact human interactions cause on wildlife like our co-residents: the ospreys.”

In other weeks, students will visit endangered piping plovers at the Asbury Park beach, net creatures in the Sunset Park pond, build their own osprey nest, and simulate the effects of an oil spill on a coastal waterway, program organizers said.

“Ospreys have made a remarkable comeback along New Jersey’s coast over the past few decades, and as the top of our food chain, serve as a unique indicator of our coastal waterways continuing to improve their water quality,” CWF Executive Director David Wheeler said. “With these magnificent raptors nesting right in the heart of their neighborhood, Asbury Park students can learn first-hand about these coastal ecosystems and how people and wildlife can share the Jersey Shore.”

Conserve Wildlife Foundation is a non-profit that works to protect at-risk wildlife through field science, habitat restoration and education. For more information, visit www.ConserveWildlifeNJ.org.

For more about the Asbury Park School District and its programs, click here.

[Photos courtesy of Chanta L Jackson, Asbury Park School District Communications Director]

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