Joanna Burger

This book is a result of the authors’ more than 40 years of study on the behavior, populations, and heavy metals in the colonial waterbirds nesting in Barnegat Bay and the nearby estuaries and bays in the Northeastern United States. From Boston Harbor to the Chesapeake, based on longitudinal studies of colonial waterbirds, it provides a clear picture of the toxic trends and effects of heavy metals in the aquatic environment. The authors take a food web, ecosystem approach to contaminants, using population dynamics, habitat selection, and inputs to the bay to examine metal levels. They also look at the human dimension, discuss what metals in birds tell us about human exposure, and describe stakeholder involvement in these issues. The book covers numbers and dynamics, colony sites and locations, and prey contaminant levels, and compares them to other comparable coastal estuaries. It uses colonial waterbirds as the focal point for an ecosystem approach to metals that begins with prey fish and goes through invertebrates to humans. Additionally, it provides information based on long-term integrative studies the authors have done on metal levels and bird species and compares the findings with data from the Harbor Estuaries Program, other Northeast bays, the Great Lakes, and the Wadden Sea.

The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most important ecological regions in the world for birds. The mosaic of diverse habitats in the region provides numerous niches for birds. There are productive salt marshes, barrier islands, and sandy beaches for foraging and nesting; a direct pathway between North and Central and South America for migrating; and warm, tropical waters for wintering. Many species are residents all year around, some migrate through, and still others spend the winter along the shores. The Gulf Coast is home to a significant portion of the world’s population of Reddish Egret and Snowy Plover and a significant portion of the US breeding populations of certain birds, including the Sandwich Tern, Black Skimmer, and Laughing Gull. In total, there are more than 400 bird species that rely on the Gulf at some time during the year. Drawing on decades of fieldwork and data research, renowned ornithologist and behavioral ecologist Joanna Burger provides detailed descriptions of birdlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Burger records trends in bird population, behavior, and major threats and stressors affecting birds in the region, including the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. While some of this data exists in journal articles, research papers, and government reports, this is the first volume to weave together a comprehensive overview of the birds and related natural resources found in the Gulf of Mexico. Illustrated with over 900 color photographs, charts, and maps, this landmark reference volume will be immensely important for researchers, conservationists, land managers, birders, and wildlife lovers.

This book is a result of the authors’ more than 40 years of study on the behavior, populations, and heavy metals in the colonial waterbirds nesting in Barnegat Bay and the nearby estuaries and bays in the Northeastern United States. From Boston Harbor to the Chesapeake, based on longitudinal studies of colonial waterbirds, it provides a clear picture of the toxic trends and effects of heavy metals in the aquatic environment. The authors take a food web, ecosystem approach to contaminants, using population dynamics, habitat selection, and inputs to the bay to examine metal levels. They also look at the human dimension, discuss what metals in birds tell us about human exposure, and describe stakeholder involvement in these issues. The book covers numbers and dynamics, colony sites and locations, and prey contaminant levels, and compares them to other comparable coastal estuaries. It uses colonial waterbirds as the focal point for an ecosystem approach to metals that begins with prey fish and goes through invertebrates to humans. Additionally, it provides information based on long-term integrative studies the authors have done on metal levels and bird species and compares the findings with data from the Harbor Estuaries Program, other Northeast bays, the Great Lakes, and the Wadden Sea.

The maJonty of the chapters in this volume are structured to include a balance between literature review, original data, and synthesis. The research approaches taken by the authors are generallyof two kinds. One centers on the long-term, in-depth study of a single species in which many aspects of its natural history are examined in detail. The other is a comparative one which involves investigating particular questions by examining species or by comparing groups of species that may include taxonomic andjor ecological affinities. Most of the chapters concern obvious aspects of breeding behavior including habitat selection, the effects of age on breeding, communication, mating systems, synchrony of breeding activities, development of behavior, prefledging parental care, and postfledging parental care. Of these topics, many relate directly to the advantages and disadvantages of coloniality-a conspicuous behavior pattern in marine birds. As such, they provide para.picuou for the further study of coloniality and the social behaviorof many other animals. Other important areas of marine bird breeding behavior (such as courtship behavior, antipredator behavior, information transfer) have not been included because of space limitations. Since man's encroachment on the seashore and continental shelf poses certain threats to marine birds, a volume elucidating various aspects of their biology has multiple uses. As weil as being of value to ornithologists, the volume should be useful to managers involved with coastal planning.

In this book, naturalist Joanna Burger takes us on a series of delightful trips through the Pine Barrens. From the Albany Pine Bush, the Long Island Barrens, and the New Jersey Pine Barrens in the Northeast, to the pinelands of South Carolina and Florida, Burger describes in lively detail how these habitats have come to harbor such a unique assemblage of species. She introduces us to amphibians and reptiles, neotropical migrants and other birds, and a range of common and unusual mammals. Burger also traces the regions’ historic and geologic backgrounds, and the impact of human occupation from the time of the paleo-Indians to the present. She revisits the tension between development and preservation, reminding us that a healthy pine barren region requires uninterrupted land and rejuvenating fires, both of which are increasingly jeopardized. Whispers in the Pines is essential reading for everyone concerned with the history and preservation of these unique landscapes and their wildlife.

Seventeen years ago, when she adopted a neglected, orphaned thirty-year-old parrot named Tiko, the internationally renowned ornithologist Joanna Burger entered one of the most complex relationships of her life. Sullen and hostile when he entered Dr. Burger's home, Tiko gradually warmed up, courting her during mating season, nursing her vigilantly through a bout with Lyme disease, and for a while even fighting her husband for her attentions. In time theirs was a relationship of deep mutual trust. The Parrot Who Owns Me is Joanna and Tiko's story, as well as the story of the science of birds, and of parrots in particular. Woven into the narrative are insights and fascinating revelations from Dr. Burger's work--not only about parrots, but also about what it means to be human.

Join Joanna Burger and Michael Gochfeld as they guide readers to New Jersey’s most marvelous natural spectacles. From mating horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay to goldenclub and orchids at Web’s Mill Bog, the authors show us Garden State nature at its best. While New Jersey boasts far more than 25 nature spectacles, the authors have selected those that are the most dramatic, predictable, and characteristic of the state so readers can easily enjoy them over and over again. Being in the right place at the right time makes all the difference, so the guidebook is organized by season to ensure the best viewing. Each chapter begins with a photo and a brief description of the spectacle. A listing of key locations, directions, and the best time to visit follows. A prime habitat section provides a brief characterization of the appropriate surroundings to look for the plant or animal spectacle. The description provides ambiance, natural and life history information allowing readers to enjoy fully what they are observing. A final section lists an agency or organization where more information can be found. The book contains maps as well as a calendar of recommended events, including the Lambertville Shad Festival and the Barnegat Bay Duck Decoy Festival. The authors also list a number of other spectacles that while they didn’t make the top 25 list, but are well-worth checking out—including a tongue-in-cheek look at what may be New Jersey’s best-known wildlife, humans at the shopping mall. This book grows from the authors’ quarter century of exploring the state’s estuaries, bays, fields, and forests, observing and enjoying its natural habitats. They’ve written the perfect guidebook for everyone, whether you are ready to head off to the great outdoors or prefer to read about nature from the comfort of your armchair.

Come for a journey along the Jersey shore with naturalist and ecologist Joanna Burger! In these deeply felt, closely observed personal essays, Burger invokes the intertwined lives of naturalist and wild creatures at the ever-changing edge of ocean and land. Discover with her the delicate mating dances of fiddler crabs, the dangers to piping plovers, the swarming of fish communities into the bays and estuaries, the trilling notes of Fowler's toads, and the subtle green-grays of salt marshes. Joanna Burger knows the shore through all its seasons--the first moment of spring when the herring gulls arrive on ice-gouged salt marshes, the end of spring when the great flocks of shorebirds come to feed on horseshoe crab eggs at Cape May, the summer when the peregrine hunts its prey, the fall when the migrations of hawks and monarch butterflies attract watchers from around the world, and the depths of winter when a lone snowy owl sweeps across snow-covered dunes and frozen bay. This is a book that anyone who loves the Jersey shore will cherish! And because so many of these wonderful creatures live all along the Atlantic coast, it will be of equal interest to beach-lovers, naturalists, bird-watchers, fishermen, and coastal and marine scientists from North Carolina to Maine.

Studies the benefits and costs of group living as illustrated by colonies of the gull-like seabird on salt marshes and sandy beaches of the east coast of North America. Examines such behavior as predator detection and defense, and competition for mates, nesting sites, and food. The observation of 30

Many marine biologists have concentrated on the species approach to the study of marine vertebrates. Although it has long been recognized that species interact, it has been far easier to study that interaction from the viewpoint of only one of the participants. Recently biologists have tried to study interactions from the viewpoint of all participants. Because of the high visibility of birds, it is easy to observe their interactions with other vertebrates such as fish, porpoises, and whales, but it is difficult to obtain quantitative data on their interactions. Seabirds and Other Marine Vertebrates, the only comprehensive examination of its kind, fills a particular niche: that of pulling together in one place the exciting current work in marine species interactions between seabirds and other marine vertebrates. The majority of essays in this work are structured to include a balance between literature review, original data, and synthesis. They concern obvious aspects of predation, competition, and commensalism. These topics relate directly to food acquisition and survival in a marine environment, and provide paradigms for the future study of marine birds and other organisms. Since man's encroachment in coastal and pelagic environments is increasing and poses a threat to marine birds, a volume elucidating various aspects of their interactions has multiple uses. As well as being of value to ornithologist, this work should be useful to other vertebrate biologists, behaviorists, ecologists and managers involved with coastal planning. It is a forerunner of things to come in marine biology.