Endangered Species

green sea turtle. Credit: Keenan Adams, USFWS

Green sea turtle.

Credit: Keenan Adams / USFWS

The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) has a heart-shaped shell, small head and single-clawed flippers. Generally found in fairly shallow waters inside reefs bays and inlets, except when migrating, green sea turtles eat sea grasses and marine algae. They can reach up to 400 pounds and reach 43 inches in length. Juvenile green sea turtles are omnivorous and are found in southern tropical waters. A major factor contributing to their decline worldwide is commercial harvest for eggs and meat. More on this turtle.

Hawksbill sea turtle. Credit: Caroline S. Rogers / NOAA

Hawksbill sea turtle.

Credit: Caroline S. Rogers / NOAA

The hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricate) can grow up to three feet in length and weigh up to 300 pounds. This marine turtle is extremely rare in Northeast waters. It frequents rocky areas, coral reefs and shallow coastal areas, feeding primarily on sponges. The population of the endangered hawksbill sea turtle declined primarily due to illegal exploitation of its shell. Other threats include loss of nesting habitat from coastal development and nest predation. More on this turtle.

Leatherback sea turtle. Credit: USFWS

Leatherback sea turtle.

USFWS

The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest, deepest diving, most migratory and wide ranging turtle of all sea turtles. Adults can reach four to eight feet in length and weigh 500 to 2,000 pounds. Leatherbacks are named after their leathery shells, which comprise a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin with seven longitudinal ridges or keels. These endangered turtles migrate to deep ocean waters to feed on jellyfish and squid. Adult females require sandy nesting beaches with proximity to deep water and generally rough seas. The crash of the leatherback population resulted from the harvest of eggs and meat, loss of nesting habitat, disorientation of hatchlings by beachfront lighting, and marine pollution and debris. More on this turtle.

Loggerhead sea turtle. Credit: USFWS

Loggerhead sea turtle.

USFWS

Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) are the most common sea turtle along the coast of Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. Loggerheads are listed as threatened. Adults can reach up to 40 inches in length and 400 pounds, although it's mostly juveniles averaging 28 inches that are found in Northeast coastal waters while foraging on blue crab, horseshoe crab, whelk, fishes, and sea grasses. When turtles reach maturity at about 20 to 30 years, females will typically head to warm temperate or tropical beaches to nest. More on this turtle.

Birds

Piping plover. Credit: USFWS

Piping plover.

USFWS

The piping plover (Charadrius melodus) is a small, stocky, sandy-colored bird resembling a sandpiper. Piping plovers are found along the entire Atlantic coast in open, sandy habitat on outer beaches, where they feed and nest. Its current decline is attributed to increased development and recreational use of beaches. The most recent surveys place the Atlantic population at less than 2,000 pairs. In a recent survey in the Bahamas, biologists counted more than 1,000 individual piping plovers, distinguishing the Bahamas as hosting the second-highest wintering population in the world. More on the piping plover.

Red knot. Credit: Gregory Breese, USFWS

Red knot.

Credit: Gregory Breese / USFWS

The red knot (Calidris canutus rufa) is truly a master of long-distance aviation. On wingspans of 20 inches, red knots fly more than 9,300 miles twice a year, making this shorebird one of the longest-distance migrants in the animal kingdom. It depends on the fuel supplied by billions of horseshoe crab eggs at major North Atlantic staging areas, notably the Delaware Bay and Cape May peninsula. The increased harvest of horseshoe crabs for bait in the 1990s may be a major factor in the decline in red knots. Another necessary condition for red knots' survival is the continued existence of Arctic habitat for breeding. Red knots could be particularly affected by global climate change, which may have the greatest impact at the latitudes where this species breeds and winters. More on the red knot.

Mammals

For information about whales off the coast, click here.

Canada Lynx. Credit: USFWS

Canada lynx.

Credit:USFWS

The Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) is a secretive forest-dwelling cat, common throughout the boreal forest of Alaska and Canada. Habitat areas include large, young, dense stands of spruce and fir that support snowshoe hare, which comprise more than 75 percent of the Canada lynx's diet. In recent years, adult lynx and their kittens have been documented in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. More about the lynx.

New England cottontail. Credit: Anne Schnell, USFWS

New England cottontail.

Credit: Anne Schnell / USFWS

New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis) population numbers are declining. As recently as 1960, New England cottontails were found east of the Hudson River in New York, across all of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, north to southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and into southern Maine. Today, this rabbit's range has shrunk by about 86 percent. Its numbers are so greatly diminished that it can no longer be found in Vermont and has been reduced to only five small populations throughout its historic range.More about this rabbit.

Mussels and other invertebrates

dwarf wedgemussel. Credit: Susi von Oettingen, USFWS

Dwarf wedgemussel.

Credit: Susi von Oettingen / USFWS

The endangered dwarf wedgemussel (Alasmidonta heterodon) lives in streams along the Atlantic Coast from New Hampshire to North Carolina. Collection, poor water quality and deteriorating habitat conditions led to its decline and continue to threaten remaining populations. Specific causes include impoundments, dredged, channelized or altered stream channels (i.e., mining, bank stabilization), chemical contaminants, and sedimentation. Their decline often signals a decline in the water quality of streams and rivers. Biologists have focused on working with landowners to improve stream conditions for the species. More about this mussel.

Karner blue butterfly. Credit: Joel Trick, USFWS

Karner blue butterfly.

Joel Trick, USFWS

The Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis) has fought a tough battle for survival with a limited diet of wild lupine leaves in the larval stage and nectar from other native flowers as adults. Loss of habitat played a major contributing factor to its population decline. Loss of habitat is a major contributing factor to their decline in populations. But on a positive note, school children in New Hampshire are helping these beautiful blue creatures by growing lupine in their classrooms and replanting it in the wild to help provide more habitat for Karner blues. In addition, these butterflies are raised in captivity before released into the wild, and extensive habitat work has been done in New Hampshire. More about this butterfly.

Plants

Jesup's milk-vetch. Credit: Lisa Mattei, NEWS

Jesup's milk-vetch.

Jesup's milk-vetch (Astragalus robbinsii var. jesupii) is known to occur in only three locations along the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and Vermont. Found in the crevices of rocks, the plant emerges after the winter ice and spring floods have receded, usually sometime in April, with small violet flowers that bloom in May. Plant heights range from eight inches to nearly 2four inches. The main threats to this rare plant are non-native plant species, climate change, trampling and dams that change the river's flow, making flooding less frequent. More on this plant.

Northeast bulrush. Credit: USFWS

Northeast bulrush.

Credit: USFWS

A wetland plant first identified in 1962, the northeastern bulrush (Scirpus ancistrochaetus) is tall, with narrow leaves and a drooping flower head with chocolate brown florets. It is difficult to find and recognize, and it is threatened by habitat destruction and deterioration of some areas in which it grows, including sinkhole ponds and wet depressions. Biologists continue to study the habitat requirements of this plant. More on this plant.

Small-whorled pogonia. Credit: USFWS

small-whorled pogonia.

Credit: USFWS

The small-whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides) is a rare orchid that grows in older hardwood forests of beech, birch, maple, oak and hickory with an open understory. The primary threat to the small-whorled pogonia is the past and continuing loss of habitat due to urban development, logging and other land disturbances. And as is the case with all rare orchids, the small-whorled pogonia is vulnerable to collection for commercial and personal use. More on this plant.

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