| OVERVIEW
Red foxes were out hunting this week, perhaps signaling dens with kits. Great blue herons were back in their rookeries. In the river, glass eels were still surging up tributaries, and our first American shad was caught. The highlight, however, was a rare visit from an Arctic seal.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
 4/9 – Cruger Island, HRM 99: We were paddling east, across a calm Hudson River, from Glasco toward Cruger Island. We spotted three turkey vultures, circling high above the south end of the island. It made us think to look closely at the rocks that stretched out to the south at low tide. It was there that we saw a seal. It had big, dark, longing eyes and it looked right at me! We beached our canoe around the point in the cove and cautiously walked back. The seal seemed fine with our presence. We could not see any sign of injury. The seal was lying on its side, occasionally lifting its head and tail. [When seals haul out, they frequently assume the “banana position” – both ends up like a banana. This is often interpreted as “a seal in distress,” when it is actually their resting posture.] After a while, the seal scooted to where the water was deep enough to dive and swam away. Later, as the tide was rising and we were leaving in our canoe, the seal was climbing up on higher rocks in the same place where we began. Our thanks to Patrick Landewe, Saugerties Lighthouse Keeper, for alerting us to this seal. (Photo of harp seal courtesy of Kate Shuter)
– Kate Shuter, Neena Shuter
[Harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus), native to the north Atlantic and Arctic waters, occasionally find their way south, and less commonly, into the Hudson River. The last harp seal we documented was February 2014 at Iona Island (river mile 45). If you see a live, and apparently healthy marine mammal or sea turtle in the estuary, please contact the Atlantic Marine Conservation Society (sightings. However, if you see a sick or injured marine mammal or sea turtle, please call the New York State Stranding Hotline, Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research & Preservation, (631) 369-9829. Tom Lake]
NATURAL HISTORY ENTRIES
4/7 – Minerva, HRM 284: I don’t see these often; I can’t remember the last time. Two days ago, I saw a stunning, adult red-headed woodpecker, parked on a utility pole, on the side of State Route 28N, Town of Minerva, where the road crosses the Moxham swamp. This bird was truly beautiful, with a head so red I didn’t think it could occur naturally in nature. The bird stayed vertical for a while, as I turned the truck around. As I came back to the pole, that amazing bird flew off into the swamp.
– Mike Corey
4/7 – Greene County, HRM 121: Nine warmly-dressed birders faced chilly weather today and were well-rewarded. At the Coxsackie boat launch, we found six long-tailed ducks and a flock of mixed scaup. The bald eagle nest, on the other side of the river, had one adult sitting and another hanging out nearby. Overhead, two immature eagles practiced synchronized flying. Some birders caught sight of a fast fly-through merlin, and we saw the first of several osprey. Our first notable bird at Vosburg Swamp wildlife management area was a hermit thrush, puffed up almost circular against the chill. We finished with a respectable 56 species.
– Naomi Lloyd (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
4/7 – Sleightsburg Spit, HRM 91.5: I watched a good show today, with lots of aerial acrobatics put on by six immature bald eagles and a pair of red-tailed hawks. Later, I counted eight immature eagles of varying ages out on the low tide mud flats.
– Jim Yates
 4/7 – New Paltz, HRM 78: There was measurable snowfall yesterday, followed by chilly temperatures today, but a flash of yellow-and-green at the suet feeder marked my first warbler sighting this spring. The initial glimpse was too brief for a sure identification, but fortunately, the bird returned – a lovely adult male pine warbler, gobbling down little pieces of suet to make up for the dearth of insects in this unseasonably cold, early April. (Photo of pine warbler courtesy of Deb-Tracy Kral)
– Steve Stanne
[While I was surprised to see a pine warbler (Setophaga pinus) at my suet feeder, a quick check online revealed that they are among the warblers – mostly species that arrive early in spring and stay late in fall – that do occasionally eat suet. Steve Stanne]
4/7 – Town of Poughkeepsie: While it appears that bald eagle nest NY372 has failed to produce a nestling this season, both adults were still bringing fish to the nest, as if anticipating a hatch. It is fun to try and identify the fishes as they arrive, and today’s catch was a surprise. The male of the pair brought a large freshwater drum, perched on a limb next to the nest, and then ate the whole thing!
– Dana Layton, John Devitt
[Freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) are not a native fish in the Hudson. They arrived here in the last thirty years through the New York State canal system and Mohawk River, connecting the watershed with the Great Lakes. In Lake Erie, they are known, colloquially, as “sheepshead” – they have that look. Freshwater drum are lovers of mollusks and are known to prey on zebra mussels. Other members of the drum family found in the Hudson River are marine species such as northern kingfish, croaker, spot, black drum, silver perch, and weakfish. Tom Lake]
 4/7 – Town of Poughkeepsie: The list of prey items that eagles bring to their nestlings is very long, ranging from young beavers to turtles to goldfish. Today, the male of the pair brought in a mallard duck, enough to keep the two, 13-day-old nestlings well fed. (Photo of bald eagle with mallard duck courtesy of Debbie Lephew)
– Debbie Lephew
4/7 – Bedford, HRM 35: The great blue heron rookery had sixteen nests occupied. There were six standing and ten incubating. Their mates were likely off hunting for food. Upon their return, they would switch off nesting duties. Herons lay 2-5-eggs at two-day intervals. The eggs are incubated for around 27 days and hatch asynchronously over a period of several days. One of the standing herons put its head down in the nest several times. It was possibly inspecting or turning the eggs over, which must be done periodically for the embryo to develop properly.
– Jim Steck
4/7 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: Six raptor species were documented as migratory today at the Hook Mountain Hawkwatch. They included one-each northern harrier, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, red-shouldered hawk, peregrine falcon, and a high count for broad-winged hawks (5). Non-raptor observations included common raven and a pine warbler that was heard singing in the pines.
– Ajit Antony, Liza Antony
4/8 – Newcomb, HRM 302: With air temperatures in the teens and a fresh four inches of snow over the weekend, it did not look or feel like spring. Wood ducks, common and hooded mergansers, as well as some Canada geese were enjoying a largely ice free, free-flowing Hudson River. Red-winged blackbirds, common grackles, and brown-headed cowbirds were making a ruckus at the local bird feeders. The most recent avian additions have been sparrows, including fox, chipping, and song sparrows that were desperately seeking some bare ground and a bit of seed.
– Charlotte Demers (Adirondack Interpretive Center)
[One species that hasn’t seemed to fair well, coping with this winter, is the northern saw-whet owl. We have had four dead individuals submitted to the Adirondack Ecological Center that did not appear to have met with any trauma, such as window collision. Possibly, the hard snow pack was making it difficult for them to access food? We would be interested to know if any other observers have reports of dead owls from this winter. Charlotte Demers]
4/8 – Greene County, HRM 109: There were at least six bald eagles (four immatures and two adults) at the Lasher Farm, off Route 32. Also present, and interacting with the eagles, were at least a dozen common ravens. It looked as though compost piles, way back across the cornfield, had their attention.
– Rich Guthrie
 4/8 – Hunter’s Brook, HRM 67.5: Spring color was creeping into the uplands, as coltsfoot was in bloom on south-facing slopes. We checked the Hunter’s Brook eel fyke net at low tide and counted 80 glass eels and three elvers. The water and air temperature were evenly matched at 40 degrees Fahrenheit (F). (Photo of elver courtesy of Tom Lake)
– Tom McDowell, Jen Hansen, Shelly Cuccia, Tom Lake
[Elver is the next life stage, after “glass” eel. These are previous year’s glass eels that have lingered in the tributary and matured to the point where they look like miniature adults in both physical characteristics and darker pigmentation. Elvers are minimally two-year-olds, with sizes ranging from 100-200 millimeters (mm) total length. Tom Lake]
[Note: one inch = 25.4 millimeters (mm)]
4/8 – Alpine, HRM 18: In mid-afternoon, I saw something from the State Line Lookout that I had never seen before. An immature bald eagle was flying low across the river, from Yonkers, heading toward the Palisades and a peregrine falcon nesting area. A falcon, probably a female, rocketed out of a hidden perch around the cliff top and met the eagle as it was halfway across the river. The peregrine dove through the eagle’s path, and the eagle began doing barrel rolls, showing its talons. The peregrine intercepted the eagle three times before turning up, gaining altitude, and then diving down toward its target. The falcon’s stoop was incredible: she transformed herself into a bullet, decreasing her drag and increasing her speed. In an instant, she struck the eagle, hitting its head. It appeared that the eagle was killed instantly. The eagle went from a wings-flapping glide, to a straight fall toward the river. I heard it splash into the water where it floated, ever so slowly southward, toward the Alpine boat basin.
– Bill Tee
4/9 – Milan, HRM 90: I “pushed the envelope” this year, by keeping my bird feeders out longer than usual. I usually shut everything down after the last snow melt. The curious black bear did minimal damage, because I had switched out the better feeders for the ones that had previous bear damage. My wrought iron feeder poles suffered the most. However, this bear was very tidy: it left the four feeders all together, on the ground.
– Frank Margiotta (Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club)
[The DEC released a Guidance to Homeowners on how to avoid problems with black bears. http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/113258.html]
4/10 – Town of Saugerties, HRM 102: Louisiana waterthrush (warblers) had returned to their breeding grounds in the Esopus Bend Nature Preserve (EBNP). This afternoon, I encountered one that was seemingly agitated. It was perched about ten feet up, in the open, along a ravine where this species traditionally nests each year. A barred owl, calling nearby, may have been the source of concern. Down in the wetlands, I encountered a very vocal, first-of-season blue-gray gnatcatcher, and a silent blue-headed vireo; both birds appeared to be gleaning insects off the bare branches of deciduous trees. (My first gnatcatcher of 2017 was also spotted on April 10.) A few flowers of bloodroot were open today, in addition to numerous coltsfoot and dandelion.
– Steve M. Chorvas
4/10 – Saugerties to Cruger Island, 102-99: We rowed our dinghy down to see if yesterday’s harp seal was still at Cruger Island. We saw no sign of it. However, we did manage to fill a large trash bag with garbage on South Cruger Island, and built a sand castle. We waited, but still no seal.
– Kate Shuter, Dock Shuter, Cricket Landewe (Junior Saugerties Lighthouse Keeper)
4/10 – Glasco, HRM 100: I was scanning the river in mid-afternoon from the Glasco mini-park, checking a scattering of ducks in mid-river, offshore, from Tivoli Bays. Among them were long-tailed ducks and a surf scoter.
– Dave Hayes (Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club)
[Scoters are “sea ducks,” Arctic breeders that are primarily found as spring and fall migrants in the lower estuary. Surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata) have white bills and a white patch on the back of their heads. When seen through binoculars in the dim light of dawn, bobbing between swells, they look like “double-faced” ducks. Our other scoters are black scoter (M. americana), and white-winged scoter (M. fusca). Their presence reminds us how faraway places are connected by the Hudson River flyway. Tom Lake]
4/10 – Haverstraw Bay, HRM 39-35: The DEC Region 3 Hudson River Fisheries Unit caught our first American shad today in our sturgeon research net. It was a female, and she was a big one! We measured her at 600 mm total length (about 24-inches) and estimated that she weighed about 7 pounds – a nice big “roe” shad. We released her, to continue upriver to spawn!
– Amanda Higgs
[Spawning American shad find the right blend of freshwater, water chemistry, river substrate, and tidal/current contours, beginning near Poughkeepsie and continuing, in most places, all the way to the Federal dam at Troy, 77 miles upriver from Haverstraw Bay. Tom Lake
4/11 – Rensselaer County, HRM 138: While driving down Tsatsawassa Lake Road in East Nassau at midday, I noticed two animals racing around in a neighbor’s yard. It was a black-and-white cat and a red fox. Foxes do not often hunt in midday, but I think this fox had kits to feed, and the cat was on the menu. The fox stopped chasing the cat as I drove by, and the cat ran behind the house.
– Tom Sanford
4/11 – Green Island, HRM 153: The river was still cold, 44.6 degrees F, at the head-of-tide, no doubt being chilled by the melting ice and snow upriver in the Adirondacks. A half-dozen double crested cormorants were diving in mid-river, and I wondered what they might have been finding. None of them surfaced with a fish in tow.
– Tom Lake
4/11 – Rhinebeck, HRM 90: While driving along a rural road in Rhinebeck in mid-morning, I saw what I thought was an Irish terrier at the edge of the road. As I slowed down, I could see that it was a bushy-tailed red fox carrying a bushy-tailed gray squirrel. I suspect that the fox has kits at this time of the year.
– Phyllis Marsteller
4/11 – Verplanck, HRM 40.5: I do not generally think of animals possessing human emotions, but jealousy popped into my head as I watched my first osprey of the season call out and take flight from its perch, to buzz a group of cormorants that had just finished fishing in the Verplanck clay pond and had set up to dry their wings. The osprey forced the cormorants back into the water, where they dove for safety. The osprey then circled and flew off to the river.
– Ed McKay, Hudson McKay
[The clay pits (ponds) are an artifact of the brick industry that flourished at Verplanck in the 19th century, but died out in the early 20th century. The clay deposits, also an artifact, in this instance from the last Ice Age, were used in kilns as a major ingredient in making bricks. Tom Lake]
4/11 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: A non-migratory peregrine falcon, with a brownish-gray back, flew low over the Hook Mountain Hawkwatch today. Steve Sachs photographed the bird and noted that it had a full belly. He also felt that she was gravid. Seven raptor species were documented as migratory including two-each sharp-shinned hawks, American kestrels, and red-shouldered hawks. We counted one-each osprey, northern harrier, Cooper’s hawk, and broad-winged hawk. Non-raptor observations included black vulture (4), turkey vulture (5), and common raven (1).
– Ajit I. Antony, Liza Antony, Steve Sachs
4/12 – Saratoga County, HRM 182: I conducted a bird survey of Saratoga Lake this morning – almost dead calm water – starting at the southwest corner and ending up at Silver Beach. I counted 43 species, including a large number of ducks. Among them were ring-necked ducks (235), greater scaup (60), lesser scaup (170), buffleheads (55), common goldeneyes (95), hooded mergansers (25), common mergansers (320), red-breasted mergansers (7), common loon (7), and a canvasback.
– Ron Harrower (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
4/12 – Mohawk River, HRM 157: I found all three expected species of grebe, (pied-billed, horned, and red-necked), in mid-morning, on the Mohawk River, in a 300-yard stretch, as seen from the bridge over Shaker Creek, on the Mohawk-Hudson bike path.
– Tom Williams (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
4/12 – Rhinebeck, HRM 90: My resident red fox, (her behavior tells me it is a female), was bringing a morning snack home to her den, likely for her kits. She is very healthy looking and has the most beautiful amber eye color.
– Kathryn Zvokel Stewart
 4/12 – Hunter’s Brook, HRM 67.5: We had a remarkable afternoon at Hunter’s Brook, as Shelly Cuccia and her Lourdes High School students, helped us check our glass eel fyke net. Our tally was 757 glass eels and 19 elvers. (I cannot recall ever getting that many elvers in one haul.) With student Adrian D’Souza, a two-year veteran at Hunter’s Brook, helping us count, it did not take long. The brook was 47.5 degrees F. (Glass eels courtesy of Tom Lake)
– Steven DiMeglio, Tom McDowell, Tom Lake
4/13 – Newcomb, HRM 302: We had a few more avian arrivals at the Hudson River headwater today: winter wren, house wren, belted kingfisher, yellow-bellied sapsucker, and black ducks. A pair of eastern phoebes were already building a nest above an outdoor light fixture at our SUNY Adirondack Ecological Center. They have been feasting on the hordes of cluster flies I keep shooing out the windows. We had four-inches of snow at the center, but south-facing slopes were bare. Conversely, north-facing slopes still had more than a foot of snow, so that a walk in the woods required snowshoes, micro-spikes, and muck boots.
– Charlotte Demers
4/13 – Greene County, HRM 112.2: This was our first bird walk of the season at the Rams-Horn-Livingston Sanctuary. Eighteen birders tallied 35 species. Highlights included a parade of great blue herons, seeing a pair of bald eagles on their nest, hearing singing pine warblers, good views of golden-crowned kinglets, and seeing an early eastern towhee.
– Larry Federman
4/13 – Norrie Point, HRM 85: It was high tide at midday, on Friday the Thirteenth, not a good time for hunting, if you were a “fish hawk.” Three raptors, an osprey, and an adult and immature bald eagle, were lined up on a riverside sycamore and an adjoining cottonwood. They looked like commuters waiting for their train. River herring were in the estuary but it was questionable, given the cold water, 44 degrees F, that they had reached river mile 85. By early evening, the tide would be low, and these fish hawks would be on the prowl along the near shore shallows, looking for catfish, gizzard shad, and American eels.
– Tom Lake, B.J. Jackson
4/13 – Beacon, HRM 61: Today was a good day for fishing, but it did not reach the level of two weeks ago when I caught my record common carp (25 pounds, 9 ounces). Today’s catch included two carp (to 6 pounds, 9 ounces), two channel catfish (2.0 – 3.0 pounds), and one brown bullhead. All were weighted, measured, and released.
– Bill Greene
 4/13 – Rockland County, HRM 33: The warm weather had wildlife out and moving. I came upon a large snapping turtle, waiting for a chance to cross the path into Congers Lake. I gingerly measured the turtle’s carapace (18-inches long x 12-inches wide). (Snapping turtle courtesy of Chris Galligan)
– Chris Galligan
4/13 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: As the morning Hook Mountain Hawkwatch began, there were no vultures in the air. The first turkey vulture was sighted in mid-morning. With weak thermals, it had difficulty gaining height. Nine raptor species were documented as migratory today, with high counts for broad-winged hawks (53), American kestrels (16), and sharp-shinned hawks (12). Most of the migrants were seen west of the watch until early afternoon, when they were directly overhead. Kudos to Liza Antony, as she made most of the sightings. Non-raptor observations included three great egrets.
– Ajit I. Antony, Liza Antony
4/13 – Manhattan, HRM 1: We checked our collection gear at The River Project’s sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25 four days this week. While our traps and pots did not catch a single fish, we did catch an incredible number of invertebrates that, collectively, support the fishes as prey. Included were no fewer than 100 shore shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.), a dozen sand shrimp (Crangon septemspinosa), isopods, and a few mud crabs (Panopeidae). –
– Siddhartha Hayes
SPRING 2018 NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAMS
Friday, April 20 – 7:00 p.m.
The River before Henry (the Prehistory of the Hudson Valley)
Tom Lake, Hudson River Estuary Program’s Consulting Naturalist
Sponsored by the French and Indian War Society
Fort William Henry Museum
Lake George, New York
For information, e-mail Melodie Viele
Saturday, April 21 – 12 noon in Poughkeepsie
Eel Count for World Fish Migration Day
Join us for the glass eel count on the Fall Kill, between the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum and Upper Landing Park. This eel count is part of World Fish Migration Day, a global initiative to create awareness about the importance of open rivers and migratory fish. More than 300 events are scheduled world-wide. For information, e-mail Chris Bowser chris.bowser
Free Trees for Streamside Planting
The Hudson River Estuary Program’s Trees for Tribs program offers free native trees and shrubs for planting along the tributary streams in the Hudson River Estuary watershed. Our staff can help you with a planting plan and work with your volunteers. Since 2007, Trees for Tribs has provided more than 40,000 native trees and shrubs for planting along 20 miles of stream with the help of more than 9,000 local volunteers. We are now accepting applications for spring planting projects.
For more information about the program or to download an application, please visit the DEC website at: HudsonEstuaryTFT.
Hudson River: Striped Bass Cooperative Angler Program
Do you fish for striped bass in the Hudson River? You can share your fishing trip information and help biologists understand and manage our striped bass fishery.
– Here’s how it works: Fill out a logbook provided by us whenever you fish on the Hudson River (by boat or shore). Record general location, time, gear used, what you caught (or if you didn’t catch anything) and return the logbook when you are done fishing. You’ll receive an annual newsletter summarizing the information in addition to the latest news regarding regulations and the river.
– Whether you catch-and-release or take home a keeper, you can be part of the Cooperative Angler Program. Join today by contacting: Jessica Best 845-256-3009 jessica.best
HUDSON RIVER MILES
The Hudson is measured north from Hudson River Mile 0 at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan. The George Washington Bridge is at HRM 12, the Tappan Zee 28, Bear Mountain 47, Beacon-Newburgh 62, Mid-Hudson 75, Kingston-Rhinecliff 95, Rip Van Winkle 114, and the Federal Dam at Troy, the head of tidewater, at 153. The tidal section of the Hudson constitutes a bit less than half the total distance – 315 miles – from Lake Tear of the Clouds to the Battery. Entries from points east and west in the watershed reference the corresponding river mile on the mainstem.
TO CONTRIBUTE YOUR OBSERVATIONS OR TO SUBSCRIBE
The Hudson River Almanac is compiled and edited by Tom Lake and emailed weekly by DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program. Share your observations by e-mailing them to trlake7.
To subscribe to the Almanac (or to unsubscribe), use the links on DEC’s Hudson River Almanac or DEC Delivers web pages.
Discover New York State Conservationist – the award-winning, advertisement-free magazine focusing on New York State’s great outdoors and natural resources. Conservationist features stunning photography, informative articles and around-the-state coverage. Visit the Conservationist webpage for more information.
USEFUL LINKS
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration online tide and tidal current predictions are invaluable when planning Hudson River field trips.
For real-time information on Hudson River tides, weather and water conditions from sixteen monitoring stations, visit the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System website.
DEC’s Smartphone app for iPhone and Android is now available at: New York Fishing, Hunting & Wildlife App.
NY Open for Hunting and Fishing Initiative: Under Governor Cuomo’s Adventure NY initiative, DEC is making strategic investments to expand access to healthy, active outdoor recreation, connect more New Yorkers and visitors to nature and the outdoors, protect natural resources, and boost local economies. This initiative will support the completion of more than 75 projects over the next three years, ranging from improvements to youth camps and environmental education centers to new boat launches, duck blinds, and hiking trails. Read more about the Adventure NY initiative. For more information on planning an outdoor adventure in New York State, visit DEC’s website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor.
Information about the Hudson River Estuary Program is available on DEC’s website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4920.html.
Copies of past issues of the Hudson River Almanac, Volumes II-VIII, are available for purchase from the publisher, Purple Mountain Press, (800) 325-2665, or email purple
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Hudson River Almanac
