Compiled by Tom Lake, Hudson River Estuary Program Consulting Naturalist
Overview
The harbor porpoises in the Upper Bay of New York Harbor gave us a second week of watching. In the uplands, our story continued to highlight the breeding success of bald eagles. And, among the more cryptic of creatures in the river, juvenile Atlantic sturgeon gave us a rare glimpse into their presence.
Highlight of the Week
 4/17 – Haverstraw Bay, HRM 36: We caught a large shortnose sturgeon (808 millimeters (mm)) today during our juvenile Atlantic sturgeon survey. The shortnose was nearly 32-inches-long, approaching the maximum size for the species. We also caught a small Atlantic sturgeon (268 mm). It is a treat to see these small juvenile Atlantic sturgeon (this one was not much more than ten-inches-long) and to contemplate that one day, they might grow to be eight-feet-long and weigh hundreds of pounds. (Photo of Atlantic sturgeon courtesy of DEC Hudson River Fisheries Unit)
– DEC Hudson River Fisheries Unit
[Note: one inch = 25.4 millimeters (mm)]
Natural History Entries
 4/13 – Saratoga County, HRM 177: We visited Wright’s Loop, just south of Schuylerville today. The flooded field was filled with waterfowl, including Canada geese, mallards, black ducks, pintails, wigeon, blue-winged teal, green-winged teal, and more wood ducks (20+) than I had ever seen in one place. There was a lovely “stack” of bachelor, drake wood ducks in a cottonwood snag, just waiting to have their picture taken. (Photo of wood ducks courtesy of Cathy Jo Rogers)
– Cathy Jo Rogers, Carol Wierzbowski
4/13 – Poughkeepsie, HRM 75.5: The Fall Kill was a comfortable 58 degrees Fahrenheit (F) when we checked our fyke net. The net held more than 100 glass eels and a handful of elvers (older eels). And, there as a surprise in the net, a northern two-lined salamander (Eurycea bislineata). As lovers of streams and creeks, these salamanders appear occasionally in our nets, but this one was noticeably darker than ones we had seen before.
– Chris Bowser, Bridget Connolly, Jeramie Glynn
4/13 – Bedford, HRM 35: This is the eighth year of the great blue heron rookery at Bedford. Two of the nests had a heron standing on the rim of the nest today reaching down into the bottom, most likely turning over eggs. This is done several times a day and is necessary for the proper development of the embryo within the egg. This took a minute or so, and then the two herons settled down and joined the rest of the herons in incubating their eggs.
– Jim Steck
4/13 – Croton River, HRM 34: I counted 17 green-winged teal at the mouth of the Croton River today. Two snowy egrets and two Caspian terns were foraging in the marsh as well.
– Larry Trachtenberg
 4/13 – Manhattan, HRM 9: We thought we were seeing things, late this afternoon at Riverbank State Park (146th Street), when a harbor porpoise emerged from the river no more than fifteen feet away. We watched it surface and dive repeatedly. [This was the continuing story of the three harbor porpoises first spotted in the Hudson River on April 8 by Alexe Taylor.] (Photo of harbor porpoise courtesy of NOAA)
– Brittany Porter, M. Alejandra Trumble
4/14 – Delmar, HRM 143: A pair of killdeer watched us (fifteen birders) as we gathered this morning at the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. We walked for three hours, covering some three miles of the extensive Five Rivers trail system. Our walk featured a Virginia rail calling from Heron Pond, a winter wren singing in the woods near the Skeeter Bow, two yellow palm warblers, a ruby-crowned kinglet foraging in the low shrubs at Wood Duck Marsh, an eastern meadowlark singing from the Wild Turkey Trail field; two pine warblers and two Louisiana waterthrush singing along the Big Pine Trail at the Vlomankill.
– Tom Williams, Colleen Williams (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
4/14 – New Hamburg, HRM 67.5: The front window of our home on our 1.3 square-acre Rabbit Island, overlooks the Hudson River. This morning, we watched an adult bald eagle sitting on a spine of rock at the front of our island feeding on a rather substantial channel catfish carcass (18-inches-long). The eagle was flanked on either side by a Canada goose, both of which were within eight feet of the eagle. After a ten-minute stare down, the eagle flew off and the geese swam away. A pair of ring-billed gulls immediately replaced the eagle to scavenge the catfish.
– David Cullen
4/14 – Rockland County, HRM 33: I am super excited to announce that bald eagle nest NY336 has two new residents! I checked this afternoon and found Mama feeding two eager grey down-covered heads. She was tearing apart a duck. It was just awesome.
– Chris Galligan
 4/15 – Norrie Point, HRM 85: Marine debris and plastics in the water are a problem all over the world, but responsible fishing is one solution everyone can enjoy. The DEC Hudson River Estuary Program team built and installed fishing-line collectors at the Norrie Point Environmental Center, a popular fishing spot. Now, anglers can properly dispose of line and other plastic debris that won’t accidentally make its way into everyone’s river. (Photo of fishing line collector courtesy of Chris Bowser)
– Chris Bowser
4/15 – Alpine, HRM 18: Avril Armstrong was checking a bald eagle nest in Alpine (NJ) and noticed that one of the adults had a right-leg blue (New York State) band (W73). The pair has a three-week-old nestling.
– Bonnie Coe
[Bald eagle (banded W73) is a male and was one of two nestlings banded in May of 2008 at Stony Point (river mile 40) in Rockland County. Brittany Moore]
4/16 – Saratoga County, HRM 180: We checked Galway Lake and nearby feeders for waterfowl this morning and were surprised at the paucity of waterfowl. Of the 17 birds we counted, three were waterfowl, including ring-necked ducks, buffleheads, and the highlight, three common loons. One of them stretched its neck out and gave a “wail,” a call that could be heard a long way off.
– Ron Harrower
[Common loon behavior, including their four distinct calls – hoots, tremolos, wails, and yodels – is beautifully described in John McPhee’s Survival of the Bark Canoe (1975). McPhee calls the wail a “primordial call” that loons use to maintain contact with each other. This one may have been out there hunting and diving for fish. Tom Lake]
4/16 – Hudson River Estuary, HRM 0-133: Glass eels were being collected in higher numbers, now that we were getting into the season. Many sites saw catches of more than 1,000 eels in a day, while some others still had low numbers. Quassaick Creek in Newburgh had almost 4,000 eels one day, while Hannacroix Creek had thousands of eels this weekend. Our Citizen Science program on the Hudson River allows us to collect scientific data on captured glass eels, provide an educational opportunity for students, and increase our knowledge of the life history of the American eel.
– Chris Bowser
4/16 – Westchester County: A second-year bald eagle nest (NY528), on the river in Westchester County, has three nestlings this year, a rather uncommon number in the Hudson Valley (one or two nestlings are far more common).
– Anne Swaim, Charlie Roberto, Larry Trachtenberg, Bonnie Coe
[This bald eagle nest (NY528) could be quite vulnerable if its exact location was widely known. Human attention, either innocent curiosity or idle mischief, can threaten bald eagles and their nestlings. It is far better for them if their presence stays under the human radar. Tom Lake]
*** Fish of the Week ***
Now that winter has slowly retreated to points north, much of the watershed’s ponds, creeks, lakes, and rivers are ice-free, and we are recovering from our winter fish withdrawal. For 13 weeks, our Fish-of-the-Week feature has helped during a bleak fish-less winter. It has worked so well that we may continue the feature, at least until we get tired of taking space from real fish stories.
 4/16 – Hudson River Watershed: This week’s fish is the central mudminnow (Umbra limi), a nonnative, canal immigrant from the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi drainage. The central mudminnow is number 86 (of 228) on our watershed list of fishes. If you would like a copy of our list, e-mail: trlake7.
Mudminnows are unpretentious little fish, that at first glance, look much like killifish. But, they are not minnows and are actually somewhat related to the pikes and pickerels. C. Lavett Smith remarked that mudminnows look like “cigar butts with fins.” In our watershed, central mudminnows have a rather broad range of forage, feeding on zooplankton and insect larvae, and can reach 100 mm (4-inches) in length. (Photo of central mudminnow courtesy of Tom Lake)
4/17 – Beacon, HRM 61: On my sixth fishing foray of 2019, I finally saw a carp jump, something that will become much more common with warmer water and the advent of their spawning season. In a six-hour session today, I managed to catch and release two carp (13 pounds 9 ounces, 9 pounds 1 ounce), two channel catfish (18-inches each), and two brown bullheads. My use of circle hooks is recommended by DEC to protect fish from being so deeply hooked that they cannot be released unharmed. The water temperature was 50 degrees F.
– Bill Greene
4/17 – Croton Point, HRM 35: A big Accipiter skimmed over the point and landed 40-feet up in an oak tree and began to preen. From the “blind” behind my truck cab, I had a clear view. The bird was an immature, but an eye stripe was clearly visible. The tail was squared off with zigzag stripes on the underside, clearly visible. I watched this immature northern goshawk for fifteen minutes, savoring every minute of an unusual sight. Walkers passed directly beneath the big bird which did nothing to disturb it. I looked around for other birders – not a binocular in sight. No one with whom to share this rare event.
– Christopher Letts
4/17 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: There was a nice little kettle of 20 broad-winged hawks right overhead in midday at the Hook Mountain Hawkwatch. Overall, broad-winged hawks were high count with 25 of the 34 raptors we counted. Two bald eagles were also noted in our four-hour watch.
– Steve Sachs
[The Hook Mountain Hawkwatch began in 1971 as an all-volunteer endeavor, by an independent group of raptor enthusiasts. The Hawkwatch is located on the Long Path north of Nyack, and we welcome new participants and visitors. Groups should contact us at merlin for introductory materials and possible volunteer scheduling. Trudy Battaly]
4/18 – Battenkill, HRM 193: American crows usually do not catch much of my attention, but this evening I had a “VIP” pass to observe an enthralling display of American crows defending their nest at the top of a white pine in my yard. An intruder crow decided to disrupt a mated pair’s nest. The sounds of the defending pair were absolutely scary as the intruder tried its best to find a way in. The noise was so raucous that it caught the attention of five other crows that came to investigate but had the wisdom to stay a comfortable distance away. The intruder was forcibly removed from the nest by both adults, and the decibel level dropped off to an instantaneous and freakish zero. I had never heard some of the amazing vocalizations that these crows produced.
– Scott Varney (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
 4/18 – Manhattan, HRM 1: We checked our research sampling gear in Hudson River Park at The River Project’s sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25 and found that we had caught a gorgeous winter flounder (140 mm). The flounder will have a place in our education tank along with a young horseshoe crab. (Photo of winter flounder courtesy of Toland Kister)
– Toland Kister, Melissa Rex
4/19 – Minerva, HRM 284: I was riding on a school bus this morning from Lake Pleasant to Johnstown (Hamilton County) for a field trip adventure. The bus was full of students grades three to five. While passing through Wells, someone looked out the window and spotted a moose wandering in a back yard, near the Sacandaga River. The bus driver slowed down for the students to see. It looked like a yearling moose, healthy, and just sort of wandering. We were all excited. Although I look for them all the time in likely wetland areas, I had not seen a moose in the Adirondacks since 1993, and that was in Newcomb (Essex County).
– Mike Corey
4/19 – West Sand Lake, HRM 145: We were working on improving drainage around our foundation when we stumbled upon a group of five red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) in both red-back and lead-back phases among the coarse rock and soil. I set them aside in a nice safe location while we were digging and then made them a new home close by with loose soil, rocks, and wet leaves.
– Audrey Van Genechten, Kevin Van Genechten
4/19 – Ulster County, HRM 78: I made a stop at Humpo Marsh at Mohonk Preserve this morning to smell, listen and observe. Standing next to the railing looking north, we startled each other: Me, high and dry on the road, and a muskrat swimming below in the dark, clear water. Without a sound, it dove and vanished. I scanned the still water for a swimming newt or water scorpion but saw nothing until I made out the carefully packed mud arch rising ever-so-slightly from the water’s surface – new construction.
– Betty Boomer
 4/19 – Town of Poughkeepsie: Intrepid photographer and nest-watcher, Bob Rightmyer, took an all-day notice of food deliveries to bald eagle nest NY62 for the two 27-day-old nestlings. Across the day, Bob photographed seven fish: channel catfish (3), white perch (2), and gizzard shad (2). (Photo of bald eagle nestling NY62 courtesy of John Badura)
– Tom Lake
4/19 – Kowawese, HRM 59: It was a gray dawn with a forecast of high winds and heavy rain. A south wind, 30 mph gusting to 35, was blowing up through the Hudson Highlands and pushing heavy rollers onto the beach. We muscled our 80–foot seine into the swash and made a couple of hauls. Predictable of conditions like these, white perch were feeding in the high energy zone just off the sand where the waves were breaking. A little farther out, we could see a small school of 10-inch fish swimming past, just out of our reach. We thought they were probably alewives. The river was 51 degrees F, just warm enough so we could leave our chest waders in the truck.
– Tom Lake, A. Danforth
4/19 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Our 9-11 grade students from the Bio-Chem program at Saunders High School in Yonkers caught eight glass eels in our eel mop today. The water temperature had fluctuated significantly during our sampling over the last eight days from 51 degrees F on April 9, to 63 degrees on April 16, and then back down to 51 degrees today. Our high numbers coincided with the higher water temperatures, for example 81 eels on April 18 and 63 eels on April 16.
– Brenda Jandres
4/19 – Mid-Hudson Valley: Magnolia and forsythia were in full bloom along much of the tidewater Hudson. For thousands of year years, people have measured springtime by the appearance of flowers, a process called phenology, the study of nature through the appearance of seasonal phenomena. The word comes from the Greek word “phaino,” meaning “to appear,” or the Latin “phenomenon,” meaning “appearance, happening, display, or event.”
Until the arrival of Europeans, the progression of flower blooms meant native species. Since the 17th century however, introduced species have joined the springtime list. Blooming moves north in an orderly manner from magnolia to forsythia to shadbush to flowering dogwood, with lilac being the final signal that spring is ready for summer.
-Tom Lake
Spring-Summer 2019 Natural History Programs
Saturday, April 27 (8:00 AM – 12:00 PM.. or later)
Seminar on Fishing for Carp!
Norrie Point Environmental Education Center, Staatsburg
The Hudson River Research Reserve and the Carp Anglers Group will conduct a hands-on seminar to teach and promote the sport of angling for common carp (Cyprius carpio).
For more information https://www.carpanglersgroup.com or Jim Herrington (845) 889-4745 x109
Saturday, May 4 – 2:00- 6:00 PM
Love My Park Day
Norrie Point Environmental Education Center, Staatsburg
Volunteers from across the state will participate in cleanup, improvement, and beautification events at New York State parks and historic sites. Join us to celebrate New York’s park system by cleaning up park lands and beaches, planting trees and gardens, restoring trail and wildlife habitat, removing invasive species, and working on improvement projects.
Our highlighted park is Norrie Point Environmental Education Center. Projects available to volunteers include brush clearing, trash cleanup, and painting. And, if you need a break from working, you can go fishing off the back deck with the help of DEC experts (all gear provided). High tide will be 1:34 PM; low tide will be 7:45 PM.
Volunteers (all ages are welcome) can participate any time between 2:00 and 6:00 PM. Please bring garden gloves, loppers, rakes, wheelbarrows, water, and a snack.
Questions? Call: 845-889-4745 or E-mail: ann-marie.caprioli
To sign up, go to:
https://protect2.fireeye.com/url?k=2037f086-7c1306e7-203509b3-0cc47a6d17e0-87709335ecaa6965&u=https://protect2.fireeye.com/url?k=8f314fde-d31443bd-8f33b6eb-0cc47aa88e08-7ddd3a6dc6341704&u=https://www.ptny.org/events/i-love-my-park-day
Wednesday, July 10 – Thursday July 11 (9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
2019 Teachers on the Estuary and Living Environment Institute
Wonders of Wetlands (15 credit hours for NYS certified teachers and administrators)
Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, 56 Game Farm Road, Delmar, New York
Join us this summer as we explore the Wonders of Wetlands. Teachers will spend two days gaining valuable knowledge and learning new curricula. We will use interdisciplinary approaches with the guidance of experts like EPA Award Winner Chris Bowser.
Cost: $50.00 for materials, supplies, and refreshments (light dinner on Thursday)
To register, e-mail drew.hopkins
Tuesday, August 20 – Thursday August 22 (9:00 AM – 4:00 PM)
2019 Teachers on the Estuary and Living Environment Institute
Amazing Watersheds (22 credit hours for NYS certified teachers and administrators)
Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, 56 Game Farm Road, Delmar, New York
Join us this summer as we explore amazing watersheds. Teachers will spend three days gaining valuable knowledge and learning new curricula while using interdisciplinary approaches to explore watersheds. Some easy hiking on trails is involved.
Cost: $60.00 for materials, supplies, and refreshments (dinner provided on Wednesday)
To register, e-mail drew.hopkins
Volunteer Opportunity: Hudson River Eel Project
We are seeking volunteers to help study eels in streams of the Hudson River estuary! Volunteers check specialized nets for young transparent “glass eels” as they enter freshwater from their spawning grounds over 1,000 miles away in the Atlantic Ocean. Eels are counted, weighed, and released upstream, and environmental conditions are recorded. Sample sites include streams from NYC to Troy, and all gear is provided. See: https://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/49580.html
For more information, e-mail Aidan Mabey: aidan.mabey
Hudson River: Striped Bass Cooperative Angler Program
You can share your fishing trip information and help biologists understand and manage our Hudson River 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 from 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 for the season. 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, or call 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 Almanacor 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. |
