A Project of the Hudson River Estuary Program
Compiled by Tom Lake, Consulting Naturalist
COVID-19 Guidance for Enjoying the Outdoors
While enjoying outdoor spaces, please continue to follow the CDC/NYSDOH guidelines for preventing the spread of colds, flu, and COVID-19. To find out more about enjoying DEC lands and New York’s State Parks, visit DEC’s website Play Smart*Play Safe*Play Local; https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/119881.html
Keep at least six (6) feet of distance between you and others.
Wear a cloth face covering in public settings where social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.
Avoid close contact, such as shaking hands, hugging, and kissing.
Wash hands often or use a hand sanitizer when soap and water are not available.
Avoid surfaces that are touched often, such as doorknobs, handrails, and playground equipment.
DEC recommends avoiding busy trailheads. Find the trails less traveled and visit when trails may not be as busy during daylight hours.
Overview
In a summer of incredible warmth with many heat advisories, over the last four weeks the average daily high temperature in the Mid-Hudson reach was 90 degrees Fahrenheit (F).
This was the week of our 9th annual Great Hudson River Fish Count. Due to COVID-19 considerations, the event had many fewer onlookers. Still, we caught and counted fish at 15 locations. While the focus was on their numbers, the real value of the count, a truer reflection of their health was in their species diversity and species richness.
Highlight of the Week
 8/8 – Mohawk River, HRM 157: Hudson River Watershed species number 233, round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), was added to our fish list from a specimen collected by the United States Geologic Survey in the Mohawk River. A further investigation at the New York Stare Museum by Brian Weatherwax and Bob Schmidt revealed records of an additional 107 round gobies collected from the Mohawk River-Barge Canal in both Oneida and Herkimer counties. The round goby is considered an invasive species having a significantly negative ecological and economic impact. (See Fish of the Week) (Chris Bowser photo)
– Tom Lake
Natural History Entries
 8/8 – North Germantown, HRM 109: Hauling our net today in what we think of as the center of abundance for young-of-year herrings, seemed like a good choice. While we understand there are no sure things with regard to fishes in tidewater, it was still surprising that we did not catch a single herring. Banded killifish were a just lukewarm reward until we got into a small group (less than a school) of young-of-year largemouth bass (60-62 millimeters (mm)). The river was 84 degrees F. (Phyllis Lake photo)
– Tom Lake, Phyllis Lake
(1 inch = 25.4 millimeters (mm))
 8/9 – Croton Point, HRM 35: Marc Cheshire, Village Historian in Croton-on-Hudson, sent us a tiny article that appeared in the Sunday edition of the Peekskill Highland Democrat newspaper for November 11, 1894. The brief piece tells us that, “Mr. F. Walker shot two porpoises in the cove at Croton Point on Tuesday [presumably November 6]. One of the porpoises weighed 250 pounds and the other 100 pounds. They were shipped to New York market on Wednesday on the Peekskill….” [No explanation as to what the Peekskill was.]
The location sounds like Mother’s Lap, a small cove on the north side of Croton Point, a former refuge for commercial fishermen in stormy times. However, nothing about this account sounds right. If we can get beyond the “shot” two porpoises, even for 1894, and they “shipped to market,” two cetaceans of significantly different sizes suggest a mom-calf. But, unless the weight estimates were not even close, the 250 pounds is far heavier than a harbor porpoise (maximum weight 168 pounds), but not heavy enough for a dolphin.
Among our Hudson River marine mammals, harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) are far less frequently seen. Our first Hudson River Almanac record occurred in March 1994, when anglers off Scarborough (river mile 31) heard “whoosh, whoosh, whoosh,” before sighting two harbor porpoises swimming nearby. Other records came from the Upper Bay of New York Harbor in March 2004 and 2005. The harbor porpoise has earned the nickname “puffing pig” as they expel air from their blow hole.
The Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted on October 21, 1972 (albeit 78 years too late). Jurisdiction for the Marine Mammal Protection Act is shared by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. (Photo courtesy of NOAA)
– Tom Lake
** Fish of the Week ***
 8/10 – Hudson River Watershed: Fish-of-the-Week for Week 83 is the round goby (Neogobius melanostomus), number 212 (of 233), on our Hudson River Watershed List of Fishes. If you would like a copy of our list, e-mail: trlake7
The round goby is one of four members of the goby family of fishes (Gobiidae) in the watershed. Round goby was introduced here, while the other three gobies are marine species. The round goby is a bottom-dwelling fish native to central Eurasia including the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. They were accidentally introduced into the North American Great Lakes by way of ballast water transfer in cargo ships where they have established robust populations. They were first discovered in North America in the Saint Clair River in 1990, the exact same entry point as the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) in 1988. (Photo courtesy of The Nature Conservancy)
– Tom Lake
[The round goby found its way to the Mohawk River via canals from the Thousand Islands watershed where it shook up the food web. There are reports of lake sturgeon consuming large quantities of round goby, so we presume our Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon will do likewise. Round goby also tolerates strong salinity levels so New York Harbor will eventually be invaded.
The round goby is a very strong “ecological actor,” particularly when it invades new ecosystems. An aggressive and voracious predator, the round goby feeds on eggs of native fish such as the sunfish, sculpin, killifish, logperch and other small littoral/benthic animals and out-competes them for food, shelter, and nesting sites.
While the round goby averages 4-10-inches, it can be expected to grow to larger sizes in brackish water. In the Saint Lawrence River, some round gobies are reported to reach a foot long.
– Karin Limburg, Bob Schmidt]
8/11 – Saugerties, HRM 102: This evening the harbor seal we have come to see as our own, visited us at the Saugerties Lighthouse. The seal approached the north side of the seawall before following the shoreline into a cove to the northeast. As reported previously, he appeared just fine, has been seen feeding and acting like what we would consider normal.
– Patrick Landewe
8/11 – Little Stony Point, HRM 55: The National Weather Service warned that today’s Heat Index—air temperature of 93 degrees plus oppressive humidity—might hit 100 degrees F. The savior for us was a beach that held a lot of mid-day shade from the forest. The bag of our seine bounced on the wet sand each time we drew it in. There were scores of young-of-year striped bass (45-68 mm) and alewives (61-76 mm). The river was 84 degrees F, and the salinity was 3.5 parts-per-thousand (ppt).
– Tom Lake, A. Danforth
8/12 – Beacon, HRM 61: In a third day of heat advisories, the dead low tide made the beach seem like a desert. The river (86 degrees F) did not seem to be a lure for fishes. We were lamenting the lack of them—just striped bass (48-67 mm) — when, on our last seine haul, we caught one young-of-year American shad (75 mm). We had now caught fewer than ten so far this season.
– Tom Lake, Phyllis Lake
 8/12 – Manhattan, New York City: The tropical storm did quite a number to the trees on Randall’s Island, but we were still able to do our pollinator monitoring protocol that included a wonderful common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) with “full pollen pants” on a winged sumac. (Jackie Wu photo)
– Jackie Wu, Elizabeth Reeve
 8/13 – Kingston, HRM 92: A spotted apatelodes caterpillar (Apatelodes torrefacta), a larva of the spotted apatelodes moth, was making short order of a leaf on my tree peony today. As long-haired caterpillars are known to have stinging hairs, I did not touch it. Twenty minutes later, I went out to check on its progress and it had disappeared. (Nancy Beard photo)
– Nancy Beard
[The spotted apatelodes is a moth in the Bombycidae family, having been first described by J.E. Smith in 1797. It is found in North America from Maine and southern Ontario, south to Florida, west to Texas, and then north to Wisconsin. Nancy Beard]
 8/13 – Furnace Brook, HRM 38.5: Our DEC naturalist team was conducting an electro-fishing survey in the short reach below the Maiden Lane Dam of Westchester County’s Furnace Brook. While our triple-pass caught crayfish, fallfish, white suckers, redbreast sunfish, and several warmouth, an uncommonly caught sunfish, American eels, at nearly 200, dominated the catch. (Chris Bowser photo)
– Chris Bowser, Aidan Mabey, Rianna Scanlon, Amanda Simmonds, Sarah Moss
[Warmouth (Lepomis gulosus) are a Southeast to Mid-West species but are frequently transplanted elsewhere. Their Type Site, where they were first described, is Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans, Louisiana. They are common in the Mississippi watershed, Texas, Florida, and then up the coast though the Carolinas to Virginia. They can get to be 10-11-inches long and were introduced to our watershed, likely stocked in ponds and streams. Tom Lake]
8/14 – Orange County, HRM 60: We have known for several years that osprey were nesting in Dutchess, Ulster, and Sullivan counties. However, it seemed illogical that, as far as we knew, there had never been any osprey nesting in neighboring Orange County. I offered a challenge to our birding community to find an osprey nest in Orange County.
This morning I received news from Edgar A. Mearns Bird Club member Bruce Nott, complete with photos, of an active osprey nest along the Hudson River. Bruce made the discovery just offshore in New Windsor. The nest was on a large metal platform structure sitting on a man-made island where oil transfers are made. We would like to acknowledge Bruce for being such an outstanding birder.
– Ken McDermott (Edgar A. Mearns Bird Club)
 8/14 – Little Stony Point, HRM 55: Seven of us were on the beach in midday for our contribution to the 9th annual Great Hudson River Fish Count. With two teams of educators and two 35-foot seines, we made 20 hauls resulting in 380 fish.
Young-of-year included striped bass (41-73 mm), alewives (70-76 mm), blueback herring (39-53 mm), spottail shiner, white perch, channel catfish, and our “message” from the sea, or at least way downriver, bay anchovy (32-42 mm). Our big catch in terms of size was a 20-inch (508 mm) channel catfish. The river was 86 degrees F, and the salinity was 2.5 ppt.
As we were clearing our gear to depart, an adult bald eagle came cruising down the river not more than 100 feet off the deck. The raptor stooped on a fish, grabbed it (looked like a white perch), and headed west toward Crow’s Nest. (Tom Lake photo)
– Lauren Martin, Rianna Scanlon, Lucianna Davis, Sarah Martinez, Doug Donaghy, T.R. Jackson, Tom Lake
 8/14 – Croton Point, HRM 35: It was a lovely day for our contribution to the 9th annual Great Hudson River Fish Count, 35 miles upriver of the Battery in Manhattan. We hauled our 50-foot bag-seine at low tide in a small, protected embayment known as Mother’s Lap. Public participation was limited due to COVID-19 precautions.
Our impressive catch included young-of-year striped bass (85), two river herring, and a bay anchovy. Yearling or adult fishes were yellow perch, white perch, Atlantic silverside, northern pipefish, and largemouth bass. The presence of pipefish and shore shrimp suggested a healthy stand of wild celery (Vallisneria Americana). We also caught and released many large blue crabs, some of them mating. (Jim Bourdon photo)
– John Phillips, Nick Camparato, Jim Bourdon
 8/14 – Upper Nyack, HRM 31: Our DEC Region 3 Hudson River Fisheries Unit used a 200 x 10-foot beach seine today to sample for young-of-year striped bass in the Tappan Zee. Compiling data over many sampling days will give us a feel for the strength of their year-class.
Our catch included young-of-year striped bass, white perch, silver perch, alewife, and blueback herring, as well as Atlantic silverside, northern pipefish, an American eel, and two skilletfish. The water was 84 degrees F, and the salinity was 5.47 ppt. (Zoraida Maloney photo)
-Zoraida Maloney, Amanda Higgs, Russ Berdan, Mo Grassi, and Justin Herne
[Skilletfish are a small benthos-loving fish related to gobies and blennies. Like gobies, they have a pelvic suction disc that leads to their other common name, clingfish. Their name comes from a dorsally-flattened body with a large, roundish head that altogether looks like a skillet. They are considered a temperate marine stray in the lower, brackish reach of the estuary. Tom Lake]
 8/14 – Manhattan, New York City: Our contribution to the 9th annual Great Hudson River Fish Count included seining and some rod and reel fishing on Randall’s Island. We started seining in early afternoon by the Water’s Edge Garden on the Harlem River. The water was 79 degrees F, and the salinity was 26.0 ppt. The nets were made dense by copious amounts of green and fluffy red algae that had swept in, making dense rolls of vegetation that had to be sifted through in order to find all the fish.
In four hauls we collected 116 fish including 105 Atlantic silverside (90 percent of the catch). The smallest silverside was thin and slender like macaroni and cheese pasta, while the largest was just a bit deeper than a rigatoni. Other fish included mummichog, oyster toadfish, scup, striped bass, tautog, northern kingfish, and three northern pipefish, the longest of which (155 mm) was a male carrying eggs. Crustaceans included shore shrimp, sand shrimp, and both male and female blue crabs.
In early evening, joined by colleagues from Randall’s Island Park Alliance, NYSDEC, Lower East Side Ecology Center, and NYC Parks, we rod and reel fished the East River at the southern end of Randall’s Island. Our impressive catch included eleven black sea bass, a scup, and a yearling striped bass.
– Jackie Wu, Peter Park
Summer – Fall 2020 Natural History Programs
2020 I Bird NY Challenges are open now!
Are you 16 years or younger and live in New York State? If you have an interest in birds, try the I Bird NY challenge! Find 10 common New York bird species and we’ll send you a special certificate for taking the challenge. You will also be entered into a random drawing for birding accessories. Download our I Bird NY Beginner’s Challenge form (PDF) and get started today. The Beginner’s Challenge is also available in Spanish (PDF).
The Experienced Birder Challenge: If you are already a birder, take your birding to the next level by taking the I Bird NY Experienced Birder Challenge! The wide variety of habitats found in New York State support more than 450 different bird species. Find any 10 (or more) different bird species to complete the challenge. Find a lifer? Let us know! Complete and submit the Experienced Birder Challenge entry sheet (PDF) for a chance to be entered in a random drawing for birding accessories. The Experienced Birder’s Challenge is also available in Spanish (PDF).
DEC Seeks Birdwatchers to contribute to 2020 Breeding Bird Atlas
NYSDEC Commissioner Basil Seggos has announced a call for citizen-science volunteers to help in the development of a comprehensive, statewide survey that takes place every two decades to detail New York’s breeding bird distribution. Starting in 2020, five years of field surveys will be conducted by volunteers and project partners to provide the data that will be analyzed to create the third New York State Breeding Bird Atlas.
DEC is partnering with the New York Natural Heritage Program, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), Audubon New York, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, New York State Ornithological Association, and New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit on this project. When complete, the atlas will provide species-specific details about distribution, maps, and illustrations. The last atlas was published in 2008, with information on its results available on DEC’s website. The 2020 atlas will provide data on changes in species distribution and climate change’s potential impact on wildlife.
To participate, volunteers can make a free eBird account and submit data online through the atlas website (ebird.org/atlasny) or via the eBird mobile app. Simply record the species and any breeding behaviors observed. All sightings can count. As observations are reported, data can be viewed here: https://ebird.org/atlasny/state/US-NY.
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
The Conservationist, the award-winning, advertisement-free magazine focusing on New York State’s great outdoors and natural resources. The 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.
PLAY SMART * PLAY SAFE * PLAY LOCAL: Get Outside Safely, Responsibly, and Locally
New York State is encouraging residents to engage in responsible recreation during the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis. NYSDEC and State Parks recommendations for getting outside safely incorporate guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the NYS Department of Health for reducing the spread of infectious diseases.
DEC and State Parks are encouraging visitors to New York’s great outdoors to use the hashtags #PlaySmartPlaySafePlayLocal, #RecreateResponsibly, and #RecreateLocal on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share their visit and encourage others to get outside safely, responsibly, and locally, too. Use the DECinfo Locator to find a DEC-managed resource near you and visit the State Parks website for information about parks and park closures.
Take the Pledge to PLAY SMART * PLAY SAFE * PLAY LOCAL: Enjoy the Outdoors Safely and Responsibly
1. I pledge to respect the rules and do my part to keep parks, beaches, trails, boat launches, and other public spaces safe for everyone.
2. I will stay local and close to home.
3. I will maintain a safe distance from others outside of my household.
4. I will wear a mask when I cannot maintain social distancing.
5. I accept that this summer, I may have to adjust how I enjoy the outdoors to help keep myself and others healthy and safe, even if it means changing my plans to visit a public space.
6. I will be respectful of others by letting them pass by me if needed on a trail and keeping my blanket ten feet apart from others on the beach.
7. I will move quickly through shared areas like parking lots, trailheads, and scenic areas to avoid crowding.
8. If I’m not feeling well, I will stay home.
Information about the Hudson River Estuary Program is available on DEC’s website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4920.html. |
