| OVERVIEW
This was a week of “Highlights” including the arrival of river herring from the sea, the presence of harbor seals to greet them, our first osprey, a night march of amphibians, and now two nestlings in bald eagle nest NY62.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
3/29 – Town of Poughkeepsie: In late afternoon, we were finally able to get a good, non-intrusive, line-of-sight to bald eagle nest NY62. For the last five days, we had been watching the adults feed a nestling tiny bits of fish. To our surprise, a second little, gray, fuzzy head popped up today. There was no way of knowing when the second nestling hatched. Photos show them to have similar-sized fuzzy heads, which make us think the second one was there not long after the first, and was just hiding in the deep-sided nest.
– Bob Rightmyer, Kate Courtney
NATURAL HISTORY ENTRIES
 3/24 – Stony Creek, HRM 225: Half of the surface ice on the Hudson River was gone now, but there was still a lot of snow to melt. (Photo of Stony Creek, HRM 225 courtesy of Pete Lochman)
– Pete Lochman
3/24 – Albany County, HRM 134: Signs of spring were still hard to come by this morning, but there were a few glimmers of hope. Swamp maples were budding out and weeping willows were “yellowing” up. At the Bear Swamp Preserve heron rookery near Westerlo, we found three great blue herons standing on nests.
– Tom Williams, Colleen Williams (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
3/24 – Town of Poughkeepsie: This was incubation Day 32 at bald eagle nest NY372. I watched this afternoon, waiting to see if a fish came in to the nest or if the adults got excited like last year when we figured there had been a hatch. But nothing happened. They were still doing their turn-overs but so far no hatch.
– Sheila Bogart
 3/24 – Bedford, HRM 35: The great blue heron rookery had more arrivals today. At least eight nests had a single heron and the ninth had a pair of herons. The single herons were very likely males guarding the nests they had selected and were awaiting their mates. (Photo of great blue herons on their nest courtesty of Jim Steck)
– Jim Steck
3/25 – Waterford, HRM 159: The Mohawk River was surprisingly low. We were seining just west of the top of the Waterford Flight, a series of five locks that lift vessels westward, 170 feet above the Hudson River, to the beginning of the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River. A cold north wind chilled us after a three-mile fetch down the Mohawk and the going was arduous. Our 55-foot seine collected hundreds of water chestnut seeds that took us an hour to clear, but we also caught two fish, a gorgeous spotfin shiner and a sluggish 17- inch common carp. The river, at 52 degrees Fahrenheit (F), was far warmer than we expected.
– Tom Lake, A. Danforth
[The spotfin shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera) is a non-native minnow, being native to the Mississippi River watershed. It is likely they made their way to the Mohawk River and the Hudson, at least in part, through the New York State Canal system. Tom Lake]
3/25 – Montgomery County, HRM 157: There was a single greater white-fronted goose along the Mohawk River in Fultonville today. Also present among the hundreds of gulls were seven Iceland gulls and three lesser black-backed gulls.
– David Harrison
3/25 – Colonie, HRM 153: Early this morning, a snowy owl was perched on top of the main parking garage at the Albany International Airport. By early afternoon, there were two snowy owls on top of garage.
– Tom Williams, Colleen Williams (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
3/25 – Cortlandt Manor, HRM 38.5: Woodsman-naturalist Craig Stevens, working near a small pond, found that conversation was well neigh impossible today. The clacking of the wood frogs and the shilling of the spring peepers was deafening.
– Christopher Letts
3/25 – Croton Point, HRM 35-34: Tonight’s Saw Mill River Audubon’s woodcock walk, led by Charlie Roberto, heard and saw at least five American woodcock in their display flights. The first “peent” was around 7:20 PM. Another highlight was a big movement of tree swallows at dusk (estimated to be 1,000 birds) coming into Croton Bay and likely headed for a night roost in the nearby stands of Phragmites in Croton Marsh.
– Anne Swaim
3/26 – Ulster County, HRM 85: I stopped by Sturgeon Pool Reservoir late this afternoon to check on bald eagle nest NY92. There did not seem to be any incubating going on. The male and female were side-by-side on a branch just above the nest. Fifty yards to the south of the nest, was an immature eagle perched on a branch, preening. Did the immature miss a fishing or hunting opportunity or had it been chased away by the nesting pair? There were no vocalizations from any of the eagles as I watched nor any movement from the perches.
– Bob Ottens
3/26 – Town of Poughkeepsie: Bald eagle nest NY62 was backlit by a sapphire blue sky in mid-afternoon. The male of the pair was in the nest, stepping around to give the new, three-day-old nestling, room. Before long, the female flew into the nest and the male flew off. She immediately began feeding the nestling from a gizzard shad that had been delivered earlier.
– Tom Lake, C.T. Lake, T.R. Jackson
3/26 – Haverstraw Bay, HRM 36-34: The DEC Region 3 Hudson River Fisheries Unit caught some river herring (alewives) in our sturgeon research nets today. They were right on time, in from the sea to spawn.
– Amanda Higgs
[In spring times past, when the shallows of the Tappan Zee and Haverstraw Bay were crisscrossed with stake and anchor gill nets to catch river herring and shad, we would begin to catch both alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) and American shad (A. sapidissima) in late March. Tom Lake]
3/26 – Croton-on-Hudson, HRM 34.5: It was a welcome sight this morning, as the osprey had returned to their nest atop the “cell tower” in the Croton-Harmon Metro North Station parking lot. Their timely return matched the last three years within two days (March 27-28). Two dozen fish crows were doing as they pleased, mobbing the osprey sitting in the nest.
– Hugh McLean, Christopher Letts
 3/27 – Hudson River Estuary Eel Project Update: As our stream temperatures reached 40 degrees F, we began to see eel numbers pick up in the tributaries. We are now up to ten sites with reported catches to date including: Richmond Creek, Staten Island (50), Blind Brook, Rye (81), Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak, Yonkers (503), Furnace Brook, Cortlandt (1,790), Minisceongo Creek, West Haverstraw (3,719), Quassaick Creek, Newburgh (2,000), Fall Kill, Poughkeepsie (50), Black Creek, Esopus (500), Enderkill, Staatsburg (5), and Saw Kill, Tivoli (20). (Photo of glass eels courtesy of Tom Lake)
– Chris Bowser
3/27 – Town of Poughkeepsie: Today was incubation Day 35 at bald eagle nest NY372. The adults’ behavior suggested that there was a third party in the nest. They waved a channel catfish around but did not seem to be reducing any of it to nestling-bite-size. Something seemed amiss.
– Deborah Trace-Kral, Dana Layton
3/27 – Town of Poughkeepsie: We found a good, but not intrusive, vantage from which to observe bald eagle nest NY62. The female of the pair seemed to be feeding the five-day-old nestling every time we looked. It was so amazing to watch the adults, so big with such large beaks, gently feeding their tiny little chick.
– Kate Courtney, Bob Rightmyer
 3/27 – Quassaick Creek, HRM 60: With local schools on spring recess, we were on our own checking our eel fyke. We could have used some help! After two hours, we had counted 3,417 glass eels, one elver, and a delightful little central mudminnow measuring 50 millimeters (mm). The creek was 44 degrees F. (Photo of central mudminnow courtesy of Tom Lake)
– Martice Smith, Ashawna Abbott, C.T. Lake, Tom Lake
[Note: one inch = 25.4 millimeters (mm)]
[The central mudminnow (Umbra limi) is a nonnative fish in the Hudson River watershed being native to the Saint Lawrence-Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and Mississippi River watersheds. They have expanded their range eastward into the Hudson watershed probably through the canal systems. They are also a rather uncommon catch. J.R. Greeley, in his A Biological Survey of the Lower Hudson Watershed (1937) could not find them in the lower Hudson. This was the first central mudminnow we had found in 25 years of work on the Quassaick. They can be mistaken for killifish as both are small, terete, and similarly-colored fishes, so their presence may be a bit more common than we think. Tom Lake]
3/28 – Battenkill, HRM 193: We spotted an adult male merlin at the top of a tree next to the Salem High School. The female may not have returned yet. Last year we had a very vocal nesting pair of merlin. In the same spot, in a couple of pine trees, was a noisy night roost of 30 clumsy turkey vultures. Last year’s high count for the roost was 60 birds.
– Scott Varney, Chuck Varney (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
3/28 – Colonie, HRM 153: In midday, a snowy owl was perched on the top level of the parking garage at the Albany International Airport. This owl was a more lightly-barred individual than the ones I spotted here three days ago.
– Tom Williams (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
3/28 – Town of Saugerties, HRM 102: This morning I thought I heard the song of an eastern phoebe. Not surprising, it was a northern mockingbird doing a perfect imitation. Remarkably, later on I spotted an honest eastern phoebe. This fly-catcher, my first-of-season, was catching flies from a perch adjacent to an outbuilding that has been a perennially preferred nesting site.
– Steve Chorvas, Alan Beebe
 3/28 – Haverstraw Bay, HRM 39-34: A small dark-colored seal came within 100 feet of the DEC Region 3 Hudson River Fisheries Unit’s research boat today. Our crew had been out six days ago in the same area and spotted a similar seal and this may have been the same one. Our best guess is that it was a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). (Photo of harbor seal courtesy of Tom Lake)
– Amanda Higgs
[Harbor seals are one of four seal species found in the estuary. They include, in addition to the harbor seal, hooded seals, gray seals, and harp seals. While seals at a distance all look superficially the same, harbor seals are by far the most common. While seals can be found in the river at any time of the year, spring seems to be their peak, as they arrive to feed on the schools of shad and river herring that are migrating in from the sea to spawn. Tom Lake]
3/28 – Oscawana Point, HRM 38.5: This point of land serves as the downriver boundary for the confluence of Furnace Brook and the Hudson River. In most seasons, you will find at least one bald eagle perched in the hardwoods on the south-facing side. Today we found three “fish hawks” there – two immature bald eagles and our first-of-season osprey.
– Tom Lake, T.R. Jackson
3/28 – Yonkers, HRM 18: The River Project staff from Manhattan’s Pier 40 visited the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak for a tour and some seining (our sampling sites are16 miles apart). We set out in midday and made seven exciting hauls. Included in our catch were moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita), sand shrimp, a mummichog, and a three-spined stickleback. We were pretty sure that this was the first of this latter species caught at Beczak. The river was 43 degrees F and the salinity was eight parts-per-thousand (ppt).
– Elisa Caref, Jason Muller, Nina Hitchings, Melissa Rex, Siddhi Hayes, Toland Kister, Casey Chamberlain
[The River Project had caught a three-spine stickleback (50 mm) in Manhattan at Pier 25 on March 29. The staff brought this stickleback (80 mm) back to Manhattan to add to their Pier 40 aquarium. On this day at Pier 40 in Manhattan, 16 miles toward the sea, the water temperature was 42 degrees F and the salinity was 11.0 ppt. Nina Hitchings]
3/29 – West Sand Lake, HRM 145: We witnessed the amphibian equivalent of a big migration push. The warm air temperatures and rain encouraged frogs and salamanders out of hibernation and into vernal pools. Across seven hours between 8:00 p.m. and 4:00 AM, we counted 35 spotted salamanders crossing the road from the hillside leaf litter into shallow water. These big boldly-colored fellows are a species of special concern and are probably declining due to habitat loss, so encountering that many in a one-mile stretch of road was encouraging! Four-toed salamanders were also numerous. They have the ability, when threatened, to shed their tails and leave a waving wormlike tidbit to temp a predator.
– Naomi Lloyd, Bill Feldhusen, Randall Feldhusen (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
 3/29 – Town of Saugerties, HRM 102: Conditions were ideal tonight with mild air temperatures, wet ground, and misting rain for an amphibian migration. Three hours of effort after dark, checking area roadways, resulted in assisting most of the 129 amphibians we encountered crossing roads, on their way to breeding sites. Roughly half were spotted salamanders (60) with a nice showing of four-toed salamanders (19) and relatively few live wood frogs (7). It was apparent that many wood frogs had already entered their breeding pools from the loud chorus of quacking males in adjacent wetlands. Dozens of pairs of eyes reflected back from our head lights (over 100 in one large pool), and several pairs were seen mating along pool edges. As is typical during these mass migration events, there were also numerous road casualties (61), with all of the road-killed wood frogs appearing to be females (based on the presence of egg masses). (Photo of wood frogs mating courtesy of Alan Beebe)
– Alan Beebe, Steve Chorvas
[More amphibians: Spring peepers – I have heard them in any warm spell, every month of the year – while wood frogs participate in one giant orgy over a few days, then shut up for the rest of the season. They sound more like a distant gaggle of ducks than frogs. When you’re done looking at the sky for spring migrants during the day, look down on rainy nights and give amphibians a hand across the road. For more information, check out The Amphibian Migrations & Road Crossings Project, a joint project of NYSDEC and Cornell University at: http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/51925.html Naomi Lloyd]
3/29 – Norrie Point, HRM 85: I listened to a full chorus of spring peepers in the background while red-winged blackbirds calling commanded the foreground.
– Jesse Jaycox
3/30 – Mid-Hudson Valley: Two new bald eagle nests were given a DEC territory designation today, one in the city of Newburgh (NY488), and the other directly across the river at the mouth of Fishkill Creek (NY486). Eagles in both nests appeared to be incubating.
– Meghan Oberkircher
3/30 – New Paltz, HRM 78: I thought I heard an out-of-the-ordinary call this morning among the waves of migrating Canada Geese. This evening, there were no fewer than 30 snow geese in The Flats across from the Wallkill River. To the west, in the same field, a coyote dined on something dark-colored and about the size of a woodchuck.
– Lisa Jolin Weinstein
3/30 – Yonkers, HRM 18: The total number of glass eels counted at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak at the end of this week was compared to the corresponding week over the last five years.
2014 162
2015 0
2016 121
2017 517
2018 655
Our total to-date, in 2018, was by far the highest number. However, these are raw numbers, lacking context other than being the same week of the season. Year-to-year presence of glass eels can be affected by water temperature, weather, moon phase, and factors that are poorly understood.
– Jason Muller
WINTER-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
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.
Information about the Hudson River Estuary Program is available on DEC’s website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4920.html.
Smartphone app available for New York outdoor enthusiasts!
DEC, in partnership with ParksByNature Network®, is proud to announce the launch of the New York Fishing, Hunting & Wildlife App for iPhone and Android. This FREE, cutting-edge mobile app gives both novice and seasoned outdoorsmen and women essential information in the palm of their hands. Powered by Pocket Ranger® technology, this official app for DEC will provide up-to-date information on fishing, hunting and wildlife watching and serve as an interactive outdoor app using today’s leading mobile devices. Using the app’s advanced GPS features, users will be able identify and locate New York’s many hunting, fishing and wildlife watching sites. They will also gain immediate access to species profiles, rules and regulations, and important permits and licensing details.
NY Open for Hunting and Fishing Initiative
Governor Cuomo’s NY Open for Fishing and Hunting Initiative is an effort to improve recreational opportunities for sportsmen and women and to boost tourism activities throughout the state. This initiative includes streamlining fishing and hunting licenses, reducing license fees, improving access for fishing and increasing hunting opportunities in New York State.
In support of this initiative, this year’s budget includes $6 million in NY Works funding to support creating 50 new land and water access projects to connect hunters, anglers, bird watchers and others who enjoy the outdoors to more than 380,000 acres of existing state and easement lands that have gone largely untapped until now. These 50 new access projects include building new boat launches, installing new hunting blinds and building new trails and parking areas. In addition, the 2014-15 budget includes $4 million to repair the state’s fish hatcheries; and renews and allows expanded use of crossbows for hunting in New York State.
This year’s budget also reduces short-term fishing licenses fees; increases the number of authorized statewide free fishing days to eight from two; authorizes DEC to offer 10 days of promotional prices for hunting, fishing and trapping licenses; and authorizes free Adventure Plates for new lifetime license holders, discounted Adventure Plates for existing lifetime license holders and regular fee Adventure Plates for annual license holders.
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 |
Hudson River Almanac
