Hudson River Almanac 6/21/19 – 7/05/19

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Hudson River Almanac
June 21, 2019 – July 5, 2019

A Project of the Hudson River Estuary Program
Compiled by Tom Lake, Consulting Naturalist

Overview

Bobcats are not rare, but they are so ephemeral that they appear to be ghosts. This week, we had two stories featuring our biggest cat with their stoic expression that seems to peer into your mind. An unwanted invasive crab showed up, and as in every week, our students of the river enjoyed more surprising experiences.

Highlight of the Week

Boat-tailed grackle6/29 – Bronx, New York City: While choosing sites for tree plantings in the South Bronx, I stopped on East Tremont to look at the Bronx River. Along with the trees and birds, the Bronx River is one of the last vestiges of nature on this avenue of urban blight. Today, a few feet away, I spotted a large black bird rooting around in the shadows under a shrub. My first impression was an American Crow, but it was too small. Then I considered a fish crow. However, as it emerged from the shade, I saw that it had a blueish-purple sheen to its head and a disproportionately large tail. It was too big and its tail too wide to be a common grackle. As it flew away, I realized it was a “first bird” for me, a boat-tailed grackle. (Photo of boat-tailed grackle courtesy of Marie Chappell)
– Robert Shapiro

[The boat-tailed grackle (Quiscalus major) is a bird of the coastal southeast U.S. that has been extending its range northward (there is a small breeding population in Connecticut). There have also been a few recent sightings in the Bronx and Queens. Tom Lake]

Natural History Entries

Double-crested Cormorant with eel6/21 – Westchester County, HRM 30: I stood on the shore of Swan Lake in Rockefeller State Park in mid-afternoon watching some hen and drake ring-necked ducks out on the water along with four double-crested cormorants. One of the cormorants dove and came up with a large American eel, and the battle was on. The bird and the eel struggled, the cormorant grasping the eel’s head and the eel wrapping itself around the cormorant’s neck. The cormorant’s long, serrated bill eventually took its toll on the eel, and the cormorant was able to swallow the eel in one graceful gulp. (Photo of double-crested cormorant with eel courtesy of Bill Golden)
– Bill Golden

6/21 – Manhattan, HRM 1: In order to repair some of our worn research sampling gear, we went out to Hudson River Park at The River Project’s sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25. We discovered that we had caught an impressive 245 millimeter (mm) adult tautog, a handsome adult white perch (250 mm), for the second time in two days, four young-of-year oyster toadfish (21-50 mm), and lastly, a young-of-the-season blue crab. We also began to see many oyster drills congregating in the crab pots to lay their eggs.
– Siddhartha Hayes, Nina Hitchings,

[The Atlantic oyster drill (Urosalpinx cinerea) is a small sea snail, a marine gastropod. The oyster drill preys on oysters by drilling though their shells to get at the oyster inside. Tom Lake]

[Note: one inch = 25.4 millimeters (mm)]

Northern puffer6/22 – Croton Point, HRM 34.5: I was beach-combing the river-side of Croton Point when I came upon a fish lying in the gravelly sand. It was a northern puffer, a saltwater species that is very uncommon this far upriver. (Photo of northern puffer courtesy of Scott Horecky)
– Scott Horecky

[The northern puffer (Sphoeroides maculatus), often called the blowfish, is a terete-shaped temperate marine stray. Puffers have the ability, when agitated, to inflate themselves with air or water into the shape of a tennis ball. They are generally less than a foot-long and their body is covered in small prickles. Northern puffers use their strong, beak-like mouths to crush the shells of small mollusks and crustaceans. Tom Lake]

6/22 – Bedford, HRM 34: The great blue heron rookery had more activity today. Some branching was seen at one nest with the nestling on an adjoining tree limb. After a lot of wing flapping, it made it back to the nest. At another nest, an adult flew in with food for the nestlings. Another adult arrived at its nest to feed the nestlings, who, by now, looked very much like their parents. The behavior was different at this nest. When the adult lowered its head, the nestlings took a submissive pose and pecked at the adult’s beak looking for food. To avoid this, the adult kept its head high and out of reach. One nestling tried to swallow a fish, but it may have been too large. After a few minutes of this, an exasperated adult reached down into the nest, picked up and swallowed the fish and flew off. Possibly, this was a first attempt to get the nestlings to accept a “fish in the round,” instead of regurgitated food.
– Jim Steck

Indian pipes6/22 – Westchester County: We walked in our favorite Westchester County park hoping that the curry bolete (Boletus sensibilis) had begun fruiting, but the place was almost totally devoid of mushrooms. The closest we came was a plant often mistaken for a mushroom: Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora). They are also known as ghost plant or ghost pipe, and they produce no chlorophyll. They obtain their energy indirectly from photo-synthetic plants by feeding off the mycelium of fungi, most commonly those in the family Russulacea that have mycorrhizal [symbiotic] relationships with, and are thereby nourished by, those plants. (Photo of Indian pipes courtesy of Steve Rock)
– Steve Rock

[The exact location of the park is intentionally left vague to protect the fungi from overharvesting. Foragers would rather give you their car keys than disclose a location where prime mushrooms appear. Tom Lake]

6/22 – Yonkers, HRM 18: It was our second public seining day at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak, part of our River Explorers program. We hosted 20 participants, and they joined us in the water to help us seine. Among the fish we caught were American eels, bay anchovies, mummichogs, and striped bass. High catch however, was the Atlantic blue crab (10).
– Katie Lamboy, Eli Caref, Jay Muller

6/22 – Brooklyn, New York City: We took our two 20-foot seines into the water off Pier 4 at the Brooklyn Bridge Park this evening where we caught an amazing diversity of aquatic life that reflected the ecology of the East River. Most numerous among the fishes were young-of-year Atlantic tomcod, bluefish, Atlantic menhaden, Atlantic silverside, and tautog. Complementing the fishes were sand shrimp, shore shrimp, long-wristed hermit crab, ribbed mussel, soft-shell clam (steamer clam), sandworms, eastern mudsnail (Ilyanassa obsolete), and common periwinkle. The East River was 70 degrees Fahrenheit (F), and the salinity was 13.8 parts-per-thousand (ppt)
– Christina Tobitsch, Peter Park

6/23 – Beacon, HRM 61: I caught and released ten channel catfish, a brown bullhead and two goldfish today (one a “brassy” gold, the other bright orange). I measured but didn’t weigh any of them. The catfish topped out at 21-inches; the goldfish were both about a foot-long. A fly fisherman was working the north edges of the dock for a while without any success. He told me he was trying to catch smallmouth bass and said he’d caught two of them here on a prior occasion.
– Bill Greene

** Fish of the Week **
6/23 – Hudson River Watershed: For week 28-29, the Fish-of-the-Week is the guaguanche (Sphyraena guachancho), number 196 (of 228) on our watershed list of fishes. If you would like a copy of our list, e-mail trlake7.

GuaguancheThe guaguanche is closely related (shares the same genus) to last week’s barracuda, the northern sennet (S. borealis). Both are much smaller versions of the great barracuda (S. barracuda) that can get to be more than six-feet-long. The presence of our two smaller barracudas in the estuary has been tenuous at best, with fewer than five records of each, all immatures of index-finger size. However, the phrase “we have barracuda in the Hudson River” is often a useful comment to recapture the attention of students.
Like the northern sennet, guaguanche are found in coastal waters from Cape Cod to Florida, and like all barracuda, are a toothy predator. Guaguanche are a bit larger than northern sennet, reaching two-feet in length. Both of our small barracudas are considered uncommon north of Chesapeake Bay. (Photo of guaguanche courtesy of Ross Robertson)
– Tom Lake

Map turtle6/24 – Rondout Creek, HRM 92: I kayaked from the Sleightsburg Park boat ramp up Rondout Creek to the Eddyville Dam, the end of tidewater, and back. While primarily a fishing trip, I was treated to a splendid variety of wildlife. Outbound from the boat ramp, two adult bald eagles flew overhead. I spent most of my time fishing at the base of the Eddyville Dam and managed to catch a mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth bass, bluegills, redbreast sunfish, and channel catfish.

On the return trip back to the boat dock, I spotted map turtles sunning on logs and barge remnants. One log had a female map turtle next to a diamondback terrapin of slightly larger size. I had experience viewing terrapins in Long Island so this was not a new species for me. On the south side’s muddy shallows, I was joined by what I believed to be a muskrat. When it drew closer to my kayak however, I was less sure it was a muskrat and a light tail slap with a submergence gave this young beaver away. Along with an osprey sighting, it was quite a spectacular day filled with a broad range of nature’s actors. (Photo of map turtle courtesy of Bob Ottens)
– Bob Ottens

[The presence of a diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) in the freshwater reach of the estuary was very surprising. We consulted experts on the turtle for their take: Russell Burke, of Hofstra University, has been studying diamondback terrapins for well over a decade. Dr. Burke said he would like to believe it, but he would need a photo (this brought to mind Carl Sagan’s quote that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”). He also thought that at comparable size, map turtles look very much like terrapins. Alvin Breisch (DEC ret.), our New York State reptile expert, thought that if it was a terrapin, it was released there by a collector. Erik Kiviat found dead terrapin in Sprout Creek, Dutchess County, in 1983. Dr. Kiviat noted that terrapins do not do well in freshwater and would not likely survive long. Tom Lake]

6/24 – Yonkers, HRM 18: We had an evening of seining fun with the New Rochelle Girl Scouts at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak. While the catch mirrored the usual cast, the bay anchovies, striped bass, white perch, shrimp and blue crab seemed magical to the Girl Scouts.
– Jason Muller, Delphine Griffith, George Scott, Katie Lamboy

6/24 – 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 a wonderful variety of marine fishes, including tautog (130-250 mm), oyster toadfish (45-50 mm), and a handsome black sea bass (85 mm). Three blue crabs (50-120 mm) managed to co-exist with fish that, in open water, would have been their predators.
– Siddhartha Hayes, Toland Kister

Cedar waxwing6/25 – Westchester County, HRM 30: Cedar waxwings have a feeding frenzy each year during the second week of June in Rockefeller State Park Preserve. What is significant about the cedar waxwings is the regularity with which they come – the same week, each June, to feast on the serviceberry trees [shadbush] in the courtyard of the Visitors Center. I have been documenting this phenomenon with photos for the last four years as they pick the trees clean in about five days. Also eating the berries were several gray catbirds, gray squirrels, and chipmunks. (Photo of cedar waxwing courtesy of Bill Golden)
– Bill Golden

6/26 –Yonkers, HRM 18: The Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak brought together youth community leaders from Yonkers in our annual Community Group Orientation seining program. Our catch of bay anchovies, white perch, and blue crabs was modest, but nonetheless a new and exciting experience for the participants.
– Katie Lamboy, Lucy Jurina, Delphine Griffith

6/26 – Brooklyn, New York City: Each year, we invite the rest of the Brooklyn Bridge Conservancy staff and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation (gardeners, maintenance, operations personnel) to join us for a staff seine at the Pier 4 beach on the East River. Counting others who happened to be on the beach, we were about thirty, all eager to see what was home in the river today. Our catch reflected the season as we caught young-of-year bluefish and Atlantic silverside, as well as some slightly older striped bass. Invertebrates included moon jellyfish, mudsnails, and long-wristed, also called the long-clawed, hermit crabs (Pagurus longicarpus).

Most interesting was the opportunity to watch a pair of horseshoe crabs mating (Limulus polyphemus). We found baby horseshoe crabs at this beach last year and are hopeful there are more to come. Salinity in the East River continued to be very low for this time of year, only 13.0 ppt.
– Christina Tobitsch

6/27 – Montgomery County, HRM 157: Our Thursday birders went west to Montgomery County to find our annual upland sandpipers and found them at a horse farm on West Ames Road. Two adult sandpipers were perched along the fence line when we arrived, and we could hear a third in the distance. The owners greeted us and said we could walk along their mowed path to see the chicks. They had seen four, and we saw three, now more than half their parents’ size. We encountered a pedestrian who said she had seen a Mississippi kite in the late afternoon, twice in the past week. She remembers when kites nested there a decade ago. This a beautiful part of the state!
– Naomi Lloyd (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)

[The Mississippi kite (Ictinia mississippiensis) is a graceful, falcon-like, merlin-size raptor of the southern United States, from Virginia to Florida, west into Texas, occasionally wandering north to New England. Tom Lake]

6/27 – Manhattan, HRM 1: We returned to check 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 our most common seasonal fish: oyster toadfish. One was a young-of-year (45 mm) and the other was an adult (215 mm). Two near-adult-size blue crabs, only a moult or two away, completed our catch.
– Siddhartha Hayes

6/28 – Kowawese, HRM 59: Under a broiling sun (94 F), the river was a very tepid 82 degrees. As expected, our net filled with young-of-year fishes, principally striped bass (24-30 mm). However, the total lack of river herring (alewives and blueback herring), even American shad, was surprising. A dozen young-of-year marine herring did show up – somewhat unexpected – Atlantic menhaden (38-40 mm).
– Tom Lake, Phyllis Lake

Bobcat6/28 – Yorktown, HRM 42: I was walking in the Town of Yorktown this evening, scanning the verges of a brook for nearby birds. I looked up at a fallen tree hanging over the water and caught the eyes of a bobcat. The cat was alert and curious but seemed relaxed, though I was within just a few feet of it. I watched for several minutes before the bobcat quietly moved on. (Photo of bobcat courtesy of Steve Rappaport)
– Steve Rappaport

6/28 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Sarah Lawrence College Alumni and guests had an opportunity to test the river waters for themselves today at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak. We hauled our seine, and across several sweeps of the inshore shallows we netted bay anchovies, Atlantic tomcod, and white perch. In the back of the net we also found blue crabs and shore shrimp.
– Katie Lamboy, Delphine Griffith, George Scott

Great blue heron nestling6/29 – Bedford, HRM 35: The great blue heron rookery was quiet today with the hot sun beating down on the nestlings. They were panting to cool off and waiting for food to arrive. No adults arrived during my time there, and the nestlings continued to preen their feathers and occasionally exercise their wings. More nestlings had fledged with the remaining count at 14 in six nests. (Photo of great blue heron nestling courtesy of Jim Steck)
– Jim Steck

6/29 – Yonkers, HRM 18: We held a public seining event as part of our River Explorers program at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak. The program brought four volunteers to assist us: Taylor Jackson, Toni Jackson, Camaron Green, and Danielly Zurita. Among the six species of fish we caught were white perch, striped bass, American eel, bay anchovies, and northern pipefish. High catch was shared between two crustaceans: shore shrimp (23) and blue crab (9).
– Katie Lamboy

Bobcat6/30 – Dutchess County, HRM 85: From a distance, I thought I had come upon a bear in the road. The “bear” became a white-tailed deer fawn, and she was not alone. A bobcat was having difficulty dragging the fawn off the road before giving up and running up a driveway. I contemplated the crumpled body of the fawn thinking the bobcat would return for it. But, the fawn moved, sat up, had no blood on its throat, bleated a few times, then got up and ran off. (Photo of bobcat courtesy of Deborah Tracy Kral)
– Deborah Tracy Kral

6/30 – Orange County, HRM 63: We hustled onto the beach at Hathaway’s Glen between downpours and thunderstorms to catch the ebbing tide. We quickly laid out our 85-foot seine and hauled it briskly with an eye to the west where the sky grew blacker by the minute. While we continued to catch only a single species – banded killifish – they were gorgeous. The male killifish looked resplendent in their lavender breeding colors. Clouds of killifish, all young-of-year (24-30 mm), moved in total unison through the shallows. In sheets of rain and with distant booms getting closer, we made a final haul and caught our fish of the day, Atlantic croakers (34-36 mm). Their arrival may have been predicted. On June 15, 28 miles downriver at Croton Point, we caught croakers (37 mm) of the same cohort. Still, this was farther upriver than we had ever found these saltwater drums.
– Tom Lake, A. Danforth

[Hathaway’s Glen is the terminus of a small, cold water brook, a tributary of the Hudson, that spills down the fall line into a short run to the river. The beach at Hathaway’s Glen is a strand, and in the ebbing tide, it rises out of the river like the village of Brigadoon. The water exiting Hathaway’s Glen today was 68 degrees F, a cool water sanctuary for fish. Little more than 150 feet away, the river temperature was 77 degrees. Tom Lake]

7/1 – Beacon, HRM 61: I caught and released (after measuring) ten channel catfish and a brown bullhead off Long Dock today. The channel catfish ranged 12-19 inches; the brown bullhead was less than ten-inches. My target fish was carp, but I caught none and noted only a few of their characteristic jumps and surface rolls during the entire day.
– Bill Greene

7/1 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Middle school students, part of the San Andres summer camp program, joined the staff of the Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak, after their day-long orientation, to enjoy a seining event to learn further about the river and what lives within it. Our catch was dominated by crustaceans, including 46 shore shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.), nine blue crabs, and a sand shrimp (Crangon septemspinosa). The fishes were lightly represented by bay anchovies (7), American eels (5), and one each – mummichog and white perch.
– Elisa Caref, Lucy Jurina

Chinese mitten crab7/1 – New York Harbor, Upper Bay: A female Chinese mitten crab was caught today in a commercial fish trap near Governors Island. (Chinese mitten crab courtesy of Peter Park)
– Peter Park

[The Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) has been an invasive species in Europe for decades and there is genetic evidence that our east coast mitten crabs arrived here from Europe via commercial traffic in 1988. The Chinese mitten crab is native to the estuaries of China where it is highly regarded in the market. Mitten crabs are catadromous, meaning that they spend much of their life in freshwater, then return to higher salinities in the lower estuary (15-20 parts-per-thousand) to reproduce. The salinity gradients of east coast estuarine systems like the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, and the Hudson River are nearly ideal for them.

Adult mitten crabs have a carapace width of about three-inches, but six of its eight legs are almost twice as long, giving them an almost “spider crab” look. Unlike the native blue crab, a swimming crab, mitten crabs are “burrowing crabs,” similar to our mud crabs only many times larger. They have a generalist diet, varied in prey, and their potential ecological impact on east coast estuaries is still unknown.

If you encounter a mitten crab in New York State, please notify Cathy McGlynn, NYSDEC Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator (518-408-0436, catherine.mcglynn). Do not release them live! If you take photos, make certain that you take both dorsal and ventral views so we can determine its sex. Sarah Fernald]

White sucker7/2 – Esopus Meadows, HRM 87: We seined the inshore shallows in front of the Esopus Meadows pavilion this morning with Clearwater volunteers. We were hoping to collect fish for our onboard tanks for our upcoming sails, a tricky proposition – they must be somewhat resilient species that will last several days in aerated tanks. That eliminates a number of delicate fishes such as herring. Our one candidate was a large white sucker, a fish known to spawn each spring in the nearby Klyne-Esopus Kill tributary. Seining is a great bonding activity for our Hudson River Sloop Clearwater volunteers as it requires a team effort. (Photo of white sucker courtesy of Amali Knobloch)
– Amali Knobloch

7/2 – Beacon, HR 61: One of the joys of summer is meeting the myriad of young-of-year fishes, the “Class of 2019.” Biologists refer to them as the 2019 year-class, the strength of which provides an idea of how well the species is doing. Our introduction included alewives (47-48 mm), spottail shiners (24-28 mm), striped bass (31-58 mm), and tessellated darters (23-30). The ripe mulberries, both red and white varieties, kept us nourished between hauls. While our eyes were on the water, a large shadow passed over us. We looked up to see an adult bald eagle wheeling overhead before catching a cross breeze and drifting off toward Orange County. The river was 78 degrees F.
– Tom Lake, T.R. Jackson, B.J. Jackson

[The red mulberry (Morus rubra) is native to North America and the northeast. The white mulberry (M. alba) was introduced from Asia. In the Hudson Valley, the white mulberry was introduced to Croton Point in the 19th century by the Underhill Family to support an anticipated silkworm industry. Their hope was to raise silkworms, and the white mulberry would feed the caterpillars. The silkworm effort failed. Tom Lake]

7/3 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Visiting friends from The River Project in Manhattan joined us at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak for an unusual endeavor: seining at high tide. For most locations on the river, low or nearly low tide is usually the most productive as netters can cover more water. We tried our technique at high tide today with mixed results. Our catch was quite meager and included four bay anchovies (65-70 mm), an Atlantic silverside, and three blue crabs.
– Elisa Caref, Katie Lamboy, Lucy Jurina, George Scott, Delphine Griffith

7/4 – Putnam County: We took an early morning, heat-beating walk in our favorite southern Putnam County park wondering if the recent rains and high temperatures had inspired the chanterelles [mushrooms] to fruit. They hadn’t. But, the time spent in the woods was festooned with other reasons to be happy to be alive and curious. The staccato beating of a nearby, unseen woodpecker made us wonder if our forebears were inspired by them to use hollow logs for communication and, later, entertainment devices. Mushrooms in the genus Russula had started to appear, and we even found this year’s first bolete (in the genus Leccinum).
– Steve Rock

7/5 – Kowawese, HRM 59: Despite a persistent and sultry south wind, Storm King Mountain stayed partially hidden in the summer haze. Although we did our usual check to see what was new in the river, the story today was in the air. At low tide, Cornwall Bay was shallow enough to draw out the hunters, an adult bald eagle and an osprey. The two fish hawks vied for airspace close to the water – the smaller osprey, being more agile, consistently outmaneuvered the eagle. Soon, the eagle drew back and went into a holding spiral overhead, as though waiting for the osprey to catch fish that could be stolen. The osprey stooped several times with no success. Once, it rose clutching what looked like the broad tail of a catfish but lost its grip. Soon, the eagle lost interest and headed east to one of two nests in that direction. The osprey continued but never seemed to get lucky. Our seine caught a handful of young-of-year alewives and striped bass, but they were not the story today. The river was 80 degrees F.
– Tom Lake, A. Danforth

Female bald eagle tending to her fledgling courtesy of Mauricette Pothast

Summer 2019 Natural History Programs

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

Saturday, September 14 – 1:00- 4:00 PM
Science on the River
Norrie Point Environmental Education Center, Staatsburg
We would like to invite you to our open house featuring hands-on, interactive demonstrations, displaying scientific research and discovery on the estuary and in the Hudson Valley. Activities, with educational games and crafts, will be targeted towards both young and adult audiences.
For more information, email maija.niemisto or call 845-889-4745 x109.

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.

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