A Project of the Hudson River Estuary Program
Compiled and edited by Tom Lake, Consulting Naturalist
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*** A Remembrance of 9-11-2001: A Look-Back from the Hudson River Almanac VIII ***
 9/11 -- Manhattan, HRM 0: It was 392 years ago today, in a relatively idyllic time, that the residents of Manhattan, indigenous Algonkian-speakers, marveled as Henry Hudson and his crew sailed the Half Moon to the edge of their island. On that day, the native people suffered a loss of innocence and eventually a grievous change to their culture. On 9-11-2001, the Island's residents suffered yet another profound loss of innocence amidst the smoke and destruction in lower Manhattan. (Photo of World Trade Towers courtesy of Tom Lake)
- Tom Lake
– Putnam County, HRM 55: Driving south on Route 9 in early morning, I heard a loud roar and was shocked to see a large passenger jet [Boeing 767] pass close overhead heading due south. I later learned that this was American Airlines Flight 11 out of Boston’s Logan International Airport.
- Tom Lake
– Croton Point, HRM 35: A while later, Christopher Letts and I were on the beach at Croton Point. We had left our truck radios on as we prepared for our morning school program [American Airlines flight 11 hits the North Tower at 08:46.26].
The school bus arrived with second-graders from Coman Hills Elementary in Armonk. They disembarked and were led across a wide grassy field to where we waited on the beach [United Airlines flight 175 hits the South Tower at 09:02.54].
After introductions, we familiarized the students to where we were on the Hudson River: Our beach was thirty-five miles upriver from the Battery [34 miles from the World Trade Center], and about 120 miles from the head of tide at Troy.
As we began to haul our seine through the grassy shallows thick with wild celery, we positioned the children facing us, away from downriver. A rising trace of smoke, a smudge on an otherwise brilliant blue sky, was on the horizon. Young-of-year striped bass dominated our catch, along with a dozen young-of-year tautog. Each tautog, or blackfish, told a story of its habitat: those caught in the beds of wild celery were a perfect camo-green match; those from the beds of water milfoil were a brighter green; those from the fringes of the light-and-dark sandy bottom flecked with white oyster shells were mottled brown with white specks [the South Tower collapses at 09:59.04].
From the open water adjacent to the grass beds, we caught a half-dozen young-of-year bluefish. We were surprised to find that there were no comb jellies (Ctenophores) in the shallows. The water temperature was 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and the salinity was 7.8 parts-per-thousand (ppt).
By the time the children left us for their ride back to school, their innocence was still intact. They were not aware of anything other than the adults were in a tizzy. They also had a guarded sense of our estuary’s magic, and that life was going on [the North Tower collapses at 10:28.31].
- Tom Lake, Christopher Letts
– Manhattan, HRM 0: Our New Netherlands Museum’s replica of Henry Hudson’s Half Moon was anchored in the Upper Bay of New York Harbor just offshore of the World Trade Center. Coincidently, this was the very spot where, 392 years to the day earlier, the original Half Moon anchored.
We were sailing on a Voyage of Discovery, an annual re-creation of the September 1609 voyage of the Half Moon. The original Half Moon was an 85-foot, square-rigged, three-masted wooden sailing vessel that carried a crew of 15 to 20. On board today were students from Rensselaer Middle and High School, Philip Livingston Magnet Academy, and Bethlehem Central Middle School.
What did the students see? This was a legitimate concern about the impact of the monumental events that unfolded right before our eyes. People are naturally inclined to assume that horrific images of destruction and evil are those that last. But other more profound images emerged at an even deeper and stronger level.
Much to their credit, the students saw themselves responding immediately, competently, and maturely, working as a team to weigh anchor, get the boat underway, and organize the vessel for protracted operations in conditions that we could not predict. While we could have implemented these actions with only our adult crew, our students took the initiative in the way they had been trained earlier in the voyage. Without any explicit statement to this effect, they shouldered these adult responsibilities and carried them well.
With Bob Sabo in the engine room, we proceeded north. Powerful images unfolded before our eyes. Tens of thousands of people massed along the shoreline where they had become trapped after evacuating buildings. Fireboats like the John Harvey, tugboats, ferries, and commercial vessels from all parts of the harbor moved immediately to their aid. These vessels, overladen with people, moved back and forth from the Battery to New Jersey and Brooklyn. As the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed with a massive explosion, clouds of debris obscured lower Manhattan and reduced visibility to zero on the nearby water. Yet, we watched these vessels move deliberately from safety into the fog, putting themselves at grave risk to aid those on the shore.
Farther along, we could see a river of people and cars fleeing Manhattan. Every movement was north, away from the cauldron of fire and smoke, except for the countercurrent of fire trucks, ambulances, and emergency vehicles of all types moving at maximum speed, carrying rescue workers into the area of maximum danger and need. During the hours it took us to reach the George Washington Bridge, the flow of rescue workers moving south into the danger zone never ceased.
We communicated to the student’s schools that we were safe, but it was early afternoon before we were finally able to establish direct contact both to confirm our safety and to learn that our own families and communities were safe. By late afternoon we had reached our home port and the safety of King Marine in Verplanck, about forty miles north of the World Trade Center. Never have dock lines felt as secure as those put down that afternoon by Randy King.
We were met by Karen Urbanski, the Rensselaer Middle High School principal, who came with a school bus and counselors from Rensselaer, Philip Livingston Magnet Academy, and Bethlehem Central Middle School.
By late evening our students and their families were rejoined in a joyful reunion for our personal return, yet somber for the tragedy inflicted upon our country.
- William "Chip" Reynolds, Captain of the Half Moon
– New York Harbor, Upper Bay: What to say, and what to do when the unspeakable happens? On a boat heading back from Ellis Island, jet black plumes of smoke issued up from hell itself where the World Trade Center once stood. They were still smoking after ten hours. The triage center I thought I’d help staff at Ellis Island went completely unused. There was no need for one – the saddest truth of all.
- Dave Taft, National Park Service
– Arboretum Point, NJ, HRM 16: An osprey, soaring north over the Hudson through a blue September sky, drew my eyes away from the rising gray plume. And I found, for a moment, solace.
- Sandy Bonardi
– New York Harbor, Upper Bay: Meanwhile, watching from the boat, dozens of tree swallows careened through the hideous smoke. I felt physically ill wondering how the birds maneuvered through the burning papers that still fell through this mess. My mind wandered almost drunkenly, somehow coming to rest upon the subject of places I’d fished all through this besieged harbor. In my mind, striped bass took flies, sand worms, and eels off this wall or that abutment, this rip or that hole. Back in reality, thick smoke billowed over one particular “hot spot” where bass hit bait presented “just so” against a seawall last November. It was all oddly engrossing, but there was still no comfort in any of it.
- Dave Taft
9/12 – New York Harbor, Upper Bay: One day later, a bird watcher confided to me that on September 11 he’d watched from the Brooklyn promenade just across the East River as two immature bald eagles rode thermals over what had been the World Trade Center. Feeling guilty, he confessed to watching the birds and not the flames. I assured him it seemed perfectly natural and admitted that I too had been thinking of the fish and the river while watching the disaster play out.
- Dave Taft
– Croton Point, HRM 34.5: The quarter moon and Venus were sharply etched overhead when we arrived. We climbed to the highest point on the landfill to offer our prayers at sunrise: peace for those who were lost, succor for those still trapped, solace for all of us in this hard, hard time. The sun rose, a flock of bobolinks called from overhead, a monarch butterfly flexed its wings on a clump of goldenrod. We turned toward home. The commuter parking lot at the Croton-on-Hudson railroad station was half-filled with vehicles at a time when it should have been almost empty. Parked there less than twenty-four hours before, their owners had not been able to return to them at the end of the workday. We said another prayer.
- Christopher Letts, Nancy Letts
Aftermath
Eagles, eagles, soaring so high
Flying in a grand, grand sky.
Looking down at the ground
Not making a single sound.
Elegance in their flight
What a sight!
Proud to be an American bird,
Symbol of strength, power, and courage.
- Shan Ahmad, The River School
– Manhattan, HRM 1: Rescue workers in the rubble of the former World Trade center encountered water seeping into the below ground levels. They wondered where it was coming from. Four-hundred years ago the footprint of the World Trade Center had been a tidemarsh.
Tom Lake
9/14 -- Croton Point, HRM 35: Another class of second graders from Coman Hills Elementary in Armonk joined us on the beach. Much as they had three days before, as though nothing had occurred in the interim, our net filled with hundreds of young-of-year fishes, predominantly striped bass and white perch. The by-catch was similar: scores of Atlantic silverside, a half-dozen more tautog, two dozen bluefish, and three golden shiners. The water temperature was 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and the salinity was 7.5 parts-per-thousand.
- Tom Lake, Christopher Letts
*** End of Look-Back ***
Overview
It was unfortunate that our Highlight of the Week became a sad tale of a rare bird sighting followed by its death. Nature deals us highs and lows as part of its cycle of life. Brilliant butterflies and silvery fish shared the week with clouds of migrating raptors.
Highlight of the Week
 9/13 – Loudonville, HRM 147: I found a black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) at The Crossings Park in Colonie, standing on a platform on the main pond. (Photo of black-legged kittiwake courtesy of Denise Stoner)
- Craig Driggs
9/14 – Loudonville, HRM 147: The black-legged kittiwake found by Craig Driggs yesterday at The Crossings Park in Colonie was still present today. The black-legged kittiwake is highly pelagic and is extremely rare inland, especially away from the Great Lakes. This is the first confirmed record for Albany County.
The bird allowed me to approach very close this morning, but it seemed unwell. By 9:19 a.m., the black-legged kittiwake had died. The bird was taken to the New York State Museum in Albany.
- Zach Schwartz-Weinstein
9/15 – Delmar, HRM 144: To begin the search for the bird’s cause of death, I visited the DEC Wildlife Pathology Lab to get an oral and cloacal swabbing to check for pathogens. It will return the kittiwake to the NYSM museum freezer where in a few weeks several appropriate museum specimens will be prepared. The pathology report will take some time. The NYSM only a few examples of black-legged kittiwake; this is an important addition to the collection.
- Alison Van Keuren
[The only previous record for the eleven-county region was a bird seen flying up the Hudson River from Castleton-on-Hudson in March 1968. There are some records from farther north on Lake Champlain and they are spotted on occasion from the Onondaga Audubon Derby Hill Hawkwatch on Lake Ontario, but there really aren’t enough large bodies of water in the Albany Capital region to draw kittiwakes, which is why this one showing up on a tiny artificial suburban pond was so noteworthy. Zach Schwartz-Weinstein]
Natural History Entries
 9/10 – Greene County: I spotted a wild patch of Anise Hyssop blooming by a roadside in Greene County. From yards away it had a minty aroma, and the flowers were buzzing with bees and butterflies.
A bright orange black-and-white patterned butterfly with blue eye dots on the rear wing caught my eye. I assumed it was a painted lady, but it turned out to be an even brighter relative, the American Lady butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis). The Vanessa butterflies also migrate south like the monarchs, and in the spring, the next generation returns north to breed.
 In the same patch, there was another beautiful fall butterfly, the great spangled fritillary (Speyeria Cybele). What a wonderful name. This species is more buff orange with a wingspan like the Monarch. (Photos Top left: American Lady butterfly; Bottom right: great spangled fritillary courtesy of Mario Meier)
- Mario Meier
9/10– Saugerties, HRM 102: We had a visit in midday by the resident harbor seal (tag #246). The seal swam by our Saugerties Lighthouse with barely a foot of water in the shallows and sped under the small bridge between the lighthouse to adjacent island deck.
 During recent sightings, whenever the tide was high enough, he would swim under the bridge. Otherwise, he swam around the adjacent island. If we can infer a pattern to his behavior, it’s that he prefers the route under the bridge. Kayakers exhibit similar behavior, paddling under the bridge whenever water levels allow. (Photo of harbor seal courtesy of Anna Landewe)
- Patrick Landewe, Anna Landewe
[The seal sighting marked day number 1,131 (since August 5, 2019) that this male harbor seal, a marine mammal, has chosen to recognize tidewater Esopus Creek and environs as his home base, 110 miles from the sea. Tom Lake]
9/10 – Hudson River Watershed: Among indigenous peoples, full moons have long been labeled with fanciful names that are rooted in oral traditions, indigenous memories, and ethnographic accounts.
Among Mohican people, whose ancestral homeland lies wholly within the Hudson River watershed, the September full moon is known as the Falling Leaf Moon, Poneʔna-wueepukw Neepaʔuk in the Mohican dialect.
Tribal translations of full moons pre-date colonization and generally reflect the seasonality of the lunar phase. Moon phases, in fact, were used by indigenous people as measurements of time.
- Larry Madden, Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians
9/10 – Bedford, HRM 35: Among the 87 south-migrating raptors today at the Bedford Audubon Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with 29. There was a steady trickle of birds throughout the watch, and they were generally flying very high. Non-raptor migrants included 15 monarch butterflies and 15 cedar waxwings.
- Richard Aracil, Karen Troche, Pedro Troche,
910 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: Of the 35 south-migrating raptors at the Hook Mountain Hawkwatch today, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with 16. Non-raptor migrants included 37 chimney swifts and 3 monarch butterflies, as well as many spotted lantern flies.
- Anne Swaim, Max Miller, Raimund Miller
9/11 – Bedford, HRM 35: Among the 14 south-migrating raptors today at the Bedford Audubon Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with eleven. Non-raptor migrants included one monarch butterfly.
- Tait Johansson
911 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: Of the 19 south-migrating raptors at the Hook Mountain Hawkwatch today, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with eleven. Non-raptor migrants included one monarch butterfly.
- Tim Brew, Tom Fiore
9/11 – Manhattan, HRM 1-2: Our Hudson River Park staff checked our research gear (pots and traps) that we deploy off Piers 40 and 26 in the Hudson River as part of our ongoing fish ecology survey. It is the time of the season for juvenile fishes and our minnow traps on Pier 40 were busy. One trap caught seven fish, two black sea bass between 50 and 65 millimeters (mm) long, and five oyster toadfish (40-65 mm). Several spider crabs were found inside and outside of our crab pots as well.
Our crab pots at Pier 26 likewise had a full house with four tautog (240-270 mm) and a black sea bass (150 mm). One minnow trap caught a juvenile oyster toadfish (115 mm).
- Joe Kim
[Note: One-inch equals 25.4 millimeters (mm)].
*** Fish of the Week***
 9/12 – Hudson River Watershed: Fish-of-the-Week for Week 187 is the Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia), number 126 (of 236) on our watershed list of fishes. If you would like a copy of our list, e-mail trlake7@aol.com.
The Atlantic silverside is one of four silverside species (Atherinidae) in our watershed. They are a marine species that is found along the coast in bays and estuaries from the Gulf of Sant Lawrence to Florida. With a rather small mouth, they feed tiny crustaceans along sandy-bottom inshore shallows and can reach six-inches-long (150 mm). Their most distinguishing characteristic if the broad band of silver that runs laterally from their pectoral fin the base of their caudal fin.
Atlantic silverside has long been a folkloric fish along Hudson River tidewater. They were captured in nets, taken to the kitchen, and "fried to a crisp and eaten whole" (Mervin Roberts 1985). In Bob Boyle 1969 classic The Hudson River, a Natural and Unnatural History, he writes of silverside using their colloquial name spearing, and recalls that they were "fried in cooking oil and sold in restaurants as whitebait"
While Atlantic silverside is by far the most common, on occasion the very similar inland silverside (M. beryllina) will show up on occasion (the two species are separated by dorsal fin placement (see C.L. Smith’s Inland Fishes of New York State, 1985:415).
Most recently, B.J. Jackson caught an inland silverside (68 mm) in a seine at Kowawese (river mile 59) on December 9, 2017. The species identification was confirmed in the lab. The water was 41 degrees Fahrenheit (F) and the salinity was 1.0 (ppt). Even though silverside (Atlantic) were still being caught 40 miles downriver, the parameters of this occurrence were far outside its literature. (Photo of Atlantic silverside courtesy of Tom Lake)
- Tom Lake
9/12 – Bedford, HRM 35: Among the 154 south-migrating raptors today at the Bedford Audubon Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with 102. This was our busiest day so far. As soon as there was enough visibility, we began seeing migrating raptors with the first bird of the day a low-flying “gray ghost,” a male northern harrier. This was quickly followed by the first individuals of what would be a very nice flight for sharp-shinned hawk, by far the most numerous raptor today. Non-raptor migrants included 20 monarch butterflies, 4 chimney swifts, 4 ruby-throated hummingbirds, 8 cedar waxwings, and 3 common nighthawks.
- Richard Aracil, Pedro Troche
912 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: Of the 144 south-migrating raptors at the Hook Mountain Hawkwatch today, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with eleven. Non-raptor migrants included chimney swift, ruby-throated hummingbird, and 77 monarch butterflies.
- Tom Fiore
 9/13 – Staatsburg, HRM 85: With overnight rain in the forecast, we set our silver eel fyke net yesterday in the Enderkill for the first time this season. The net is designed to catch adult eels (also called silver eels) on their way to the ocean to spawn. The eels (Anguilla rostrata) use rainy nights in late-summer and fall to help them migrate downstream.
We checked the net today and found a mix of immature yellow phase eels, mature phase silver eels, alewives, goldfish, golden shiners, white suckers, weatherfish, brown bullheads, redbreast sunfish, green sunfish, pumpkinseed sunfish, bluegills, largemouth bass, striped bass, tessellated darters, and blue crabs (male).
During the spring run of glass eels in from the sea, we set our fyke net facing downstream to catch eels heading upstream. With autumn silver eels, however, we set the net facing upstream to catch the eels descending downstream. (Photo of silver eel courtesy of Lea Stickle)
-Sarah Mount, Jim Herrington, Sara Piehler, Doug Rogers, EJ Budai
["Silver eel" is the name of the sexually mature adult life stage of the American eel. Silver eels go through physiological changes to prepare for their migration back to the sea where they were hatched, and where they will spawn and die. These changes include an increase in eye and pectoral fin size and color changes from the green/yellow/brown of a freshwater resident eel to a starker contrast of black on their back and white on their bellies. There are internal developments as well, including their gonads and atrophy of their digestive tract. These are adaptations to aid the eels in their journey to the deep, dark waters of their Atlantic spawning grounds, the specific location of which are still a mystery. Sarah Mount]
9/13 – Bedford, HRM 35: Among the 146 south-migrating raptors today at the Bedford Audubon Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with 86. Today was another excellent movement for sharp-shinned hawks with many birds flying below the low clouds. Non-raptor migrants included 142 cedar waxwing, 11 ruby-throated hummingbird, and 61 cedar waxwings.
- Richard Aracil
9/13 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Seining from mid-to-high tide each day this week, our staff at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak made five hauls today with mixed result, High count went to moon jellyfish (461). Other invertebrates included comb jellies and blue crabs (30 mm). Surprisingly, just six Atlantic silverside comprised out entire fish catch.
The river was 76 degrees F, salinity was 13.0 ppt, and the dissolved oxygen (DO) was very low at 4.4 parts-per-million (ppm). The low DO may have contributed to the low number of fishes taken.
- Jason Muller, Katie Lamboy
[The standard research measurement for blue crabs (mm) is point-to-point, laterally, across their carapace.]
9/13 – Manhattan, HRM 1-2: Our Hudson River Park staff checked our research gear (pots and traps) that we deploy off Piers 40 and 26 in the Hudson River as part of our ongoing fish ecology survey. Our overall catch was quite meager but did have one surprise. While we caught a black sea bass (150 mm), and two oyster toadfish 40-50 mm), the highlight was a scup (175 mm). Scup, or porgy (Stenotomus chrysops), is a rare catch here.
The Pier 26 traps were empty. This had not occurred since the deployment of these traps in May. Being scientists, we understood that no data is still data.
- Zoe Kim
 9/14 – Verplanck, HRM 40.5: I just saw and killed my first spotted lantern fly today in Verplanck. Do we have to report this to someone? (Photo of spotted lanternfly courtesy of Dianne Picciano)
- Dianne Picciano
[Spotted lanternfly (SLF) is an invasive pest from Asia that primarily feeds on tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) but can also feed on a wide variety of plants such as grapevine, hops, maple, walnut, fruit trees and others. This insect could impact New York's forests as well as the agricultural and tourism industries.
If you believe you've found spotted lanternfly in New York: Take pictures of the insect, egg masses and/or infestation signs as described above (include something for scale such as a coin or ruler) and e-mail to spottedlanternfly@agriculture.ny.gov.
Or fill out the Department of Agriculture and Markets' reporting form:
https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/a08d60f6522043f5bd04229e00acdd63
Note the location (address, intersecting roads, landmarks, or GPS coordinates).
NYSDEC].
9/14 – Bedford, HRM 35: Among the 654 south-migrating raptors today at the Bedford Audubon Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch, broad-winged hawk was high count with 406.
As we were hoping, this was our biggest day so far. Broad-winged hawks finally made a significant push into our area with individuals trickling in at first and then forming nice kettles as large as 50 birds beginning in early afternoon. Although it was not a huge broad-winged hawk day for us, the flight was impressive nonetheless and kept us very busy scanning and counting carefully. Almost all the broad-winged hawks were seen to our south, and there were times we spotted kettles so far off they looked like specks, even at 60x magnification. It is likely we missed many birds to our south.
The strong sharp-shinned hawk numbers (156) continued with an even stronger showing today. There was also another significant movement of American kestrel. Non-raptor migrants included 43 monarch butterflies, 77 chimney swifts, 55 ruby-throated hummingbirds, and 18 cedar waxwings.
- Richard Aracil, Adam Bradley, Amy Dworetzky, Jack Kozuchowski, Pedro Troche, Tait Johansson, Tony Wilkinson
 9/14– Croton Point, HRM 35: As an Educator with The Rewilding School’s After School Nature Club, my students and I were fishing this afternoon off the breakwater at the upriver side of the Croton Point. In late Using bloodworms, prime bait for almost any fish in the river, we caught a spot (Leiostomus xanthurus), a saltwater panfish. We were not totally surprised since we had watched a school of them swirling around in the shallow water. (Photo of spot courtesy of Peter Park)
- Eric Stone
[Eric and his students were fishing at Mother's Lap, a legendary beach at Croton Point. Mother’s Lap is a colloquial name for a small, sheltered cove in Haverstraw Bay on the north-east end of Croton Point. When commercial fishing was in its heyday in the mid-twentieth century, and earlier, fishermen knew they could find refuge from wind and tide in this little bay as their nets worked offshore. In that regard, it reminded them of the calm and solace of sitting on “mother’s lap.” Tom Lake]
914 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: Of the 42 south-migrating raptors at the Hook Mountain Hawkwatch today, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with thirteen.
- Steve Sachs, Pete Salmansohn
9/14 – Yonkers, HRM 18: It may have been the marked improvement in dissolved oxygen levels in the river that helped our staff at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak catch as many Atlantic silverside as they cared to count (642). Next in numbers were 14 blue crabs. A single mummichog was the only other fish in five hauls of our seine. The river was 75 degrees F, salinity was 10.5 ppt, and the dissolved oxygen (DO) improved to 7.4 ppm.
- Jason Muller, Louisa Hausslein
 9/15 – Ulster County: I came upon a northern ring-necked snake (Diadophis punctatus) today amid a deciduous forest in the Town of Esopus. Reclusive and mostly nocturnal, these snakes are rarely seen during the day. Their glistening black back, golden belly scales, and distinctive ring around their neck points them out and helps identify this diminutive species. If you gently pick them up, they will coil around your finger. This one was a full 13 inches long, typical for a mature adult. (Photo of ring-necked snake courtesy of Mario Meier)
- Mario Meier
9/15 – Bedford, HRM 35: Among the 1,023 south-migrating raptors today at the Bedford Audubon Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch, broad-winged hawk was high count with 807. We saw our highest broad-winged hawk and sharp-shinned hawk (179) totals so far this season as well as our best overall total. American kestrel (180) also showed a good movement. Almost all the broad-winged hawks were either very high or very distant and appeared as specks. It took a lot of work scanning to pick them up and the "blue sky of death" conditions made it quite difficult.
Non-raptor migrants included 22 monarch butterflies, 17 ruby-throated hummingbirds, 32 chimney swifts, 40 cedar waxwings, and 12 tree swallow.
- Richard Aracil, Adam Bradley, Doug Futuyma, Jan Linskey, Kevin McGrath, Pat Linskey, Pedro Troche, Tait Johansson
915 – Hook Mountain, HRM 31: Of the 502 south-migrating raptors at the Hook Mountain Hawkwatch today, sharp-shinned hawk was high count with 384.
- Anthony DeLuca, Ari Weiss, Drew Panko, Sean Frederick, Trudy Battaly
9/16 – Little Stony Point, HRM 55: There was a stiff and chilly north wind at dawn. The wind, however, was blowing in concert with the dropping tide and produced only a mild chop. Our seine haul mirrored recent catches with young-of-year striped bass (51-102 mm) and Atlantic silverside (37-78 mm) dominating. We were still baffled by the total absence, at least on this beach, of blue crabs.
On our “last cast” (an angler term), we corralled a school of young-of-year river herring (52-54 mm), the first river herring we had seen since late June. The small eye, longer nose, and less body depth suggested a blueback herring, not an alewife. But we wanted to be certain. Following some mildly invasive beach surgery, we found they had a black stomach lining (peritoneum), clinching them as blueback herring. The water was 71 degrees F, and the salinity was just under 4.0 ppt.
- Tom Lake, A. Danforth
[Little Stony Point Preserve is part of the Hudson Highlands State Park, Cold Spring, Putnam County. Evan Thompson]
9/16 – Yonkers, HRM 18: With the assistance of 6-12-grade students from FlexSchool (Bronxville), our staff at the Sarah Lawrence Center for the Urban River at Beczak made eight haul that displayed good species diversity (number of species) as well as species richness (numbers within species). High count went to Atlantic silverside (217). Atlantic menhaden and mummichog also showed well, both with 32. Invertebrates included eleven blue crabs. The river was 75 degrees F, salinity was 10.5 ppt, and the dissolved oxygen (DO) was again a good number: 7.4 ppm.
- Christina Edsall, Jason Muller
Summer 2022 Natural History Programs and Events
Come Canoeing with the National Estuarine Research Reserve
Free public canoe program in the tidal marshes of the Hudson River estuary. Learn about the wildlife and dynamic system of the tidal wetlands. Information and registration link:
https://2022-nysdec-canoeprogram.eventbrite.com
November 17, 7:00 p.m. The River Before Henry: First Nations Last Elephants
Saratoga Public Library, Saratoga Springs
Tom Lake (DEC Hudson River Estuary Program)
Hudson River Education
Teachers and students will enjoy our new Hudson River K-12 Unit of Study. This carefully curated group of lesson plans, arranged by topic and/or grade, brings together great learning tools developed by the DEC and dozens of estuary partners.
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@aol.com. To subscribe to the Almanac (or to unsubscribe), use the links on DEC's Hudson River Almanac or DEC Delivers web pages.
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. The HuntFishNY app, includes the new Tackle Box feature, which provides a one-stop location for nearly all State fishing regulations, waterbodies, State-operated fishing access sites, stocking information, and other useful features like photos to help identify fish likely found in a certain river, lake, or stream. Tackle Box allows users to search for waterbodies by name or by panning and zooming. In addition, the new 'navigate' feature gives users driving directions to the boating access site of their choice. The Tackle Box also includes an offline feature that allows anglers to use it when cell service is not available.
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