A Project of the Hudson River Estuary Program
Compiled and edited by Tom Lake, Consulting Naturalist
Love Our NY Lands
State Lands Belong to All of Us
All New Yorkers and visitors should be able to access, enjoy, and feel welcome on state lands. These lands belong to all of us, our families, and our neighbors. While enjoying these shared spaces, be respectful of other visitors. Share trails, treat people with kindness, and leave things as you found them for others to enjoy. All of us have a responsibility to protect State lands for future generations. For more information, visit: https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/119881.html
Overview
At some point each winter, the onset of heavy ice, deep snow, and below-zero windchills cascades down the watershed from points north and east. The message that comes with that often-sudden change arrived this past week resulting in a surge of wintering bald eagles along tidewater. Bald eagles, as do waterfowl, require open water to forage. As the river freezes, eagles concentrate in large numbers, even hundreds, in the lower estuary. Eagles on ice floes have long been a winter treat for birders with binoculars and spotting scopes.
Highlight of the Week
 1/28 – Verplanck, HRM 40.5: The past few weeks have been a delight for eagle watching, but now that there is a significant amount of ice on the river, it’s even better. Eagle-watching has become an ongoing, all-day event. Today, there were twenty eagles on the ice floes, many of them adults, just sitting, waiting to spot a fish, or a duck that was not paying attention and drifted too close, occasionally knocking each other off the ice. They were accompanied by three great blue herons on separate floes—not a common sighting—along with a myriad of ducks and geese. More than a dozen double-crested cormorants watched from their usual post on the channel marker. Overhead eagle flyovers were frequent, as they headed for the trees with their catch, away from the competition. (Photo of bald eagle courtesy of Tom Lake)
- Dianne Picciano
Natural History Entries
1/21 – Hudson River Estuary Program: Explore our new curriculum guide for K-12 classrooms. These lessons have been reviewed by classroom teachers, and other curriculum specialists:
https://www.dec.ny.gov/education/25386.html
The inquiry-based, multi-component STEM education units are a guide for teachers and students to deepen their understandings of the Hudson River and its watershed. The interdisciplinary units are designed to engage diverse learning styles, introduce students to the big ideas in science, build their knowledge of environmental issues and help them connect to the natural world.
- Rebecca Houser
 1/21 – Saratoga County, HRM 195: We made the “frozen tundra” tour today going by Lake Sacandaga and up into the wilds of the Town of Providence. With temperatures in the single digits and a light breeze, we stopped in Providence and started walking. We noted birds moving in the top of a pine tree not too far off. We took photos and were glad we did. As it turned out, the birds in the pine included at least four red crossbills, our goal for the day. Other sightings included at least twenty snow buntings that flew up the road ahead of us. (Photo of red-crossbill courtesy of Judd Patterson)
- Ron Harrower, John Hershey (Hudson-Mohawk Bird Club)
 1/22 – Castleton-on-Hudson, HRM 137: A massive flock of blackbirds flew over and foraged in a field of corn stubble this afternoon. I found some red-winged blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds and starlings mixed in, but I'd say that more than 90% were common grackles. There may have been some Rusty blackbirds in there as well, but I’m not sure I could have heard their call in all that racket. (Photo of female red-winged blackbird courtesy of Deborah Tracy Kral)
- Naomi Lloyd
1/23 – Putnam County, HRM 46.5: Bald eagle nest NY527 is located on the Hudson River in southern Putnam County at Manitou. I have taken to keeping tabs on the nest each season. At dawn this morning, I saw a pair of eagles at the nest. Last year (2021), on February 2, despite heavy snow in the nest, at least one adult was on station. The pair went on to successfully fledge young, as they did in 2020. From my records, this would be year three and maybe off to a good start.
- Scott Craven
1/23 – Verplanck Point, HRM 40.5: There was quite a crowd of people at Old Steamboat Dock today taking photos as an adult bald eagle dove and cleanly picked a gizzard shad off the water. The eagle then flew to a tree in the town park and put on a show for us.
- Jack Hoyle
*** Fish of the Week ***
 1/24 – Hudson River Watershed: Fish-of-the-Week for Week 157 is the tessellated darter (Etheostoma oldstedi), number 164 (of 230) on our watershed list of fishes. If you would like a copy of our list, e-mail - trlake7@aol.com.
The tessellated darter is a freshwater perch (Percidae) one of nine members of the family in the watershed. Others include yellow perch and walleye. Of the nine, three are native to the watershed including northern logperch, yellow perch, and the tessellated darter.
Tessellated darters are short (no more than 90 millimeters long (mm)) and nearly terete in cross-section. They draw their common name from their hunting strategy—ambush predators. Tessellated darters lie motionless on the sandy river bottom they prefer, propped up on their pelvic fins, with a perfectly camouflaged pattern of pale yellow-to-green, with dark X’s and Y’s. Snorkeling over them, they mimic the bottom of the river so well they are practically invisible, dissolving into the sand.
They await their prey such as insects (especially mosquito larvae), small fishes, amphipods, and shrimp. Then, in a blur, they “dart” out capturing their target.
Historical note: Through the taxonomy of the time, J.R. Greeley’s A Biological Survey of the Lower Hudson Watershed (1937), incorrectly lists the tessellated darter as johnny darter (Bolcosoma nigrum olmstedi) and has them present in the watershed. An adjustment of the perch family has since recognized the johnny darter (Etheostoma nigrum) as a separate species, one that does not occur, as far as we know, in the watershed. (Photo of tessellated darter courtesy of Tom Lake)
- Tom Lake
[One inch = 25.4 millimeters (mm)]
 1/24 – New York Bight: It was a terrific whale-watching season in 2021 for Gotham Whale, with three dozen new whales added to the New York City Humpback Whale Catalog, and roughly the same number of returning whales. Gotham Whale is New York City’s own Whale Research and Advocacy Organization, a source of education, advocacy, and science for the inhabitants of New York.
Our favorite humpback whale (NYC0011) was seen nineteen times this season. Even more remarkably, we had multiple sightings of a humpback whale mother-calf pair. This is a rare treat in local waters. To the delight of those of us who had the chance to see this mother-calf pair, the calf was seen breaching on more than one occasion. An iconic image of a humpback whale is when it is “lunge feeding” on Atlantic menhaden, mouth wide open and spewing hundreds of menhaden into the air.
There were two dozen minke whale sightings, as well as several fin whales. We also had a few encounters with common dolphins that are not commonly seen in inshore waters. On one outing in late October, we were treated to a pod of common dolphin bow-and-wake riding, so close that you could hear them vocalizing underwater. In late November, we had a sighting of a critically endangered north Atlantic right whale near the Throgs Neck Bridge. (Photo of humpback whale courtesy of Beth A. Miller)
- Sarah Ryan Hudson, Paul Sieswerda (paul@gothamwhale.org)
[The New York Bight is the geological identification applied to a roughly triangular indentation, regarded as a bight, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean that extends northeasterly from Cape May Inlet in New Jersey to Montauk Point on the eastern tip of Long Island. As the result of direct contact with the Gulf Stream along the coast of North America, the coastal climate of the New York Bight area is temperate. U.S. Geological Survey]
 1/25 – Verplanck, HRM 40.5: I visited Old Steamboat Dock today. It seemed like a trip back in time to when ice spanned the river, bank-to bank, in winter. Floe ice was heading seaward carrying six wintering bald eagles, equally adult and immature. Several more were cruising on flat wings overhead. Out on the channel edge, navigational markers, which Henry Gourdine called “dolphins,” were filled shoulder-to-shoulder with double crested cormorants with an equal number in the water. Another navigation buoy held several great cormorants. (Photo of double-crested cormorant courtesy of Richard King)
- Christopher Letts
[Verplanck was established in the 1630s Colonial New Amsterdam by Abraham Isaacsen Verplanck. The Continental Army of General George Washington encamped at Verplanck's Point during the Revolutionary War, as a staging area for crossing the Hudson at adjacent Kings Ferry. Old Steamboat Dock, on Verplanck Point, is a legendary place on the Hudson River. It was here 50 years ago, where commercial fishermen frequented a tavern where fried tomcod was a winter treat at the bar, a seasonal supplement to their drinks. Next door, anglers bought sandworms and bloodworms for striped bass while relating epic tales of giant fishes lost. Out on the river, bald eagles were a rare sight except in winter when they rode the ice floes in the current. Tom Lake]
1/25 – New York Harbor, Upper Bay: The Farmers' Almanac is an annual periodical that has been in continuous publication since 1818. In the Daily Events section of the Almanac for January 25, 1821, there is a Hudson River reference: “Hot drinks were served on the frozen Hudson River today to warm pedestrians crossing between New Jersey and New York City.”
- Cathy Poluski
{In the pre-World War II era, the river often froze over in winter and people regularly crossed on foot. In the first half of the 19th century, if was often faster to drive an automobile on the river ice to avoid traffic issues on the roads. However, when WWII arrived, the river was used by troopships, submarine tenders, radar vessels, and cargo ships that were essential to the war effort. Ice breakers ensured the river channel was kept open. Tom Lake]
 1/26 – Town of Poughkeepsie: The adults from bald eagle nest NY372, nicknamed “Tombstone,” took a break today from their restoration effort to perch side-by-side on a horizontal limb, one they have used before. If fact, the image I captured was nearly identical to photos from years past. (Photo of bald eagles courtesy of John Devitt)
- John Devitt
1/26 – Manhattan, HRM 2: Our Hudson River Park’s River Project staff checked the research sampling and collection gear that we deploy off Pier 40 in Hudson River Park. While there were no fish in our traps and pots today, there were some grass shrimp.
- Natalie Kim, Zoe Kim
[Most of the small shrimp we catch in the estuary are genus Palaemon sp., known colloquially as “grass shrimp.” While many field guides refer to them as shore shrimp, the name grass shrimp still holds for many. The name grass shrimp comes from a favored habitat, sandy shallows with a dense crop of underwater vegetation, such as wild celery (Vallisneria americana), that affords them concealment from predation. When wild celery sways in the current, it gives the impression of a “grassy” field. Senasqua (river mile 36), is an Algonquian word that translates to “place of the grass.” During earlier times, the sandy shallows at Senasqua held acres of wild celery or, to the indigenous Lenape, grass. Tom Lake]
 1/27 – Newburgh, HRM 61: It was a gorgeous day in Orange County. I was at work, but the weather was gnawing at me. I also had a hunch that the Newburgh Waterfront might be prime for gulls. I left work a little early and headed to the river where I immediately ran into my birding buddy, Bruce Nott. Almost immediately we located a first-winter Iceland gull on an ice floe directly in front of the boat launch.
Shortly after locating the bird, all the gulls on the floe took flight. For the first time this season, they flew closer to us, putting down not too far out after making a few circles. I was excited because I’d been able to stay with the Iceland gull in flight and, with such a good look, I found the bird when it came down. It was a beautiful, if slightly disheveled gull. We thoroughly enjoyed its presence as we spent a fabulous evening scanning the river for uncommon gulls.(Photo of Iceland gull courtesy of Matt Zeitler)
- Matt Zeitler
1/27 – White Plains, HRM 18: Just before sunset, I saw literally hundreds and hundreds of crows flying in a huge line over the Westchester County Center in White Plains. They looked like a river of birds flowing southeast.
- Ricki Goe
[From late November through much of the winter, great numbers of crows, beginning in the hundreds, then growing to many thousands, collect each late afternoon at crow-designated places for a night roost. Trees of a size, many of them near to each other, are necessary to house the number of birds involved. While some winter night roosts last several years, others fade out in popularity for reasons only the crows know. While this behavior has its obvious benefits as a winter night roost, such as communal protection and relative warmth, it may also serve social functions. Tom Lake]
 1/28 – Green Island, HRM 153: At the head of tide, the river was halfway into the flood and rising slowly. Despite the incredibly cold weather, there was a long open lead in the ice extending down from the Green Island Power Authority’s hydro-power plant. Just a few miles downriver, the Hudson was frozen bank-to-bank. Other than common mergansers, there were meager waterfowl present. I met John Kent who was in search of the recently reported pure white glaucous gull. (Note: John found his pure white glaucous gull later, on the roof of a commercial/industrial building near the Crescent Power Plant on the Mohawk River.)
At Green Island, there is a talus slope of Normanskill shale leading down to the river. The shale bedrock has nodules of chert that, in prehistory, were quarried for utilitarian stone tools such as hammerstones, knives, scrapers, awls, and bifaces. Today, I came upon an ovate scraper (80 x 62 mm), likely a hide scraper, fashioned from red Deepkill chert. These finds are always a reminder of how people have worked and played along the river, here, there, and everywhere, for thousands of years. (Photo of ovate hide scraper courtesy of Tom Lake)
- Tom Lake
1/28 – Croton-on-Hudson, HRM 34: I was treated today to the sight of two adult bald eagles cartwheeling
in courtship only a few hundred feet from my window. There has been a nest at Croton Point, so perhaps these were the adults.
- Jim Miller
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.
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