Hudson River Almanac 8/1/15 - 8/7/15

August 1 - 7, 2015
Compiled by Tom Lake, Hudson River Estuary Program Naturalist

OVERVIEW

The search continued above tidewater for the elusive seal that had managed to get above both the Federal lock at Troy and Lock 1 of the Hudson/Champlain Canal, about ten miles upriver. We also had a near-record fish catch and a reminder of the valley’s deep past.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

8/2 - Troy, HRM 153: Fishing just below the Troy Dam this morning, Jay Blaauboer caught his largest fish ever – a 42-inch-long, 22-pound tiger muskellunge. Describing his catch as “a fish of 10,000 casts,” Jay returned it to the river.
     - Albany Times Union

[The tiger muskellunge, also known as a norlunge, is a hybrid between northern pike and muskellunge (Esox lucius x E. masquinongy). The fish has been introduced into many of New York's large lakes and rivers by the DEC since the 1970s.The New York State record size tiger muskellunge, caught by Brett Gofgosky in 1990, was 35 lb. 8 oz. from the Tioughnioga River, Broome County. Tom Lake.]

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES

8/1 - Saratoga County, HRM 164.5: This was Day 8 of the search for the seal above tidewater. For the first time in recent days it was not spotted just below Lock 1 of the Champlain Canal (Hudson River) but this evening a couple of miles south at the 126th Street bridge in Waterford.
     - Shannon Fitzgerald

8/1 - Garrison, Putnam County: We had plowed the earth in preparation for some planting when my daughter, Micah Davoren, spotted a stone “arrowhead” just sitting on the top of the soil.
     - Stacey Farley

(A photograph supplied by Ed McGowan showed a well-made Archaic-period projectile point. While “typing” prehistoric stone tools is an inexact science, certain physical attributes suggested that it is what archaeologists call an Otter Creek point (named by William Ritchie for Otter Creek, in Vermont). It was fashioned from a type of stone called chert. Locally, a context for Otter Creek points at the Sylvan Lake Rockshelter in Dutchess County dated to about 5,700 years ago (Funk 1976: 164-167). This stone tool was made and used by Hudson Valley Indians, probably Algonquian speakers ancestral to those that met Europeans in the seventeenth century, well before the advent of the bow-and-arrow around AD 750. Tom Lake.]

8/1 - Westchester County, HRM 42: I was lucky to be home in South Salem to see a giant swallowtail butterfly (Papilio cresphontes) in my garden. We usually see one of these a year, for just a half-day or so. It visited all our flowers and seemed very hungry, enjoying the zinnias, echinacea (coneflowers), and Mexican sunflowers the best.
     - Ron Tetelman

8/2 - Saratoga County, HRM 164.5: Day 9 of our seal search had no sightings. The bridge where it was seen last evening is about equidistant between the Federal Lock at Troy and Lock 1 of the Champlain Canal.
     - Shannon Fitzgerald

8/2 - Ravena, HRM 133.5: I reflected on butterflies becoming more frequent visitors as I watched a male black swallowtail land on a flowering crab. Tonight when I went outside to watch the International Space Station pass over my house, I heard katydids for the first time this summer. As I was looking up at the sky, a firefly flew past me.
     - Larry Roth

8/2 - Croton Marsh, HRM 34: I stopped by at low tide this morning and spotted two green herons, three great blue herons, a yellow warbler, a marsh wren calling, and an osprey. At the Croton River landing there was a black-crowned night heron and the only shorebird, a killdeer.
     - Larry Trachtenberg

8/3 - New Baltimore, HRM 131.5: There were lots of tree swallows moving south today, after huge build ups at riverside marshes each evening. I watched hundreds going by here this morning.
     - Rich Guthrie

8/3 - Ossining, HRM 33: The gray fox made a return visit to our yard this afternoon (see July 4, Ossining).
     - Larry Trachtenberg

8/4 - Croton Point, HRM 34: An adult bald eagle was on the south side beach this morning with a good-sized fish on the low tide sand (carp?) However, our Metro North commuter train was going too fast to make an identification.
     - Mary Lou Lamping, Ken Lutters, Tom Lake

8/4 - Bedford, HRM 35: All was quiet at the great blue heron rookery. All of the nests were empty and not a single heron was seen in any of the trees or flying in the area. Several nests fledged four young, with the rest having two or three. I estimated that there were about 30 young herons in this rookery and that they all survived to fledging. The adults did an amazing job again in finding enough food and ensuring that each nestling was fed. The immature herons are somewhere in the Hudson River watershed, learning to hunt for their own food. Sexual maturity for males and females is reported to be 22 months, so in two years they will be building their own nests somewhere.
     - Jim Steck

8/4 - Manhattan, HRM 1: We hauled a dozen pots and traps from the river at The River Project’s sampling station on Pier 40 in the Hudson River Park. Oyster toadfish (Opsanus tau) dominated the collective catch, both as young-of-the-year [YOY] fish 20-22 millimeters [mm] long and as yearling or older fish 80-82 mm in length. The Hudson was 75 degrees Fahrenheit and the salinity was about 21.0 parts per thousand [ppt].
     - Jessica Bonamusa, Santana Martinez, Melissa Kramer, Tom Lake

8/4 - Brooklyn, New York City: The theme at Breezy Point this morning, as it typically is at this time of year, was sheer numbers rather than great diversity. There were at least 5,000 common terns in the area, and possibly over 7,000. There were also 2,000-3,000 sanderlings. I read codes off of seven green-flagged birds signifying that they were banded in Delaware Bay. In addition, there were at least 285 semipalmated plovers, including one individual that was all decked out with several color bands and an alpha-numeric white flag (the latter of which means it was banded in the Canadian Arctic). Species highlights were four black terns seen foraging offshore, a pectoral sandpiper, a couple of juvenile Forster's terns, and two juvenile least sandpipers, my first of the season. [Photo of semipalmated plover - right - by Donna Dewhurst; banner photo of sanderlings by Matt Poole, both courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.]
     - Doug Gochfeld

8/5 - Saratoga County, HRM 169: We have a family of baby eastern cottontail bunnies at Ballston Lake - four counted so far. That is not unusual for this time of year except that the mother bunny chose our fenced in yard, where we let our dogs out, to dig her hole. The nest is fenced off from the dogs now, but we still need to be careful that the two species don't meet.
     - Christa Cippoinny

8/5 - Albany to Bethlehem, HRM 145-141: We launched our boat in early evening at Henry Hudson Park in Bethlehem. With out-of-town guests aboard, we proceeded to within viewing distance of a nearby bald eagle nest. While no eagles were there, a single adult was spotted not far away. Having achieved our goal of showing our guests an eagle, we traveled north and spotted a pair of adult bald eagles in flight as well as an osprey near the Port of Rensselaer wharf. Our biggest surprise came as we went under the Livingston Avenue railroad bridge, where we spotted an adult common loon in classic breeding colors and less than 100 feet away. The loon was peering under the water as it swam, occasionally diving. It raised itself out of the water once and gave a few strong wing flaps to give us a good show. We had never seen a loon on the river. As dusk settled, we turned around under the Patroon Island Bridge and spotted several more eagles perched in trees along the river. It was a great evening on the Hudson.
     - Jeff Deal

[The loon behavior Jeff Deal describes is called “trolling with their eyes,” beautifully described in John McPhee’s Survival of the Bark Canoe. Loons slowly swim along and peer beneath the surface looking for fish before beginning their dive. Tom Lake.]

8/5 - Hook Mountain, HRM 31: This morning at Marydell, our summer home base for the Strawtown Studio summer young teen group at the foot of Hook Mountain, one of our students, Ray, looked down to the river and said, thoughtfully, “That eel that bit [pinched] me yesterday is out there somewhere!” It was such a wonderful testament to the river relations that are created through seining!
     This reflection was the next chapter in an experience that began yesterday at Nyack Beach State Park. Our young teen group was there for their “To the River Tuesday” program. The weather was hot, humid, and hazy, the waves were rolling, higher than usual, the tide was ebbing, and Noah, Sam, Ray, and Kathryn twice hauled our 30-foot-long seine. Collectively we caught about 20 Atlantic silversides, two northern pipefish, an eight-inch-long American eel (it “bit” Ray on her hand!), a summer flounder, and ten dime-to-quarter-sized comb jellies. As we were finishing up, we spotted an adult bald eagle soaring above us, heading north along the river!
     - Laurie Seeman

8/6 - Saratoga County, HRM 164.5: This was Day 13 of the seal search. Station Master Joe Czyzewski told me that the seal had “locked through” Lock 1 and was heading north. It was last seen at the Bay of Lock One Marina, less than a quarter-mile upriver. The seal seems to have become quite adept at “lock hopping.” There were still no definitive photos of the seal or the reported yellow tag.
     - Shannon Fitzgerald

8/7 - Beacon, HRM 61: I caught and released five channel catfish and one carp during a Long Dock fishing session. Before release, I weighed the largest catfish (2 lb. 14 oz.) and the carp (5 lb. 4 oz.). My experience is that carp only feed in small time windows during the height of the summer heat.
     - Bill Greene

8/7 - Kowawese, HRM 59: The Hudson was as warm as bath-water (83 degrees F) and the salinity had crept up to 2.5 ppt. We hauled our 85-foot seine for the joy of both being in the water and the always present expectations of discovery. It took all of us to slide the net up on the sand; we had caught a half-dozen heavy rocks! Inside the wet folds were scores of YOY alewives (56-71 mm) and white perch (65-70 mm). The white perch were a bit of a surprise given their scarcity this summer. The most interesting catch was a soft-shelled male blue crab (five-inch carapace width).
     - Noel Poindexter, Alice Poindexter, Dan Poindexter, Tom Lake

[Blue crabs, as crustaceans, have an exoskeleton (their “skeleton” is on the outside) and must shed their shell from time to time to accommodate their growing body. Their new shell, which has the elasticity of a balloon, can take up to 24 hours to harden depending on water temperature - the warmer the water, the quicker it will harden. While they are in a “soft shell” stage, they are extremely vulnerable to predation, being unable to use their crushing claws. Tom Lake. Photo of molting blue crab courtesy of Steve Stanne.]

8/7 - Cold Spring, HRM 54: My daughter, Dana Poplees, almost stepped on a black rat snake while walking outside our cottage in Cold Spring. Her first thought was “It’s a black garden hose!” But then she saw that it was swallowing a chipmunk. She went back a few minutes later but the snake and chipmunk were gone.
     - Frank Poplees

[The black rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) is a constrictor, in that it suffocates its prey before swallowing it whole. Despite growing to seven feet long and appearing quite ominous, they are not venomous and do not pose a threat to humans. Tom Lake.]

8/7 - Croton Point, HRM 35: I saw an increased concentration and movement of Baltimore orioles (26) and eastern kingbirds (18) this morning. Twenty-three of the orioles, of mixed ages and sexes, were in one small area, moving about as a loose group. The kingbirds were closely grouped on the campground side of the landfill in mid-morning, hawking insects. Two different immature bald eagles and at least three ospreys were also roaming about.
     - Anne Swaim

8/7 - Croton River, HRM 34: Midday on the mudflats at the mouth of the Croton River, I counted 22 semipalmated sandpipers and nine least sandpipers.
     - Anne Swaim

8/7 - Manhattan, HRM 1: Over the last couple of days at The River Project’s Pier 40 site, we caught our usual “we-lost-count” of YOY oyster toadfish, all of which were 20-25 mm long. We also caught two adult oyster toadfish that weighed just over a pound each. Among other fish was a YOY winter flounder (60 mm), our first flatfish of the year!
     - Jessica Bonamusa

SUMMER 2015 NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAMS

Saturday, September 6: 11:00 a.m.
Seining at Kowawese Unique Area, New Windsor [Orange County]. As part of the 16th Annual Hudson River Valley Ramble, join Tom Lake, NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program naturalist, as we haul our net in the warm shallows to see “who” is home in the river today. Wear shorts and sandals and help us seine. Questions: trlake7@aol.com

Thursday, September 17: 1:30 p.m.
Climate Change: We've Beenore Here Before! at the Agroforestry Resource Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene Counties, 6055 NYS Route 23, Acra [Greene County]. Join Tom Lake, DEC Hudson River Estuary Program naturalist, to travel back to earlier times in Earth’s history when severe climate change forced life on our planet to either adapt or go extinct. Questions: Contact Liz LoGiudice at eml37@cornell.edu

Sunday, September 20: 2:00 - 5:00 p.m
Science on the River and Family Fishing Day at Norrie Point Environmental Center, Staatsburg [Dutchess County]. Hands-on, interactive demonstrations of ongoing, exciting research and restoration work being done in the Hudson Valley. Our children’s Exploratorium will lead younger visitors in educational games while they learn about the Hudson River Estuary, and Arm of the Sea Theater will perform. Free; family-friendly, all ages welcome. Wheelchair accessible. For information: 845-889-4745 x109.

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), go to DEC's Email Lists page, enter your email address, and click on "Submit." Fill in and submit the requested information on the “New Subscriber” page. This will take you to “Quick Subscriptions”. Scroll down; under the heading "Natural Areas and Wildlife" is the section "Lakes and Rivers" with a listing for the Hudson River Almanac. Click on the check box to subscribe. While there, you may wish to subscribe to RiverNet, which covers projects, events and actions related to the Hudson and its watershed, or to other DEC newsletters and information feeds.

The current year's issues are available at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/25611.html . To view older issues, visit the New York State Library's Hudson River Almanac Archive. If it asks you to login, click on "Guest." You may then need to reopen this page and click on the Almanac Archive link again to access the Almanac collection in the library's files.

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. For a free, no-obligation issue go to http://www.dec.ny.gov/pubs/conservationist.html

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 eight monitoring stations, visit the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System website.

Visit the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hudson River Salt Front website for information on the salt front’s movements in the estuary.

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@catskill.net