Hudson River Almanac 8/12/16 - 8/18/16
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OVERVIEW The Great Hudson River Fish Count found 2,177 fish of 45 species at 19 sites ranging from the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers at Peebles Island in Waterford to Valentino Pier in Brooklyn, with the Statue of Liberty in sight. Elsewhere in the Hudson Valley, herons and egrets put on a show in wetland habitats, butterflies graced gardens in seeming abundance, and Perseid meteors streaked overhead. HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK 8/12 – Albany County, HRM 157: In preparation for tomorrow’s 5th annual Great Hudson River Fish Count showcasing the richness of the Hudson’s fish fauna, we conducted night electro-shocking along the Hudson River side of Van Schaick Island and into the lower branch of the Mohawk River. The highlights of our catch included freshwater drum and shorthead redhorse, species that have been somewhat recently established in the Mohawk River and now the Hudson River through range expansions from the west via the Erie Canal and the Waterford Flight. A catch of two adult bowfin confirmed that this species is relatively newly established here, likely through a southern range expansion down the Hudson-Champlain Canal from Lake Champlain. We also caught American eel, common in this confluence area of the two rivers, but largely absent from fish surveys in most of the Mohawk River above Lock E2 in Waterford. Some of the larger fish were held overnight in a live-well-cage for show-and-tell tomorrow. [Bowfin (Amia calva) are an ancient and rugged predator species in the taxonomic realm of sharks and sturgeon. Their family (Amiidae) is known from the Cretaceous (100 million years ago) and has endured many global cataclysms. An adaptation from those times is the bowfin’s ability to breathe atmospheric oxygen using their swim bladder so they can survive in waters with very low dissolved oxygen. Bowfin are native to North America and in New York occur in the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, Lake Champlain, and west throughout the Great Lakes. What seems to be the first bowfin record in the watershed came from a fyke net at Norrie Point in 1988. C. Lavett Smith.] NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 8/12 – Wappinger Falls, HRM 67.5: As soon as I got out of my car along Wappinger Lake and looked up, a brilliant meteor flashed across the sky toward the east. It was 3:00 AM and that first one was the brightest but not the last one I saw. These were the Perseids, and in the next 20 minutes, despite the biting insects, I saw eight more meteors. Each year I make the effort to view the meteor shower, with some complete no-shows and others hampered by cloud cover, but this year was amazing. 8/13 – Minerva, HRM 284: A trip to the swamp in our back forty this afternoon yielded something we don't see here every day: a great egret was hanging out in the shallows looking for a meal. I know that these herons go far and wide following their breeding time, and this one did just that. We had spotted a large bright white heron-like bird back there five days ago - probably the same bird. 8/13 – Saratoga County, HRM 158: An estimated 40 people attended the Great Hudson River Fish Count at the confluence of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers on Peebles Island, where the State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation offers great shoreline access to the river. The program was cosponsored by DEC Fisheries, Peebles Island State Park, Hudson River Estuary Program, and the State Museum Fish Lab. Many participated in seine hauls and then helped to sort and identify the fish. Our species total, 27, was a record for the fish count at one location. Most common were spotfin and spottail shiners, banded killifish, tessellated darters, smallmouth and largemouth bass, and channel catfish. Three species of herring were also present: young-of-the-year [YOY] blueback herring, gizzard shad, and a yearling American shad. 8/13 – New Paltz, HRM 61: Legendary ornithologist Dr. Heinz Meng, Professor Emeritus of Ornithology at SUNY New Paltz, passed away this morning. [We often use the word “legendary” to denote an extraordinary person. In the case of Heinz Meng, however, it hardly conveys the impact he had on so many people, how many lives he touched with his patience, humor and wisdom. He was an extraordinary teacher best known for pioneering peregrine falcon work that enabled restoration of the species in the eastern U.S., work made famous by his and John Kaufmann’s Falcons Return: Restoring an Endangered Species (1992). Tom Lake.] 8/13 – Little Stony Point, HRM 55: This beach in the Hudson Highlands State Park has always been a prolific fish producer and today was no exception. Three dozen of us were eager to see what our net would catch for the Great Hudson River Fish Count. Five hauls in the warm shallows (83 degrees Fahrenheit) produced 232 fish of nine species, as well as 27 blue crabs. Highlights included YOY striped bass 51-77 millimeters [mm] long, American shad (80-84 mm), and alewife (49-52 mm).While the salinity was only 1.5 parts per thousand [ppt], YOY bluefish (56 mm) and Atlantic menhaden (59-96 mm) were testimony to the presence of saltier water downriver. This reach of the river seems to be a nursery for channel catfish. Last year we caught more than 150. Today we only found 49 but they ranged from young-of-the-year to yearlings (175 mm). 8/13 – Kowawese, HRM 59: For the Great Hudson River Fish Count, our small group of dedicated fish-fans, in oppressive heat and humidity, hauled our seine in the low tide shallows. With a 97 degree F air temperature and the humidity factored in, it felt like 110 degrees (heat index) - debilitating. The water in the swash or littoral zone off the beach was 91 degrees and hot to the touch. We had to take the net 200 feet offshore where we found “cooler” water (84 degrees), a hogchoker, and a school of YOY striped bass (48-62 millimeters). With the recent heavy rains, the salinity had fallen to 1.0 ppt. 8/13 – Sleepy Hollow, HRM 28: Representing Teatown Lake Reservation and Strawtown Art Studio, we made our contribution to the Great Hudson River Fish Count at the Kathryn Davis River Walk Center at Kingsland Point Park. At least 25 eager parents and children joined us to haul our seine. The catch included a variety of resident fishes (American eel, white perch, hogchoker, mummichogs), migratory fishes (YOY striped bass), and saltwater fishes (Atlantic silverside, northern pipefish, tautog). The surprise catch was 15 YOY silver perch. [See banner photo courtesy of Marie Perry.] [Silver perch are a member of the drum family of fishes, found seasonally in the brackish reach of the estuary. Except for the freshwater drum, the others are saltwater species: black drum, northern kingfish, croaker, weakfish, and spot. Some of them have highly specialized swim bladders that serve as sound-producing organs, hence the name “drum.” C. Lavett Smith.] 8/13 – Piermont, HRM 25: The air temperature was blistering hot for today's Great Hudson River Fish Count and the Piermont Pier was all but deserted until our program began. Representing Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Rockland County Conservation and Service Corps, and Keep Rockland Beautiful, our nets caught Atlantic silversides, YOY striped bass, mummichogs, and a single banded killifish. The waters were filled with ctenophores (comb jellies) so thick you could feel them as you dragged your fingers through the water. Young participants with small “butterfly-style” dip nets pulled them up filled with comb jellies. The salinity was 5.0 ppt, water temperature was 89 degrees F, and dissolved oxygen concentration was 11.0 parts-per-million, very surprising with high air and water temperatures. [Comb jellies (Ctenophora) are often mistaken for jellyfish but differ in that they have no tentacles and do not sting. Like true jellyfish, comb jellies are translucent, gelatinous, fragile, and planktonic, drifting at the whim of the wind and current. They are peanut to walnut-sized, often occur in swarms, and are common in warm, brackish estuarine shallows. For a real treat, gently scoop a few from a net with a wet, cupped hand, place them into a small glass jar, and gently rock the water. Their rhythmic, symmetrical, and altogether graceful movements are enchanting. Tom Lake.] 8/13 – Brooklyn, New York City: Representing the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, we sampled the East River under the Manhattan Bridge for the Great Hudson River Fish Count. Among the fishes we caught in our seine were Atlantic silverside, cunner, scup (porgy), northern sea robin, northern pipefish, northern kingfish and winter flounder. Among the invertebrates were shore shrimp, mud snails, lady crabs (calico crab), blue crabs, and comb jellies. Evidence of bivalves and crustaceans found on the beach included rock crab, Asian shore crab, and oysters. Participants, hook-and-line fishing off the public pier, caught ten black sea bass and two scup (porgies). [The most numerous catch in this year’s fish count was Atlantic silverside – 563 of them, found from Brooklyn upriver to Croton Point Park. Mummichog came in second at 386, followed by YOY river herring at 248. Striped bass were the most widely distributed species, found at 10 of the 19 sites, from Randall’s Island on the Harlem River on the seaward end to Nutten Hook in Stuyvesant at River Mile 123. The heat wave was reflected in averaging water temperature over fish count sites: 84 degrees F – 5.1 degrees higher than last year’s 78.9. Steve Stanne.]
[A photo revealed that the amphibian was an adult eastern newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) identified by body color and its tail fin. This was an interesting encounter and outcome because newts are very toxic; mammals, for example, do not eat them. Erik Kiviat.] 8/14 – Town of Wappinger, HRM 67: The grating and clicking sounds of cicadas have been authenticating the hot days of summer. Although this has not been a breakout year for periodical cicadas, we have heard their loud chattering each day for the last month or so. While the last memorable breakout year was 2013, the last big year was 1996 when their deafening noise and leaf-gnawing destruction frayed our nerves and defoliated many stands of hardwood trees. Scores of small holes in my yard from the emerging nymphs, like divots from a golf shot, were evidence of their coming out.
8/15 – Cohoes, HRM 157: In two hours spent in the heat and humidity of midday overlooking the Cohoes Flats, we found the previously reported short-billed dowitcher as well as a lesser yellowlegs. There was an osprey fly-by and along the far north side of the Mohawk was a snowy egret. 8/15 – Garrison, HRM 51: I have been spending a lot of time on the golf courses in the Hudson Highlands this summer and in all my years, I have never seen as many butterflies as this year. It must be an up year in their populations or winter treated them kindly. There have been incredible numbers of eastern tiger swallowtails, great spangled fritillaries, and red-spotted purple butterflies - they appeared to be everywhere. 8/15 – Dobbs Ferry, HRM 23: While exploring the intertidal zone with a group of summer campers, we came upon a single, live Asian shore crab.This is the first one we have spotted here; usually we just find small blue crabs and their empty moults. [The Asian shore crab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus) is an invasive species that probably arrived in the United States in the ballast of cargo ships. It is native to the inshore ocean areas around China and Japan. The Asian shore crab favors rocky intertidal areas and occupies similar habitats to native mud crabs with whom they may compete. Adults can grow to 42 millimeters carapace width. Tom Lake.] 8/16 – Albany County, HRM 142: I watched as a sandhill crane flew from a pond to a hillside grassy field at Feura Bush. This crane had been seen by numerous birders over the past several days. It walked on the hillside and picked at things in the grass for half an hour. Eventually it walked back to the berm of the pond and stood there shaking itself violently, dislodging a cloud of whitish feathers. It still had feathers sticking up on its back so it appeared to be molting. That is possibly why the crane has been hanging around. The bird’s neck was a smooth gray and the body a rough-looking brown 8/16 – Stockport Creek, HRM 121.5: Our hale and hearty Hudson River Estuarine Research Reserve group enjoyed a refreshing misty rain at the start of our canoe trip. It seemed as though the light rain brought out the bald eagles, osprey, great blue herons, cormorants, and kingfishers, as we saw many of each on our journey. Swallows were feasting on a new hatch of mayflies or stoneflies and a few purple martins were flitting about. One participant commented, “Thanks so much for the wonderful canoe trip. Seeing the eagles, osprey, great blue herons, cormorants, the perfect purple of the pickerel weed, the cardinal flowers, and Joe Pye weed made for just a perfect way to spend the day.” 8/16 – Town of Clinton, HRM 88: For three weeks now, we have been visited daily by a fledgling barred owl. At night we hear this one, or another, outside our window. We have watched it swoop down to the lawn and pick up grasshoppers and katydids. For hours on end it sounds a “begging call,” but we never see an adult. 8/16 – Oscawana, HRM 38.5: From the bridge over Furnace Book we spotted two great egrets foraging in the low tide shallows. There was also a great blue heron, somewhat camouflaged by the high Phragmites, exploring the shoreline. 8/16 – Hudson Valley: Over two days this week, as a workshop for Day in the Life of the Hudson River, a group of educators led by geologist Steve Schimmrich of SUNY/Ulster Community College explored the geology of the Hudson Valley, traveling both through time and space. We began 1.2 billion years ago with the Grenville mountain building event that created the rocks that underlie all of New York and yet are only still visible in the Hudson Highlands, the Adirondacks, and parts of New York City. We ended 150-200 million years ago with the intrusion of the Palisades Sill. From the footprint of the George Washington Bridge to the vistas high in the Catskills at Kaaterskill Falls, we found each location and view had a new meaning when placed into their rich geologic history. But it was the carving and evolution of the course of the Hudson River over the last two million years and its more recent 18,000 years of history that brought us all together for the day. 8/17 – Nutten Hook, HRM 124: We conducted a Five Rivers Environmental Education Center teachers’ seining workshop today. Among the features of our catch were YOY American shad, alewife, blueback herring, Atlantic menhaden, striped bass, spottail shiners, and banded killifish, as well as white perch and hogchokers. [Though Atlantic menhaden, often called mossbunker or simply bunker, are herring, their life cycle is in some ways the opposite of blueback herring, alewives, and American shad. Hatched in marine waters, YOY bunker typically move into the estuary in late summer and fall as river herring are moving seaward. The menhaden overwinter here, and head back to the ocean in the following summer. Commonly thought to stay in brackish water – usually from Newburgh south – in recent years year-old bunker have been appearing far upriver in fresh water. Steve Stanne.] 8/17 – Beacon, HRM 61: Last night’s high tide was a “spring tide” (5.7-foot tidal variance) due to the approaching full moon. Huge tide-rows of water chestnut had been lifted up onto the high beach and green chestnut seeds or nuts (this summer’s crop) were strewn on the gravelly beach. Our unremarkable seine haul consisted of small eels, spottail shiners, and YOY striped bass. The river was 84 degrees F. [Tide is the vertical component of water movement in the estuary; current is the horizontal component. Around the new and full moon, tides tend to be extra high and extra low - these are called spring tides. Around the first and third quarter moon, the range between high and low tides is less than normal; these are called neap tides. The graph below (from the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System) shows water elevation at Poughkeepsie fluctuating with the tides; the tidal range between high and low tides at the times of new and full moons is roughly twice as great as the range associated with the first quarter moon. Tom Lake, Steve Stanne.]
8/17 – Bedford, HRM 35: Our lean sightings today at the Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch were an osprey carrying a fish and heading north at midday, a sharp-shinned hawk, and two ravens traveling northeast. [The observation point for the Hawkwatch at Chestnut Ridge is at an elevation of about 770 feet, with a 180-degree view oriented to the east. Birders have been observing migrating raptors from Chestnut Ridge since at least 1978. Tait Johansson.] 8/18 – Town of Wappinger, HRM 67: On this day last year we had a terrific display of butterflies on our butterfly bushes. Today was almost an exact repeat with a few extras: five monarch butterflies, seven great spangled fritillaries, and six tiger swallowtails. 8/18 – Bedford, HRM 35: We had one migrant today, a sharp-shinned hawk, at the Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch. A local red-tailed hawk stooped nearby and I spotted a flock of 16 unidentified birds headed south, possibly migrants, but I was unable to identify them. SUMMER 2016 NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAMS Saturday, September 10: 1:00 PM 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 Smartphone app available for New York outdoor enthusiasts! 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 |
8/14 – Pine Plains, HRM 96: We watched an immature little blue heron catch a large newt at Goose Chase Pond and waited to see if he would swallow it. However, the heron quickly dropped the newt, squawked, and flew a short distance away. He almost immediately resumed stalking and caught a huge bullfrog that he dunked several times and then consumed. [Photo of immature little blue heron with eastern newt courtesy of Deborah Tracy-Kral.]
[Periodical cicadas have a life cycle of seventeen years - one of the longest lived insects. They live underground as nymphs feeding on sap in tree rootlets before emerging simultaneously in large numbers at dusk. The nymphs crawl up the nearest tree trunk and moult overnight to their adult form. The mating song is produced only by the males and is usually a loud (sometimes pulsating) buzz. Female cicadas are drawn to the call, mate, and then disperse. The females cut slits in tree branches into which they deposit their eggs. These branches and twigs usually die (in late summer, many Hudson Valley trees will have patches of dead leaves as a result) and eventually break off. In one to two months the newly hatched nymphs burrow underground and the seventeen year cycle begins again. Borror and White, 1970. Photo of cicada courtesy of Alysse Raqual.]
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