Hudson River Almanac 12/02/17 - 12/08/17
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation sent this bulletin on 12/15/2017 02:00 PM EST |
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OVERVIEW This week was highlighted by snowy owls in the watershed. We are entering the season when snowy owls arrive here from points north and east, often in poor condition from lack of forage in their home range. This could be signaling an incursion year for snowy owls as we saw in 2016. HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
[The common mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus), a relative to the salamander, is an aggressive amphibian. Their diet is made up of just about anything they can swallow from insects to worms, to small fish. As a result they are not uncommonly hooked by anglers. Tom Lake] NATURAL HISTORY ENTRIES [Please note that the raptor first reported as a broad-winged hawk from the Battenkill (HRM 193) on November 27 was confirmed by photos to be a red-shouldered hawk. Tom Lake] 12/2 – Hudson River Watershed: As a service to birders and Christmas Bird Count coordinators, the New York State Ornithological Association maintains an easy-to-use, one-page online calendar of New York State Christmas Bird Counts 12/3 – Rensselaer County, HRM 138: During my mid-afternoon survey of Nassau Lake, I counted 13 species. Most notable among them were common merganser (400), hooded merganser (38), Canada geese (95), and ruddy duck (3). 12/3 – Town of Poughkeepsie: There is a tall black locust here that looms over the edge of the river with many branches perfectly aligned to provide excellent feeding, loafing, and even roosting perches for bald eagles. The Soul of NY62 eagle enthusiasts refer to it as “the condo,” as it seems to have many “addresses” among its branches. Today the mated pair from eagle nest NY62 sat perched, side-by-side, peering down at the river. In April this tree must provide an excellent vantage for seeing migrating river herring. Today the pair looked up as a flock of Canada geese descended from their high-flyer formation, likely looking for a nighttime stopover. The eagles showed not the slightest interest, exuding total relaxation. 12/4 – Newcomb, HRM 302: It finally looked as though winter was settling into the region. Although we had only an inch of snow on the ground, the High Peaks of the Adirondacks were covered in their winter white. Our larger lakes were still ice free but shallower, smaller water bodies and ponds were ice-covered. The Hudson River was still open but the bay at Route 28N was partially frozen. The combination of abundant American beech nuts, yellow birch and conifer seeds, plus warm weather, was still causing a paucity of birds at local feeders. 12/4 – Town of Minerva, HRM 287: I came upon something really neat as I was coming back in the dark from North Country Community College in Ticonderoga at 9:00 p.m. The “something” was almost assuredly a mink that ran very quickly across State Route 28N. It was sleek, dark brown, bushy tail, and very fast. I had not seen a mink in Essex Country in a long while. 12/4 – Saratoga County, HRM 182: It was a very foggy day on Saratoga Lake. I heard the hooded mergansers before they appeared out of the fog. As I counted 125 of them, I was thinking very poetically to myself that these were “Mergansers in the mist.” The males were in full display as they chased each other and some females as well. The four horned grebes in the fog seemed ethereal in their line with no perceived foreground or background. Among other waterfowl were Canada geese (240), buffleheads (35), and common goldeneye (25).
[Leucism is an abnormal plumage condition caused by a genetic mutation that prevents pigment, particularly melanin, from being properly deposited on a bird’s feathers. As a result, the birds do not have the normal, classic plumage colors listed in field guides. Instead, the plumage has several color changes, including: white patches where the bird should not have any; paler overall plumage that looks faint, diluted or bleached; overall white plumage with little or no color discernible. Leucism affects only the bird’s feathers, and typically only those with melanin pigment, usually dark feathers. Birding.about.com] 12/4 – Beacon, HRM 61: This was an unusual angling day in that my target species, common carp, for which I was geared up, were completely absent. For four hours it was all channel catfish, including the largest one I had ever taken in the Hudson (9 pounds, 9 ounces, 29 inches-long). There were five others as well, ranging in length from 21-24-inches, 2.5-5.0 pounds. They were all males. For some reason, these large males seem to converge along the late-season shoreline. The high level of activity was also very surprising, and welcome, so late in the season.
[Winter 2016 saw an unusually large number of snowy owls in our area. It will be interesting to see if that repeats this winter. This is called “the echo effect” where another flight follows a heavy flight. This happens with other northern raptors but doesn't get noticed quite as much as the spectacular presence of snowy owls. Rich Guthrie] 12/5 – Saratoga County, HRM 182: During my mid-to-late-morning bird survey of Saratoga Lake, on a very windy day, I counted eleven species. A drake red-breasted merganser was with two drake common mergansers just offshore at Riley Cove. They were all good looking birds even at this time of the year. Other birds included buffleheads (80), Canada geese (45), and horned grebes (2). 12/5 – Albany, HRM 145: I watched a snowy owl in mid-afternoon on top of a building near downtown Albany. I was first alerted to its presence by a group of crows that were pestering the owl. During my watch it flew to another corner of the same building where it stayed. 12/5 – Manhattan, HRM 1: In surprisingly balmy weather, we checked our collection gear in Hudson River Park at The River Project's sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25. There we were surprised to find a nearly foot-long spotted hake (295 mm) in our crab pot. [Note: one inch = 25.4 millimeters (mm)] [Spotted hake (Urophycis regia) is one of eight members of the cod family documented for the Hudson River estuary. Among the other seven are some familiar names such as the Atlantic cod, Atlantic tomcod, and pollock, as well as silver hake (“whiting”), red hake (“ling”), white hake, and the ephemeral fourbeard rockling. All are considered to be marine strays except for the tomcod, a migratory diadromous species that enters the estuary each fall to spawn under the winter ice. - Tom Lake] 12/6 – Coxsackie, HRM 124: While manning my station for the Winter Raptor Survey in late afternoon at the Coxsackie Flats, I scanned through a large group of Canada geese (1,500-2,000 birds) in a harvested cornfield. I spotted a mid-sized uniformly dark sooty-brown goose with a pale horizontal stripe along its flanks and silvery edges to its folded wing feathers. It had no white features on its head or neck and a smallish dark bill. It was a pink-footed goose actively feeding on scattered corn cobs along with the Canada geese and one cackling goose. I watched it for about 20 minutes, easily picking it out again any time I lost track of it. I suspect that the geese come into that cornfield to feed and roost for the night. [The Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus) has a limited breeding range: the Norwegian island of Svalbard, Iceland, and the east coast of Greenland. They usually winter in the Baltic Sea coasts or eastern Scotland and England. In recent years, a few have been turning up in Canada goose flocks wintering in northeast North America. These occurrences have been increasing in frequency and distribution over the last decade or so. This suggests to me that their Greenland breeding range is expanding and those birds are associating with Canada geese migrating to North America. A few years ago, I photographed a Canada goose in Hudson Falls that had been banded in Greenland by a Danish researcher. Rich Guthrie]
12/6 – Yonkers, HRM 18: In keeping with our “off-season” seining effort, we made six hauls in mid-afternoon today at the Center for the Urban River at Beczak. Collectively our hauls caught three striped bass, two young-of-the-year (75-90 mm), and one second year, or yearling striped bass (170 mm). Additional fish included Atlantic silverside and an American eel. The water temperature was dropping, now down to 47 degrees F. Salinity was steady at 11.0 parts-per-thousand. 12/7 – Columbia County: We found a female snowy owl sitting on a fence in a field near Livingston this morning. It was viewed for some time by our birding group while it sat on the fence near a pond. The bird was quite dark, presumably a young female. 12/7 – East Fishkill, HRM 66: We woke up this morning to a yard bearing evidence that a black bear had visited during the night. Our metal squirrel feeders were ripped off the trees and torn apart. An empty plastic refuse can was ripped open and the cover was fifty feet away. I was surprised. I thought the bears would all be wintering by now but I guess there is at least one that isn't ready yet.
[The feather blenny (Hypsoblennius hentz) is a small, scale-less, bottom-dwelling seasonally resident marine fish that lives among rocks, pilings, and shellfish beds, not unlike the naked goby and skilletfish. The feather blenny was added to the Hudson River Watershed Fish Fauna List by a fish captured November 1993 by The River Project from the lower west side of Manhattan. At the time, it was fish number 205 on our watershed list (we now have 227). Tom Lake] 12/8 – Croton Bay, HRM 34-33: One-hundred thirty-six years ago, Scientific American (September 10, 1881) had a report on Hudson River sharks. As a continuance of their article on sharks in the New York Bight, the report noted that “sharks have also made their appearance further up the Hudson River, above New York, and on the 15th of August at Croton Point, 25 miles from this city, Mr. S. W. Underhill captured three of these monsters in a net that had been set for mossbunkers [Atlantic menhaden]. One of the sharks measured 8 feet 9 inches in length, one 8 ft. and the other 7 feet 6 inches.” 12/8 – Croton Point, HRM 35-34: The Mr. S.W. Underhill above was a member of the Underhill family that for much of 19th century owned Croton Point. In 1804, Robert T. Underhill bought the point from Elijah Morgan Jr. and Robert McCord. Robert Underhill produced Newtown Pippin apples for foreign export and castor bean plants for castor oil. When the blockade of the War of 1812 cut New York City off from the south, he produced watermelons for its populace. Upon Robert’s death, his sons divided the land. Richard acquired an 85-acre tract in the southern portion, and William obtained 165 acres in the north. Richard, who produced a hybrid grape that was resistant to disease, became famous for the cultivation of grapes and the production of wine. The Underhill vineyards attained a worldwide reputation and Croton Point wines were reportedly featured on old Astor House menus. William Underhill’s main occupation was brick-making. He was able to use revolutionary steam-powered machinery to make “Croton Fonts.” At the height of their business, the Underhills operated two extremely productive brickyards and employed several hundred men. A small community evolved for the families of the employees that included a school, a store, a tavern and a boarding house for seasonal workers. A number of these structures still stand today. WINTER 2018 NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAM Wednesday, January 10, 2018 from 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm Saturday, February 24 - 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 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. 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 twelve monitoring stations, visit the Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System website. 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! 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 |
Hudson River Almanac 
12/5 – Norrie Point, HRM 85: Our killifish trap, dangling in the river off the back deck at the Norrie Point Environmental Education Center, gifted us with a delightful surprise today. At first I did not recognize the creature in the dwindling late-afternoon light. It was eight-inches long, had a long “squishy” body that ended in a tapered tail, and was covered in blurry brown spots. But the stubby legs and its external gills were a dead giveaway. We had caught a mudpuppy! Unlike most amphibians, mudpuppies seek a mate in the fall then wait and lay eggs in the spring. During the winter they leave shallow habitats and seek out deeper water. With the water temperature at 41 degrees Fahrenheit, that is probably what this mudpuppy had in mind. (Photo of mudpuppy courtesy of Chris Bowser)
12/4 – Pine Plains, HRM 96: In a very serendipitous find, I was able to photograph a leucistic American robin roadside in my travels today in eastern Dutchess County. (Photo of leucistic robin courtesy of Deborah Tracy-Kral)
12/4 – Orange County, HRM 61: John Haas, Matt Zeitler, and five members of the Mearns Bird Club spotted a snowy owl on a roof top near Middletown today. (Photo of snowy owl courtesy of Matt Zeitler)
12/6 – Town of Stanford, HRM 88: A quick scan through the hundreds of Canada geese on Hunn's Lake turned up two “dark morph” snow geese, also known as “blue geese.” There were very few ducks on the lake today. (Photo of snow geese courtesy of Deborah Tracy-Kral)
12/7 – Brooklyn, New York City: When we hoisted our oyster cages in mid-afternoon from Pier 5 at Brooklyn Bridge Park, we found a feather blenny (30 mm). It was the first one that the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy had ever caught in the East River. [Two weeks ago, three feather blennies (50-85 mm) were caught by The River Project in a killifish trap in the Hudson River off Pier 25.] (Photo of feather blenny courtesy of Haley McClanahan)
In 2016, Jeremy Wright, Curator of Ichthyology at the New York State Museum, came upon an unusual specimen while going through the museum’s fish collection. Along with Bob Schmidt, they identified it as a whitefin sharksucker (Echeneis neucratoides). Thus, 162 years after it was collected in the river at Ossining (September 1854), the whitefin sharksucker was added to our list of Hudson River Watershed Fishes. The additional record from 1881 brings our known total of this species in the estuary to two. (Photo of whitefin sharksucker courtesy of L. Johnson)|
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