Hudson River Almanac 7/28/18 - 8/3/18
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation sent this bulletin on 08/10/2018 02:00 PM EDT |
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Compiled by Tom Lake, Hudson River Estuary Program Consulting Naturalist
More than half of our Almanac entries this week (58%) feature Hudson River natural history education for students from elementary school-age to college. While the goal of the Almanac is to share adventures, the focus has always been on education. Highlight of the Week
This giant oyster is alive and well at Pier 40 for reasons far more complex than simply saying, “the river is getting cleaner.” We measure the river's water quality in terms of how we interact with it, i.e. swimming and eating fish. Oysters and many other marine organisms have a different ecological measure. This oyster likely found the perfect niche on a piling that, in addition to being perfect, may have also been unique. (Photo of giant oyster at Pier 40, Manhattan courtesy of Toland Kister) [A discussion of giant oysters in the Hudson River must begin 32 miles upriver and 5,000 years ago, with archaeologist Louis Brennan’s excavation of the Kettle Rock site at the north end of Croton Point (1960). Brennan discovered shell middens (ancient refuse heaps) of large oysters – eight-inches-long on average – which he called G.O., or Giant Oysters. Oyster shells found chronologically above and below this strata or horizon were five-inches-long or less. This G.O. strata – approximately six-inches-thick – radiocarbon dated to c. 5,387 years old. Brennan believes this phenomenon occurred during a time of significant sea level fluctuations in the estuary as well as the accompanying salinity regime that may have created optimum conditions for oyster growth (Brennan 1962). The Indians who shucked these oysters were hunter-gatherers ancestral to the Lenape people who met Henry Hudson in 1609. Tom Lake] [Note: one inch = 25.4 millimeters (mm)] Natural History Entries7/28 – Greene County, HRM 112: During a break in the recent “Biblical rains,” I went to check out my mother-lode chanterelle patch. For the past 20 years, it reliably began fruiting on 4th of July weekend, but this year it was devoid of orange caps probably because of the very dry weather. Following the heavy rains, I thought they might have begun to fruit. There were half a dozen young caps up, but nothing like the grocery sacks full I normally find. In wet years, the patch produces new mushrooms through September, although it may only fruit for a week or two in dry years. This season, after being bone dry on the weekend after the 4th, much of the area was now flooded under several inches of standing water. I still have hope that we may get a batch or two later this summer. [Chanterelle fungi (Cantharellus cibarius) are considered choice mushrooms and are much favored by wild-food foragers. Tom Lake] 7/28 – Beacon, HRM 61: In a modest attempt to keep our fingers on the pulse of the river, we hauled our seine in the warm, 82 degrees Fahrenheit (F) shallows to see how the young-of-year herring were faring. Copious numbers of American shad, alewives, and blueback herring were present, ranging in size from 55-70 mm. Yet, striped bass still dominated the catch (43-52 mm). With a three-day respite from the heavy rain, the salinity had rebounded to 1.5 parts-per-thousand (ppt). 7/28 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Twenty-three students (ages 5-12) arrived at the Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak for our Saturday River Explorers program. They learned about the microscopic plankton of the Hudson, and this made the river, beyond what their eyes could see, seem even more exciting. With their help, our seine caught Atlantic silverside, hogchokers, young-of-year striped bass, blue crabs, shore shrimp, and 404 moon jellyfish.
[Discovering artifacts from Hudson Valley deep time is like getting postcards from the past. From photographs, it appeared that three of the five were utilitarian tools universally used in human history and difficult to stylistically date with any precision. These three were stone knives or scrapers likely used to process produce, fish, and game. A fourth tool was a round double-pitted stone made of igneous rock such as basalt. These are not uncommon in local archaeological sites as well as elsewhere throughout the Americas. Their exact use is unclear but may include crushing botanicals for medicine or paint. The fifth artifact was identified as a Snook Kill spear or dart point. When fitted with a handle (hafted), it may have been used as a knife. Its type site, where it was first described, is the Snook Kill, a Hudson River tributary in Saratoga County (river mile 198). Organics, in context with the tools at the site, have been radio-carbon dated to c. 3,470 years ago. All five of these artifacts were made and used by pre-ceramic, ancestral hunter-and-gatherer Algonquian people. They were the decedents of the first of us who arrived in the northeast 13,000 years ago. Tom Lake]
[Eating some species of wild mushrooms can cause sickness and even death. Despite widespread beliefs to the contrary, there is no general rule that allows you to distinguish between a poisonous mushroom and one that is safe to eat. Wild mushrooms should only be considered for consumption after being identified by an expert mycologist, and even then, only in moderation with samples of fresh specimens retained and properly stored to aid in identification whenever poisoning is considered a possibility. Steve Rock]
7/29 – Yonkers, HRM 18: We hosted a seining trip for Sarah Lawrence College’s refuge program today. Forty-five students joined us at the river to discover what creatures were home today. Our catch was highlighted by a school of Atlantic silverside (150 fish) as well as young-of-year bluefish, blueback herring, mummichogs, striped bass, shore shrimp, and 560 moon jellyfish (we counted them!).
[The bluefish were young-of-year, likely born in April in the Lower Bay of New York Harbor outside The Narrows. They come into the estuary in spring to seek sanctuary (small silvery fishes are like candy to larger fishes) and take advantage of the incredible amount of forage (other, smaller young-of-year fishes like herring) Tom Lake] 7/30 – Ulster County, HRM 76. While it was far from our first, we watched in amazement as a monarch chrysalis was about to open. We found a short (one-eighth-inch-long) line appearing in the upper three-quarters of the chrysalis indicating that this would probably be a male butterfly.
[The roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) is a wading bird native to the Southeast and locally common in coastal Florida, Texas, and southwest Louisiana where they forage in the shallows of fresh, brackish, and marine waters. The presence of this bird was a first record ever for Orange County and only the second record for roseate spoonbill in New York State. Ken McDermott] 7/30 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Thirty-one second-graders from Fieldston Outdoors Summer Camp visited the Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak today. The students helped us seine the river and were amazed by our catch. The highlight may have been the 203 moon jellyfish we counted, but also included Atlantic silverside, blue crabs, and young-of-year striped bass. 7/30 – Manhattan, HRM 1: We checked our research gear in the sweltering heat today in Hudson River Park at The River Project's sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25. We found a mixed bag of aquatic life in our pots and traps with the high catch being oyster toadfish, seven of them, two adults (200, 270 mm) and five young-of-year (all 25 mm). An unusual catch, for us, was an Atlantic silverside (75 mm). 7/31 – Kowawese, HRM 59: We held a Teachers’ Workshop today to prepare for our Day-in-the-Life of the River program on October 16. Our focus was on water chemistry and fish identification, in particular the problematic, look-alike, young-of-year river herrings. The river cooperated as our seine caught all three: American shad, blueback herring, and alewives. The subtle differences were best explained with a fish-in-hand. Among the other fishes we caught were largemouth bass (50 mm), striped bass, white perch, and banded killifish. The river was 79 degrees F. At low tide the salinity was not measurable, but halfway through the flood tide, it had risen to 0.1 ppt. The flood tide had brought the ocean to us, at least a tiny part of it.
7/31 – Rockland County, HRM 25: I took a walk on Piermont Pier this morning looking for the stilt sandpipers reported a few days earlier. They were not around, but I did note at least two semipalmated plovers. Cormorants and gulls were numerous on the breakwater rocks where I also spotted a diamondback terrapin with neck stretched skyward and mouth agape. Along the marsh portion of Ferry Road, a petite willow flycatcher aggressively chased a larger house sparrow from its tree. 7/31 – Yonkers, HRM 18: We hosted a professional development workshop today (Teaching the Environment) at the Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak. The workshop is designed for teachers to learn how to introduce play-space education into their classrooms. It was high tide, so we went seining in our Beczak Marsh where our net caught young-of-year striped bass and blueback herring, as well as Atlantic silverside, blue crabs, and 53 moon jellyfish. 7/31 – Manhattan, HRM 1: We returned to our research gear in Hudson River Park at The River Project's sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25 and found six more young-of-year oyster toadfish (all 25 mm), as well as a tautog (255 mm).
We ended our tour at the Nutten Hook portion of the Hudson River Research Reserve. The rain stopped, the sun broke through, and a bald eagle glided overhead – classic Hudson Valley. A few hauls of our seine netted several dozen each of young-of-year American shad, blueback herring, and striped bass. We were especially pleased to see the shad, whose population in the river has had a rough time in recent years. [The land snails found along the Wynants Kill were likely the grove snail (Cepaea nemoralis). They are native to Europe and have been introduced to North America. Dave Strayer]
[As crustaceans, blue crabs have an exoskeleton that they must shed periodically in order to grow. A shed exoskeleton, or moult, is an exact replica of the crab except that when you open the carapace, you find it is empty. The new crab is now a softshell, noticeably larger, waiting for its new shell to harden, a process that can take up to twenty-four hours depending on water temperature. Blue crabs have several colloquial names known mainly to crabbers: Adult males are called “jimmys,” mature females are called “sooks,” and immature females are known as “sallys.” Tom Lake] 8/2 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Eighteen students from Reliable Childcare in Cortlandt Manor visited the Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak today to go seining. It was high tide, so we began in the Beczak Marsh seining in the rain. Concerns about getting wet were forgotten in the excitement of our catch. After finding Atlantic silverside, blue crabs, and young-of-year striped bass, we counted 118 moon jellyfish! 8/3 – Norrie Point, HRM 85: We hosted a seining workshop for members of the Student Conservation Association (SCA) as part of the preparation for the Day-in-the-Life of the River. Dissolved oxygen (D.O.) ranged from 5.0 to 8.0 parts-per-million (ppm), supporting fourteen species of fish that worked their way into our nets. Half of them, all young-of-year fishes, included largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, striped bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, American shad, and blueback herring. The other half included tessellated darters, banded killifish, American eel, spottail shiner, golden shiner, white perch, and hogchoker. 8/3 – Newburgh, HRM 61: The two fledglings from bald eagle nest NY488 were adapting well to campus life at Mount Saint Mary’s College. We have seen them perched in various places around the campus oblivious to students and faculty. Being raised in the environment of an active college campus has made them very comfortable around people (for better or worse). 8/3 – Yonkers, HRM 18: Our weekly River Explorers Program at the Sarah Lawrence College Center for the Urban River at Beczak attracted eager students, aged 5-12. The tide was high so we went seining in the Beczak Marsh where we caught a small school of Atlantic silverside (126), mummichogs, ten young-of-year striped bass, blue crabs, and moon jellyfish. Some of the students were from the New Jersey shore and were surprised to see small blue crabs. They were used to seeing the much-larger adults. 8/3 – Manhattan, HRM 1: With thoughts of oyster toadfish, we checked our research gear in Hudson River Park at The River Project's sampling station on the lighthouse tender Lilac at Pier 25. We were not disappointed, as we found ten young–of-year oyster toadfish (25-30 mm) and a blue crab (105 mm). Summer 2018 Natural History ProgramsSaturday, August 11 Free Trees for Streamside Planting Hudson River Miles DEC's Smartphone app for iPhone and Android is now available at: New York Fishing, Hunting & Wildlife App. NY Open for Hunting and Fishing InitiativeUnder Governor Cuomo's Adventure NY initiative, DEC is making strategic investments to expand access to healthy, active outdoor recreation, connect more New Yorkers and visitors to nature and the outdoors, protect natural resources, and boost local economies. This initiative will support the completion of more than 75 projects over the next three years, ranging from improvements to youth camps and environmental education centers to new boat launches, duck blinds, and hiking trails. Read more about the Adventure NY initiative. For more information on planning an outdoor adventure in New York State, visit DEC's website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor.Information about the Hudson River Estuary Program is available on DEC's website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4920.html. 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
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Hudson River Almanac 
7/29 – Manhattan, HRM 2: In early afternoon, a member of the construction crew restoring pilings under the Hudson River Park’s Pier 40 brought a large oyster (Crassostrea virginica) to The River Project. They had found the oyster – 220 millimeters-long (mm) and weighing 23.3 oz. (1.46 pounds) – living on one of the pilings. At 8.66 inches-long, this was by far the largest oyster recorded in the estuary in modern times, exceeding one found on Hudson River Park’s Pier 25 during summer 2017 (185 mm or 7.3 inches).
7/29 – Ulster County, HRM 90: I was doing some work along Rondout Creek when I came upon five stone tools that had eroded out of the soil following heavy rains. My immediate thought was that these may have been Stone Age Native American (Indian) artifacts. (Photo of Snook Kill point courtesy of Tom Hall)
7/29 – Westchester County, HRM 35: After several days of heavy rain, we thought it would be interesting to look for mushrooms at Brinton Brook Sanctuary. We were very successful finding many mushrooms, including golden stalk boletus and several stands of Indian pipes, a ghostlike fungi that contains no chlorophyll and instead has a parasitic relationship with a fungi to get its food. (Photo of Indian pipes mushrooms courtesy of Ed Mertz)
7/29 – Westchester County: The first mile of our walk in our favorite northern Westchester park revealed only a smattering of the usual mushroom suspects (Amanita sp. and Russula sp.), particularly a lot of blushing amanita (Amanita rubescens). But, the second mile was a lot more fun. We found several lovely fresh fruitings of parasitic, saprobic Laetiporous cincinnatus, a chicken-of-the-woods mushroom, that grows in rosettes. Our chanterelle spot paid big dividends as well with some specimens as large as soda cans. (Photo of mushrooms courtesy of Steve Rock)
7/29 – Manhattan, HRM 4-1: Anglers at Hudson River Park’s Pier 84 caught young-of-year bluefish (125 mm) as well as male blue crabs (100 mm) today. At Pier 63, a camper caught a summer flounder (125 mm), a rare catch for us. Finally, at Pier 25 in Tribeca, anglers caught more bluefish (150 mm) as well as our first ever horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus). (Photo of horseshoe crab courtesy National Wildlife Federation)
7/30 – Orange County, HRM 41: Rob Stone and Matt Zeitler relocated a roseate spoonbill that was first sighted a week ago as it flew into Orange County’s Liberty Marsh. When I saw it later, it was by itself – resting, preening, and feeding – but never totally out in the open. Liberty Marsh is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. Our thanks to Barbara Butler (Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club) for relaying the original information on the sighting. (Photo of roseate spoonbill courtesy of Darren Poke)
7/31 – Ulster County, HRM 76: With two monarch butterfly programs for children coming up, I went out to see what I could find. On Boice Mill Road near Kerhonkson, I came upon a monarch caterpillar and eleven eggs in just 15 minutes. Out on Route 209, I saw four monarchs flying and found four caterpillars and four eggs. Finally, just south of Old Kingston Road, I came upon six monarch caterpillars and 21 eggs. More than enough! (Photo of monarch chrysalis courtesy of Betty Boomer)
8/1 – Troy to Nutten Hook, HRM 153-123: The annual tour of the Hudson estuary by student researchers with Cornell’s Water Resource Institute was not daunted by heavy rains. We explored sites from Troy south into Columbia County. At the mouth of the Wynants Kill in Troy, we spotted dozens of cherry-sized land snails climbing among several species of weeds, including the invasive spotted knapweed. (Photo of snails courtesy of Chris Bowser)
8/2 – Beacon, HRM 61: It was a gorgeous day to be along the river. The water matched the air at 83 degrees F, and soft ripples caressed the shoreline. Zion and Estelle Dixon helped us haul our seine and sort the catch that was dominated by young-of-year striped bass (47-51 mm). Along the strand line, we found several palm-sized blue crab moults of immature female or sally crabs. We first thought they were dead crabs, but a peek inside the carapace revealed that no one was home. Their former owners were out there in the shallows, considerably larger than the discarded shells they left behind. (Photo of student with blue crab courtesy of Phyllis Lake)
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