Sharp Rise in New York Beach Closings

Sharp Rise in New York Beach Closings Is Found 

By LISA W. FODERARO

Published: June 27, 2012
The New York Times

A report on water quality at the nation’s beaches has found that the number of closings and advisories from contamination concerns at New York State beaches rose sharply last year. It also warns that a new standard proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency could inadequately protect beachgoers.

The report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, called “Testing the Waters: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches” and released on Wednesday, found that a confluence of events — heavy rainfall, Hurricane Irene and a fire at a sewage treatment plant on the Hudson River in Harlem — had contributed to increased contamination of area beaches.

The number of days that New York beaches posted closings or swim advisories nearly doubled from the previous year. Beach closings and warnings nearly quadrupled in Connecticut for the same period, while edging up slightly in New Jersey. The fire alone discharged 200 hundred millions gallons of raw sewage into New York area waters.

Because the city’s sewer system has both storm water and waste traveling through it, even moderate rainfall can overwhelm treatment plants, spewing waste directly into the waterways.

“In New York City, that adds up to 30 billion gallons of sewage mixed with storm runoff” a year, said Larry Levine, senior attorney for the organization, adding that climate models for New York predict that warming temperatures will yield higher rainfall.

The findings in New York were in line with the national picture, which showed heavy rains causing sewage pollution and storm water runoff and prompting the third-highest number of closing and advisory days since the group began tracking recreational water more than 20 years ago.

The findings also come as the E.P.A., which sets federal standards for water quality, is revising the criteria for acceptable levels of bacterial contamination before an advisory is recommend. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, under the proposed standards, the agency would deem safe recreational waters with bacteria levels sufficient to cause 1 in 28 swimmers to become sick with gastrointestinal illnesses that can lead to diarrhea and vomiting. At Coney Island, which draws 120,000 visitors on a busy day, that could mean 4,285 people at risk of becoming ill — assuming they all went in the water.

Under the current standard, gastrointestinal illnesses are not counted unless they are accompanied by a fever. And the E.P.A. allows for a degree of bacterial contamination, but those standards, the council argues, are based on an outdated understanding of the full health risks.

The E.P.A. disputed the council’s assessment, saying in a statement that the agency’s draft criteria would “protect more than 99 percent of swimmers from gastrointestinal illnesses” and that it was developed to safeguard the public from a “more broadly defined set” of illnesses. The council said in a statement that the environmental agency “was missing a critical opportunity to better protect beachgoers.”

The council also called on municipalities to install protections like porous pavements and plantings along sidewalks to help capture storm water. In March, New York City committed to spend $2.4 billion in public and private money over 18 years for those kinds of protections.

At 224 of New York’s 372 beaches, there were 1,841 closing and advisory days last year. That was a 93 percent increase from 956 such days in 2010, a relatively clean year for state beaches.

The report showed that despite gains in water quality under the federal Clean Water Act, aging sewer systems hindered improvement. “While there’s been tremendous progress in cleaning up our waterways around the country, one of the biggest remaining problems is pollution associated with storm water runoff, which is episodic and linked to rain events,” Mr. Levine said.

A version of this article appeared in print on June 28, 2012, on page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Sharp Rise in New York Beach Closings Is Found.

A Little Barracuda in NY Harbor

It was a few hours from high tide as friends and I were walking to the edge of Sandy Hook Bay, located downstream from the very urbanized shore of New York City, to go seining. It was a hot, hazy, and humid afternoon. Temperatures were in the low 90s around Lower New York Bay. Surface water temperatures were cooler, but still warm with readings in the mid to upper 70s.  

Nonetheless, we were more concerned with finding out what lives in the bay on this particular early summer day, rather than taking a swim in the water to cool off. That would be done later. First things first of course.

After a few hauls of our 30-foot seine net along the shallow edge of the bay, the catch included several young winter flounder, bluefish, northern pipefish, comb jellies, blue crabs, two small menhaden, and numerous Atlantic silversides and Bay Anchovies. The usual bunch of bay critters and characters this time of year.

Yet, the "catch of the day" was undoubtedly two small fish that appeared at first like very small barracudas. But can barracudas live in New York Harbor? If so, this would offer a whole new sensation and spectacle to swimming in the bay. 

The fish had long, pointed snouts with the lower jaws extending out beyond the upper jaws, just like a barracuda. They both had stretched out bodies, pike-like heads, and large jaws, both of which contained very small fang-like teeth. Very much like a barracuda. It was a good thing the fish were only about 3 inches in length. Any larger and I doubt I would have held one in my bare hand.

After checking a few field guides, including my favorite, Kenneth Able and Michael Fahay's Ecology of Estuarine fishes, it turned out the two fish found in the net were juvenile Northern Sennets. A fairly common species in Lower New York Bay.

Even though the fish is a member of the barracuda or Sphyraenidae family, an adult Northern Sennet only grows to about 1 foot in length, which is diminutive size compared to its southern cousins. Some species of barracudas can reach up to 3 to 4 feet in length.

According to Able and Fahay, spawning for the Northern Sennet takes place during spring in oceanic waters. The larvae start swimming about two days after hatching and began to feed by the third day. Larvae average about half-an-inch after three weeks. Juveniles start to enter estuarine waters in June at about an 1.5 to 3.5 inches long. By August the fish has generally increased in size up to 7 inches. Around fall the young-of-the-year migrate out of the bay to shallow coastal waters where they will continue to grow, feed, and mature. 

It is here in coastal waters that adult Northern Sennets can be found, often forming large schools. They feed on small fish and crabs.

in spite of this information, as Able and Fahay mention, there is much we do not know yet about the life history and eating behavior of the Northern Sennet. For whatever reason, this fish still holds great mystery and ambiguity. Who knows what secrets it might hold.

Yet, this we do know. There is a certain population of Northern Sennet that calls Lower New York Bay home during its childhood. This population of Northern Sennet depends on the rich waters and marshlands of the estuary for part of its life cycle. We also know that while the bay doesn't have barracudas (at least not a permanent population at this time), the Sphyraenidae family is in attendance. No doubt, there is a diversity in this bay that is often surprising and rewarding.

After tasking a few pictures, we released all the fish back into the bay, including the two sennets. We did not want to disturb the mysterious life cycle since the juveniles have moved into the estuary to begin their journey to adulthood.

Besides, it was too hot to think anymore about fish. The cool waters of the bay were too much of a temptation. We jumped in for a quick swim to cool off. Not realizing that we were most likely swimming with the little fish that are cousins of the barracuda. No worries though. We survived. We walked back to our cars with all our fingers and toes, albeit a bit more educated, wet, and sandy than we started the day.

Sea Level is Rising Faster on East Coast

Sea rise faster on East Coast than rest of globe
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- From Cape Hatteras, N.C., to just north of Boston, sea levels are rising much faster than they are around the globe, putting one of the world's most costly coasts in danger of flooding, government researchers report.

U.S. Geological Survey scientists call the 600-mile swath a "hot spot" for climbing sea levels caused by global warming. Along the region, the Atlantic Ocean is rising at an annual rate three times to four times faster than the global average since 1990, according to the study published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

It's not just a faster rate, but at a faster pace, like a car on a highway "jamming on the accelerator," said the study's lead author, Asbury Sallenger Jr., an oceanographer at the agency. He looked at sea levels starting in 1950, and noticed a change beginning in 1990.

Since then, sea levels have gone up globally about 2 inches. But in Norfolk, Va., where officials are scrambling to fight more frequent flooding, sea level has jumped a total of 4.8 inches, the research showed. For Philadelphia, levels went up 3.7 inches, and in New York City, it was 2.8 inches.

Climate change pushes up sea levels by melting ice sheets in Greenland and west Antarctica, and because warmer water expands.

Computer models long have projected higher levels along parts of the East Coast because of changes in ocean currents from global warming, but this is the first study to show that's already happened.

By 2100, scientists and computer models estimate that sea levels globally could rise as much as 3.3 feet. The accelerated rate along the East Coast could add about 8 inches to 11 inches more, Sallenger said.

"Where that kind of thing becomes important is during a storm," Sallenger said. That's when it can damage buildings and erode coastlines.

On the West Coast, a National Research Council report released Friday projects an average 3-foot rise in sea level in California by the year 2100, and 2 feet in Oregon and Washington. The land mass north of the San Andreas Fault is expected to rise, offsetting the rising sea level in those two states.

The USGS study suggests the Northeast would get hit harder because of ocean currents. When the Gulf Stream and its northern extension slow down, the slope of the seas changes to balance against the slowing current. That slope then pushes up sea levels in the Northeast. It is like a see-saw effect, Sallenger theorizes.

Scientists believe that with global warming, the Gulf Stream and other ocean currents are slowing and will slow further, Sallenger said.

Read more at:http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_EAST_COAST_RISING_SEAS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-06-24-14-20-22

Blow Fish Blowing in NY Harbor

In the waters of Lower New York Bay can be found a surprising breadth of diversity that people generally assume only exists in more exotic or organic locations. Even though this estuary is part of one of the most urban coastlines in the world, it's a surprising place that provides endless entertainment to all those that venture out. 

It was a gorgeous Saturday morning as I was heading out by the side of Sandy Hook Bay, a small cove situated downstream from New York City and part of the much larger New York Harbor. Along with a few friends, we were going to seine the shallows to discover what might be living in the water during this late June day.

The water felt terrific. Surface water temperatures were in the upper 70s. There was an incoming tide and winds were light from the west. Using a 30-foot seine net, our hauls included many Atlantic silversides, Bay Anchovies, Lady Crabs, Blue Crabs, Hermit Crabs, pipefish, Sand Shrimp, a few juvenile Winter Flounders, and a small Bluefish. 

The highlight of the day, however, was a beautiful looking adult Northern Puffer. The first sight of the year for this fish. We measured it at about 8-inches in length. Northern Puffers usually grow between 8 to 10 inches long.

The fish looked extraordinary, like something discovered in the tropics. It was a small club-shaped fish, yellow to olive in color with dark vertical marks and a white belly. The fish had a tiny, beak-like mouth. Its eyes were deep black surrounded with a bright orange hue.

The most amazing thing, though, is what this fish did for self-defense. It "puffed-up" in a sphere, about the size of a tennis ball. The fish did this by inhaling water into a special chamber near the stomach.  Then it spit the water out of its mouth and into our faces to deflate, ha! We probably deserved this for disturbing the poor puffer from its normal Saturday morning routine. 

Despite being spit on, we were really happy to find this puffer. Not everyone finds a puffer when seining in Sandy Hook Bay.

Northern Puffer fish used to be a common fish along the coastlines of both New York and New Jersey. In the book, Ecology of Estuarine Fishes, authors Kenneth Able and Michael Fahay report that the Northern Puffer was the fifth most abundant fish in New Jersey between 1929 to 1933, but failed to make the top 20 in the 1970s. In the 70s and 80s, poor water quality lead to its downfall and to quickly decreasing numbers.

Yet, the good news is that thanks to the federal Clean Water Act and countless efforts by volunteers, and non-profit and government organizations, there have been a slow increase in Northern Puffer populations. Cleaner water and better habitat in the bay is showing that the species is coming back.

Every year more and more puffers visit the tidal waters of Lower New York Bay to spawn and feed from spring through autumn. Prey includes small crabs clams, worms, barnacles, sponges, and algae.

So the sight of a Northern Puffer brings hope and excitement. To find a puffer not only brings a smile to every person that observes one, but the fish illustrates that long-standing efforts toward the restoration of Lower New York is working, albeit very slowly and not always trouble-free. More work is needed to help the puffer survive!

Goats take on Staten Island Phragmites

To Tackle an Invasive Weed, Bringing In the Hooved Pros
By LISA W. FODERARO
Published: June 21, 2012
The New York Times

On a sweltering afternoon on Staten Island, the New York City parks department unveiled its latest weapon in the war on phragmites, an invasive weed that chokes the shoreline: goats. Twenty Anglo-Nubians, to be exact. With names like Mozart, Haydn and Van Goat, and with floppy ears and plaintive bleats, they did not seem fearsome. But on Thursday they were already munching inexorably through the long pale leaves in the first phase of a wetland restoration at what will soon be Freshkills Park.

Known for their unending, indiscriminate appetites, the goats are being rented by the city for the next six weeks from a farmer in the Hudson Valley. Parks officials are counting on the goats to clear the phragmites across two acres of wetlands that will eventually be cultivated with native grasses like spartina and black needle rush. The hope is that the goats will weaken the phragmites, setting the stage for another series of assaults on their stubborn rhizomes — applying herbicide, scarifying the earth and laying down sand.

In the short term, the goats are part of an unusual experiment to eradicate the pesky reeds, which were introduced from Europe in the late 19th century and which, once rooted, are almost impossible to eliminate. They have fueled brush fires across the region and pushed out other species along the East Coast.

But the farm animals are also being tested for their lawn-mowing prowess, especially at Freshkills Park, which is in transition from its former life as the world’s largest landfill to its future one — as the largest park to be developed in New York City in more than a century.

“We want to introduce the idea of using goats to help in vegetation management,” Eloise L. Hirsh, the administrator of the park, said. “The sanitation department mows us once a year. But this is 2,200 acres. We need help.”

The goats are perhaps the most vivid example of the lengths to which the city is going to turn a symbol of environmental degradation into one of ecological redemption. As Freshkills Park is developed in phases over the next three decades, it will be a laboratory for green practices; there are plans for composting toilets, green roofs, rain gardens and a native seed farm.

The official opening of the park is two or three years off, though it is open periodically for tours. Three of the four giant mounds formed by garbage are now capped, and the parks department will soon solicit bids on the first stage of development — 21 acres with walking paths and a bird observation tower overlooking the wetlands. Already, the landscape looks impossibly bucolic, with dragonflies and swallows darting amid lanky grasses and the occasional tree.

The goats only add to the pastoral image. On Thursday, Beethoven, with long white ears and a black body, and Van Goat, sporting a black stripe down his chestnut back, were contentedly exploring their new territory, plunging their mouths into dense stands of phragmites. Others trotted down to the shore of Main Creek, a tributary of the Fresh Kill. (In yet another act of environmental rectitude, parks workers will soon arrange logs made of coconut fiber along the banks to attract mussels, which prevent erosion.)

“The first test was to see if they would eat the phragmites, and they’re eating it, so they passed,” said Terry Doss, an ecologist with Biohabitats, a company specializing in ecological restoration that is advising the parks department.

The city received a grant of $350,000 from the state for the wetlands project. (The cost of renting the goats from Larry Cihanek of Rhinebeck, N.Y., is $20,625 for the six weeks.) If the goats prove successful, Freshkills Park may one day have a permanent herd. “It’s exciting to be able to replace what would be a carbon-polluting mowing strategy with a more natural approach,” said Andrew Deer, a landscape architect for the parks department.

While goats have been deployed for phragmite duty elsewhere, some ecologists are skeptical.

“I’m not a big fan of goats,” said Bernd Blossey, an associate professor of natural resources at Cornell University. “I understand why people are desperate to try them. But they will eat the leaves but not the stems, and they also don’t like getting their hooves wet.”

Professor Blossey is experimenting with moth caterpillars, which can weaken phragmites. In the 1990s, he was successful in unleashing leaf beetles against another plant invader, purple loosestrife, which is not nearly the scourge it once was.

But as the goats made their debut this week at Freshkills Park, any such doubts were pushed to the background. Ms. Hirsh was already looking ahead to a day when goats not only keep phragmites in check, but also put Staten Island on the artisanal food map. “We would like to have a cheese manufacturer here,” she said. “I know there will be lots of skepticism. But it would be a pretty eloquent statement about how you really can restore land that was formerly very damaged.”

A version of this article appeared in print on June 22, 2012, on page A18 of the New York edition with the headline: To Tackle an Invasive Weed, Bringing In the Hooved Pros.

Taking it off on the First Day of Summer

The summer solstice arrived today around the Lower New York Bay watershed region  at 7:09pm. Heralding its arrival was the warmest day of the year so far. Officially, the temperature was something like 92 degrees in the shade, but directly under the sun, the temperature was closer to 100 degrees.  No doubt about it, the sultry days of summer are here.

As the tide was coming in, I went for a walk along Sandy Hook Bay after work to cool off. The scent of suntan lotion was still fresh in the air from what must have been hundreds of people at the beach earlier in the day. Yet, I doubted anyone noticed what I was seeing.

All along the high tide line on the bayside beach were countless tiny molted shells from juvenile Horseshoe Crabs. Hundreds were scattered all about the seaweed and other debris that got washed in from last evening's spring tide. I tried to pick up as many as I could before the mosquitoes and flies got the best of me. 

The molts were small, some just about a half-an-inch wide while others were about an inch and a half wide. If your didn't know what a Horseshoe Crab was or realized the crabs molt as they grow, a person might have thought these were dead little sea creatures strewn on the beach. On the contrary, this was evidence of new life in the bay!

Here on the beach was proof that baby Horseshoe Crabs call Sandy Hook Bay, and the much larger Lower New York Bay, home. The next generation of crabs just casted off their old hard shell a few days ago. They crawled out the front, and left the old shell behind. Now they are bigger and growing towards adulthood. A new generation of Horseshoe Crabs are surviving downstream from New York City.  What a find as summer begins!

Horseshoe crabs grow by molting or shedding their shell during the summer. These "molts" or old shells are then often found on tidal bayside beaches. Likely the result of a recent molt from a juvenile Horseshoe Crab. These little crabs often live in the shallow edge of the bay for the first several years of their life, then moving into the deeper, darker waters of the bay as they get older.

All Horseshoe Crabs begin life as an egg. Spawning by adults takes place in May and June, with peak spawning occurring on evenings of high tides during the full and new moons. Eggs hatch about two weeks later, usually during the next moon cycle. A tiny Horseshoe Crab, about the size of a pea, crawls or swims into the surf where it will survive by hiding out in the knee deep waters of the bay, feeding  time and again when the tide goes out and burrowing in the sand to escape predation during other times of the day. 

A young-of-the-year crab will molt several times throughout its first year. The little crab will grow about 45% in its first molt and increase by about 75% during its second molt. While these numbers sound impressive, this activity just brings the crab in size to about 1/2" wide. Miniature in size and vulnerable to predators. It also takes about 24 hours for the new soft shell to harden, leaving the little critter unprotected and helpless.

By the time a young Horseshoe Crab reaches its second or third year in the bay, it will shed its shell only once a year. After each molt, the crab will increase in size between 25 to 30 percent until they become fully grown. Once the crab is an adult, it will stop molting.

Horseshoe crabs molt 16 times over an 8 to 12 year period. In general, it takes about eight to nine years for a male Horseshoe Crab to reach adulthood, and it takes a female Horseshoe crab about 12 years to mature, as females are normally larger than males because they have to carry the eggs. 

It takes a long time for a young Horseshoe Crab to become an adult. Each day is a fight for survival. As the summer season begins, though, a good many of the crabs that were born last year or even two years ago seem to have what it takes to endure near one of the most urban coastlines in the world. Without the survival of these young Horseshoe Crabs, the annual spectacle of scores of crabs coming up onto beaches around Lower New York Bay to spawn in May and June will be no more.

Lower New York Bay is Ibis Country!

Early morning is always a great time to walk and look for birds through Cheesequake State Park, a nearly 400 acre natural area located near Raritan Bay in Old Bridge Township, NJ, situated across from Staten Island. Over the weekend I saw and heard many birds, including Barn and Tree swallows, Red-winged Blackbirds, Marsh Wrens, Yellow Warblers, Goldfinches, Bluebirds, Great Blue herons, Great Egrets, Catbirds, Cardinals, Robins, and lots of Ospreys either in their nest or circling over-head. 

Yet, in one of the swampy areas that was more characteristic of the Pine Barrens of South Jersey than the wetlands of Lower New York Bay, I spotted a curious and interesting find. Out in the open, but blending in nicely with its shadowy natural surroundings, was a very dark bird, about two feet high, with a distinctive, long curved bill.

Was it a curlew? It would have been a nice find if it was, but I didn't think so. Curlews are mostly western birds related to sandpipers with extremely long bills. They tend to pick and probe deep in the mud and sand to gather up prey. 

The bird I was looking at appeared more like a wading bird. Foraging mostly by walking in the shallow water, probing into the soft mud with its bill for insects.  What could it be? Luckily, as the sun started to rise in the sky to shine, glimmer, and gloss on the bird's feathers I began to clearly see what this bird truly was.

It turned out to be an adult Glossy Ibis in full breeding plumage. The body feathers were dark brown, almost chestnut in color with glossy blue-green wings that gleamed in the sun. The face was dark, but with a pale border of feathers. It had a dark iris. There was no doubt in my mind that I was looking at a single Glossy Ibis  that was happily probing the soft earth and finding lots to eat.

It might have looked awkward with its long bill, but the Glossy Ibis moved with grace and swiftness as it foraged in the water. Its long, lanky legs served it well to navigate the obstacles of the water, such as stumps and drift wood.

Seeing an ibis within the New York City metropolitan region might be shocker for some. Let's face it, it's an unlikely place. Lots of folks may well believe an exotic looking bird like this can only be found someplace more wild and biological. 

Yet, don't give up on Lower New York Bay. Although there is still more work to be done to clean up its waters, this urban estuary provides what the Glossy Ibis and other wading birds, like herons and egrets, need to survive. The rich tidal waters of the bay provide these wading birds, which nest in colonies, several remote and protected islands to raise their young.

Known as the Harbor Herons Complex and managed, in part, by New York City Audubon, there are several nesting islands and foraging areas throughout the New York City area that provide quiet places and protected places to feed and care for their offspring. Nesting islands include Pralls Island and Shooters Island, located near the north and west coastal waters of Staten Island, and Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, both found on the far southeastern end of Staten Island.

From these isolated islands within hectic New York Harbor, adult wading birds will fly off during the day to forage in shallow waters of the estuary. The food they find will then be brought back every evening to feed their young. It's a wonderful routine for the birds and an ideal habitat. The islands provide a fitting nesting home with minimal human and predator intrusion, and are close by to rich feeding areas, such as Cheesequake State Park.

Who would have thought that the busy, bustling waters of New York Harbor, an unlikely place to see a rich assortment of birds,  is actually Ibis country. In fact, Lower New York Bay is home to a sizeable population of Glossy Ibises during the spring and summer. Certainly you can say the islands of the bay belong to the birds! What a great estuary.

Dolphins diving off Staten Island's shore

Dolphins diving off Staten Island's shore is an unusual sight
Published: Monday, June 11, 2012, 10:59 A
By Kathryn Carse
SILive.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They show up fairly often in the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers in New Jersey, sometimes needing heroic measures to rescue them. But dolphins frolicking in Raritan Bay is a rare sight.

In the early evening on Memorial Day, it is a sight 12-year-old Steve Reiss Jr. and his mother, Donna, saw from his Boston Whaler off of Lemon Creek, Prince's Bay.

According to Steve Sr., the family had just watched "Jaws" on Saturday night, so there was a momentary panic before the excitement of realizing they were dolphins, two of them. Mrs. Reiss started snapping away with her point and shoot, getting enough of the elusive divers to identify them as dolphins.

"It's not that common to see them so close to shore. We do a lot of fishing and see them off-shore. Never right outside the marina," said Mr. Reiss. Members of the Princess Bay Boatmen's Association, the family keeps their boats at Lemon Creek.

Mr. Reiss said that his wife reported her sighting to the American Littoral Society, an environmental group dedicated to coastal conservation. She said the people there also seemed surprised by the dolphins' presence and suggested that the large amount of bait fish such as bunker that is around probably drew them in.

Another Glimpse of the Tallest Bird in the Bay

Standing up straight at about 4-feet tall with a 6-foot wingspan, the Great Blue Heron is the tallest native bird found in Lower New York Bay. Despite its height, though, it's not an easy bird to view up close in the wild. 

The Great Blue Heron is unmistakable. It's a beautiful, striking wading bird with a lengthy, pointed bill, slender long legs, grayish-blue body feathers, and a bright white head with a dark crown that ends with a plume of black feathers on top. Often the bird is seen standing still and silently in or near the water foraging mostly for fish, frogs, or turtles. 

When you spot a Great Blue, it's automatically a pleasing sight often within a peaceful environment, though don't confuse it with a crane, because it is not. A Great Blue Heron might look similar, but cranes are long-legged wading birds found frequently in the wetlands and open fields out west. We have herons around Lower New York Bay. 

Yet, try to get up near to a Great Blue Heron for the perfect up-close picture, and it will fly away before you can even tale your first step. Great Blues can also be shy, subtle, and solitary birds. Not a simple subject to photo.

So I don't know what I did to be so lucky the other day. A Great Blue allowed me to get within walking distance to take a few quick pictures before it flew away. 

The showers had stopped, and on a noon-time walk around Spermaceti Cove in Sandy Hook Bay, I spotted the big bird foraging for fish, most likely Bay Anchovies or Spearing, in the shallow ebbing waters of the estuary. Slowly I sauntered over, partly hidden by the high shrubs and marsh grasses. I focused my camera, and click, click, click. Several pictures were taken of this beautiful bird.

Then before I could take another, the Great Blue flew away to another part of the cove to continue to seek out a tasty lunch, solitary and silent. Though brief,  my time spent with this particular Great Blue was a great pleasure for the lasting photos I have of this bird in the wild, near NYC.

Little Yellowlegs Near New York City

It can be hard to believe at times when walking the fast paced, crowded city sidewalks of Manhattan that any wilderness or wildlife can exist nearby. Yet it is does. 

(Lesser Yellowlegs seen recently foraging for food near Lower New York Bay)

 

Perhaps the last places that real wilderness can be discovered in the New York metropolitan region is in or near the water, within rivers, streams and estuaries. Close to and in the water can be found a wide diversity of wildlife and a few surprises too.

Take for example just one hour out of one day at one particular place near Lower New York Bay. The other day I spent the early morning hours bird watching at Great Kills Park located on southern shore of Staten Island, not far from the busy and bustling streets of lower Manhattan.

Small flocks of sandpipers, egrets, and killdeer could be seen along the beaches and nearby wetlands. Yet, what caught my eye was a slim bird with bright yellow legs. The bird was small, less than a foot high, about 10 inches in length. It was all alone foraging for food in a small cove connected to the great tidal waters of the big bay. 

It was a Lesser Yellowlegs. An old friend that I have seen quite often during the spring and fall foraging for food along the edges of Lower New York Bay. Every spring this coastal bird, which is related to the sandpiper family, will migrate northwards from its winter home down south to rest and feed in the shadows of New York skyscrapers.

Why? It's because Yellowlegs likes it here. Surprised? As waters get cleaner and more land is restored and turned into open space, wildlife are starting to call Lower New York Bay good habitat. For Yellowlegs, we got what it needs. Plenty of food, such as small fish, crabs, and small aquatic insects too. 

There was Yellowlegs about 30 feet in front of me foraging in the shallow waters of the bay at low tide, picking up foodstuff just below the water's surface. Little by little it would walk around, sometimes swinging its head back and forth with the tip of its bill still in the water searching for a meal. Often the head would come with a tiny fish or insect. What a sight to see! Wildlife at its best, free and natural. 

Unfortunately, Yellowlegs will not stay long in the bay. It must continue its long migration northward to nest in the open boreal forest of far northern Canada. Instinct is telling the bird that it's time to create another generation of Yellowlegs.  

With any luck, this bird or another Yellowlegs will be back in the fall. To rest and forage in one of the unlikeliest places in the world for any wild animal to be, Lower New York Bay. One of the last wild places in the New York metropolitan region.

Pregnant and Blue But on the Move

I was out today conducting a fish survey with a 20-foot seine net near Port Monmouth, a small coastal community along Sandy Hook Bay and located downstream from New York City. By and large nothing special, just the usual. A bunch of bay anchovies, some juvenile Atlantic Croakers and a whole lot of Hermit Crabs. No doubt they were feeding on the abundance of plankton and detritus found on the shoals. 

The highlight came later on when about a half-a-dozen blue crabs were hauled in. They were all were females and all pregnant with eggs. New life about to be produced in the bay! How exciting!

Pregnant” female blue crabs carry fertilized eggs under their abdomen and from a distance these eggs resemble a sponge, hence the name “sponge” crab. The average sponge contains about two million eggs. 

Chances are pretty good that all these pregnant girls mated in 2011 within the fresher part of the estuary, up streams and creeks near the salt and freshwater boundary. Then the females took off to migrate to the higher salinity waters near the mouth of the bay.

The females overwintered here and then will spawn in these salty parts of the estuary, usually from May through August.  After she releases her eggs into the water to hatch, the female will then migrate again to other areas of the bay to feed.

For such a small critter, a female Blue Crab has a pretty busy life cycle that involves a whole lot of travel and migration between high and low salinity areas in Lower New York Bay. Lady Blue Claw Crabs certainly get to travel a lot when pregnant,. What a work-out!

Without doubt there is more time and effort that goes into making a crab cake sandwich ahead of the kitchen. Thanks goes to the courageous little female sponge crabs that take on these grueling migrations to bring about a new generation of Blue Crabs in the bay!