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THE NEWSLETTER OF CITY SPRING WINTER 2017 2014 / VOLUME / VOLUME XXXVIII XXXV NO. NO. 1 4

THE URBAN AUDUBON

Saltmarsh Loss and Restoration Feathered Friends: A New Afterschool Program Birding by Subway: Are You Kidding? Horseshoe Crab Festival NYC AUDUBON MISSION & VISION Mission: NYC Audubon is a grassroots community that works for the protection of PRESIDENT’S PERCH Jeffrey Kimball wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs, improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers. arch marks the very beginning of spring migration. Traditionally, this is a time Vision: NYC Audubon envisions a day when of great excitement and anticipation for us nature lovers: Snow melts, flowers birds and people in the five boroughs enjoy a healthy, livable habitat. Mbloom, and of course, skies fill with migrating birds. This spring, however, ush- ers in an ominous mood as we adjust to a new administration in Washington that does not THE URBAN AUDUBON seem to understand the value, either intrinsic or economic, of a healthy environment. Editors Lauren Klingsberg & Marcia T. Fowle We face the imminent threat that new federal policies will roll back many of the gains Managing Editor Andrew Maas that those of us at NYC Audubon have made over the years to preserve the environment Newsletter Committee Ellen Azorin, and make habitats more wildlife-friendly. Through changes in political ap- Lucienne Bloch, Ned Boyajian, Suzanne Charlé, Diane Darrow, Meryl Greenblatt, pointments, regulatory policies, and federal funding, many of the programs that have been Catherine Schragis Heller, Mary Jane a mainstay for preserving and protecting wildlife around New York City—and throughout Kaplan, Abby McBride, Sarah McGullam, the country—could be severely undermined. Hillarie O’Toole, Don Riepe, Carol Peace Robins NYC Audubon is not a lobbying body. But we do have a voice, and as citizens we can help move the dial. For example, by contact- Printing & Mailing Kase Printing, Inc. ing the offices of our elected representatives, we can Design Whitehouse & Company TAKE ACTION! Art Director make our passions known. Phoning is thought to Christina Rubin RECEIVE NYC AUDUBON Publisher NYC Audubon be more effective than letter writing in this age of ACTION ALERT EMAILS robo-letters. Better yet is to show up in person at THE URBAN AUDUBON is published four Stay current on pressing times per year (spring, summer, fall, and any sort of town hall or public meeting. It might environmental issues that require winter) by Society, seem old-fashioned, but in fact, this is a highly ef- immediate action. Enroll to receive Inc. fective method. environmental action alerts from BOARD OF DIRECTORS But it’s not always about legislation. As our NYC Audubon by sending your President Jeffrey Kimball Executive Director Kathryn Heintz says, there’s email to communications@ Executive Vice President David Speiser never going to be legislation passed that prohibits Vice President Catherine Schragis Heller nycaudubon.org. Treasurer Fredric Spar the use of glass windows in buildings. But by edu- Secretary Alexander Ewing cating and influencing architects and developers, Immediate Past President Harrison D. Maas we can promote environmentally friendly alternatives, like the use of bird-safe glass. And Directors Robert Bate; Karen Benfield; Drianne Benner; Chris Cooper; by encouraging building managers to turn off their lights from midnight to dawn during Richard H. Fried, VMD; Sarah Jeffords; peak bird migration times (following our Lights Out New York Program) we can save tens Lauren Klingsberg; Deborah Laurel; of thousands of birds every year. Lawrence Levine; Eugene Nardelli; Rachel Quiñones; John Shemilt; Alan Steel; Perhaps most important, we must promote the message that taking care of the Tom Stephenson; Michael Tannen environment and working to mitigate climate change are economically prudent moves. As a businessman, our president would be well advised to run the numbers and realize the ADVISORY COUNCIL Co-Chair Marcia T. Fowle; Co-Chair James R. cost/benefits of preserving the environment sooner rather than later. Rapid warming of the Sheffield; Oakes Ames; Richard T. Andrias; earth will surely lead to massive refugee influx, agricultural disasters, and economic turmoil Sarah Grimké Aucoin; Claude Bloch, MD; around the world. Marsilia A. Boyle; David Burg; Albert K. Butzel; Clifford Case; Rebekah Creshkoff; The good news is that change is built into our political system. This time it may hurt Andrew Darrell; Joseph H. Ellis; Andrew us, but it has worked in our favor in the past—and it will again in the future. As we delight Farnsworth, PhD; Lynne Hertzog; Mary in spring migration, we must do everything in our power to fight for the health of the planet. Jane Kaplan; Robert J. Kimtis; Kimberly Kriger; Janice Laneve; Pamela Manice; Peter Indeed, the only way to continue America’s greatness is to work to make our environment a Rhoades Mott; Dorothy M. Peteet, PhD; livable and sustainable habitat for all of its living creatures. Don Riepe; Lewis Rosenberg

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Kathryn Heintz ANNUAL REPORT 2016 AVAILABLE ONLINE ON MARCH 3 DIRECTOR OF CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE NYC Audubon’s Annual Report 2016 will be available March 3 on our website at Susan Elbin, PhD www.nycaudubon.org/annual-report. To request a print copy, contact the office at 212-691-7483.

RECYCLED 2 www.nycaudubon.org Supporting responsible use of forest resources IN THIS ISSUE SPRING 2017 ©Don Riepe

NYC AUDUBON 71 West 23rd Street Suite 1523 New York, NY 10010 Tel: 212-691-7483 Fax: 646-606-3301 www.nycaudubon.org

Cover Photograph: Barn Swallow Chicks, ©Lloyd Spitalnik Small Banner Photographs: Susan Elbin, Steve Nanz, and Don Riepe 6

FEATURES ©Sybil Costello 4 Be Bold by Kathryn Heintz 4 Remembering Mary Tyler Moore

6 Saltmarsh Loss and Restoration in by Don Riepe

7 Kingsland Wildflowers 9 8 Birding Cemeteries in the Five Boroughs: ’s ©François Portmann by Mary Jane Kaplan

8 Assure Your Own Legacy of Protecting Birds 9 Feathered Friends: A New Afterschool Program by Chris Cooper 10 The Marbled Godwit by Carol Peace Robins 11 11 Birding by Subway: Are You Kidding? by Marcia T. Fowle and Kellye Rosenheim ©Don Riepe 18 Horseshoe Crab Festival at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge

20 Spring NYC Shorebird Blitz

DEPARTMENTS 2 Annual Report 2016 12 Events and Adventures 4 Volunteer! 17 Book Reviews 20 5 Conservation Notes 18 News & Notes 10 Winter/Spring 2017 Lecture Series 19 Acknowledgments and Annual Meeting

Spring 2017 3 REMEMBERING BE BOLD Kathryn Heintz MARY TYLER MOORE

t is late February as we go to press on our spring issue. We ©Geraldine de Haugoubart ew York City find the governance of our nation in flux. We are adapting and Audubon mourns Iforming an action-based response. Environmental causes— Nthe loss of Ameri- including bird conservation and habitat protection—are among the can icon Mary Tyler Moore, targets of the new administration, along with the arts, education, who passed away in January. liberty, and many hallmarks of humanity. Science is under siege, as The legendary television ac- is truth itself. tress and producer was also New York City Audubon will continue its work, which is renowned for her love and ad- now at great risk. So much has been accomplished, and we have vocacy for animals. Through momentum. We run a thrifty operation and will persevere. It will humor, she transformed our take courage and fortitude. Now is not the moment to be silent. We Mary Tyler Moore with society’s perspectives on ask that our members stay informed on policy issues, be vigilant, Former Executive Director women, especially profes- and speak up. E.J. McAdams sional women. With pas- We are a small but nimble organization and can share sion, she changed our city’s environmental action alerts quickly. Be sure your email is enrolled approach to raptors, especially a certain red-tailed hawk. Mary to receive our eGret email newsletter. Email is the most rapid and Tyler Moore involved herself personally and publicly in the cause cost-effective way for us to reach you with Audubon action alerts. of her upstairs neighbor Pale Male and supported New York City Please also consider following like-minded environmental advocacy Audubon when he and we needed her influential voice most. She organizations such as Natural Resources Defense Council, The Sierra made a difference. Club, The Nature Conservancy, League of Conservation Voters, In the photo above, Mary Tyler Moore, honored at the 2005 American Bird Conservancy, and Environmental Defense Fund. We Fall Roost for her efforts on behalf of Pale Male and his mate are all in this together. Lola, is pictured with then-Executive Director E.J. McAdams. Financial support is always welcome; your time and engagement She remained a member of New York City Audubon’s Advisory in the environmental cause are needed most. Council for the next 10 years.

VOLUNTEER!

ork in NYC Audubon’s THE URBAN AUDUBON CONSERVATION PROJECTS York City. Volunteers are needed to Wfriendly office or in the field Join the newsletter committee and Become a citizen scientist and help monitor designated buildings for and make a difference for the City’s contribute your writing skills to conduct conservation research; bird collisions, rescue injured birds, wildlife. There are many ways to four seasonal issues. Meetings are read below about the various ways and record any casualties. Orienta- help. If interested in any of the proj- bi-monthly in the early evening. to get involved. All orientations are tions will be held Monday, March ects listed below, please contact us held at our office unless otherwise 20, and Thursday, March 23, 6-7pm. at [email protected]. For INJURED BIRD TRIAGE noted and require registration in information on spring volunteer During spring and fall migration, advance. Horseshoe Crab Monitoring: Count events such as beach clean-ups our office is deluged with reports horseshoe crabs, an important food and tree plantings, visit us at www. of injured and/or baby birds. Help Bird Transporters: We often receive source for migratory shorebirds in nycaudubon.org/volunteer-events. us by answering the phone, as- calls from individuals who have Jamaica Bay. Orientations will be sessing what help is needed, and, found injured birds but are unable held Thursdays, April 13 and 20, OFFICE VOLUNTEERS if appropriate, arranging transport to transport them to a rehabilitator. 6-7pm. Help with mailings, filing, and gen- to a rehabilitator. We need caring volunteers to trans- eral office work. Computer skills these birds to licensed wildlife Harbor Herons Foraging Study: and birding knowledge are not rehabilitators in the area. Observe herons and egrets as they required. If you do have computer forage in New York City waterways. and/or Excel skills, however, we Project Safe Flight: Spring is here, An orientation will be held Monday, can always use help with conserva- and migrants confront many haz- May 1, 6-7pm. tion and education projects. ards as they migrate through New 4 www.nycaudubon.org CONSERVATION NOTES Debra Kriensky and Susan Elbin, PhD

s we go to press, final results from ©David Speiser NYC Shorebird Blitz on May 21. See page 20 the 117th Audubon Christmas for information on how you can participate. ABird Count are still trickling in. In December we held our 12th annual NYC Audubon is responsible for compiling meeting of the Harbor Herons and Waterbirds count numbers in the Lower of the Greater NY/NJ Harbor Working Hudson (NJLH) region, a 15-mile-diameter Group, bringing together professional count circle that includes , the scientists and managers from governmental Meadowlands in New Jersey, and parts of agencies, nonprofits, and academia working in such as Astoria and the region to conserve and protect waterbirds City. The counts for this region took place and their habitats. The cornerstone of the on December 18, and, as always, we had meeting was the Harbor Herons Nesting some exciting birds pop up: an American Survey results presented by NYC Audubon wigeon and an gull in ’s Black-throated Blue Warbler Research Assistant Tod Winston. (You can find Reservoir, a Lincoln’s sparrow in , the Survey results in the Summer 2016 issue an ovenbird and an orange-crowned warbler in 23 to fly up to Long Island’s Fire Island for of The Urban Audubon). By sharing data with , and a glaucous gull and a the end of the month before migrating south. other organizations and agencies represented seaside sparrow in New Jersey. Edward, the great egret we had tagged with at the meeting, we were able to combine our Of the 109 species counted in NJLH an SMS transmitter in 2015, came back to beach-nesting waterbird numbers for all NYC that day, 34 were found exclusively in New to breed in 2016. As of this beaches, excluding marsh islands: 72 pairs of Jersey, including wild turkey, American writing, he is in Ridgeland, SC, just north American oystercatchers, 46 pairs of piping woodcock, merlin, and common goldeneye. of Hilton Head Island. We look forward to plover, 120 pairs of black skimmers, and more Count-week birds (species missed on the count learning more details about local and long than 1,600 pairs of common and least terns day but seen in the three days before and after distance movement of birds from NYC nested on our City beaches this year. the count) included short-eared owl, red- through these new banding technologies. Much of our work for Project Safe Flight throated loon, black-throated blue warbler, This past September, NYC Audubon is up in the air—on rooftops. Perched on the and greater white-fronted goose. Overall, organized its second NYC Shorebird Blitz. Durst Organization’s One Bryant Park, our we had a great count this year, with 31,556 Throughout the day, we asked citizen scientists high-tech cameras are ready to collect data this birds found in NJLH. You can find results in all five boroughs to go out and count spring on the effect of artificial light quality from other counts, including those that took anywhere there might be shorebirds. While on migratory birds as they move through the place in Queens, , Staten Island, and regular surveys of shorebird hotspots can give night skies of Manhattan. This partnership , by visiting netapp.audubon.org/ us an idea of the maximum numbers of each project with New York University’s Center CBCObservation. species coming through our area, a one-day for Urban Science and Progress is funded by Our work with Waterbirds of New survey blitz allows us to assess the total number the Leon Levy Foundation. Our work on the York Harbor continues to bear fruit. During of shorebirds using our City at any one time. Jacob K. Javits Center and the new the 2016 field season our conservation With the help of 23 volunteers, we covered 35 Kingsland Wildflowers Roof in Greenpoint team banded young-of-the-year shorebirds, locations throughout the 5 boroughs, finding will continue as soon as spring approaches. seabirds, and wading birds. We received 3,161 shorebirds of 17 different species during Our advocacy hats are always on. We are fall and winter re-sighting information on this 24-hour period. Semipalmated sandpiper anxiously awaiting completion of the National semipalmated sandpipers, black skimmers, was the most abundant shorebird by far, with Park Service’s restoration efforts at Jamaica American oystercatchers, and double-crested 1,330 individuals city-wide. Most of these Bay’s West Pond to return it to a much- cormorants, learning that many of our birds shorebirds were at the East Pond of Jamaica needed freshwater source for the region. Wind spend the winter in Florida. In August Bay Wildlife Refuge, which not surprisingly energy is better than “clean coal,” but we will we deployed very small radio transmitters was the site with the highest concentration remain vigilant on how offshore windfarm (nanotags) on five semipalmated sandpipers; of shorebirds. Some exciting sightings were proposals could negatively affect wildlife. We after retrieving the data in December, we now pectoral sandpipers, also at the East Pond, and staunchly support the Endangered Species Act know that one of our sandpipers left Jamaica a long-billed dowitcher at Richmond Creek and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Please be Bay Wildlife Refuge’s East Pond after the in Staten Island. American oystercatchers ready to join us as we scrutinize any proposed August 18 Shorebird Festival, flew down were out in force, with 439 birds counted legislation that could harm wild birds and the coast to the Institute in Stone throughout the City—121 of them roosting their habitat in New York City. Harbor, NJ, then reversed course on August in Breezy Point. We will be conducting a third Spring 2017 5 S ALTMARSH LOSS AND RESTORATION IN JAMAICA BAY ©Don Riepe

Aerial Photo of Yellow Bar altmarshes are one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, providing food and Hassock, Jamaica Bay nutrients to the estuary, ocean, and many species of birds, fish, and marine life. Saltmarshes also protect the mainland as a buffer against coastal storms and flooding. Unfortunately, the vast saltmarshes of the northeastern have been eroding at a fairly rapid rate. There are many theories as to why: sea level rise and climate change; nutrient load (nitrogen Sfrom wastewater treatment plants); coastal development (channelization, dredging, and filling); herbivory (snow, brant, and Canada geese eating marsh grass); and sediment starvation (sediment getting trapped in dredged channels instead of being deposited in the marshes). In Jamaica Bay, the marshes have been eroding at an astonishing 40 acres per year. In response to this loss, the convened a Blue Ribbon Panel in 2001 to assess the situation, with the hope of reaching a better understanding of the causes and finding ways to restore the marshes. In 2002, a pilot project was undertaken whereby bottom sediment from Jamaica Bay was sprayed in a thin layer over the surface of Big Egg Marsh. Afterward, over 20,000 seedling plugs of Spartina alterniflora (saltmarsh cordgrass) were planted on the site with assistance from American Littoral Society volunteers. The next year the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) deposited thousands of cubic yards of clean sand on Elders Point East and hand-planted plugs of native marsh grass. Since then the USACE, along with the National Park Service, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, have completed work at Elders Point West and Yellow Bar Hassock. These projects cost taxpayers many millions of federal dollars. In order to lessen the costs and involve the local community, the Jamaica Bay EcoWatchers and the American Littoral Society undertook a plan in 2012 to restore two additional marshes, Black Wall and Rulers Bar (30 acres combined), using volunteer support, thus reducing the taxpayer cost by over 65 percent. Volunteers came from many groups, including NYC Audubon, the Church of God, Mitsui & Co., Bloomberg, Tanaka Corporation, and the neighboring Broad Channel community. In the fall the volunteer groups harvested Spartina seeds, which were transported to a specialized nursery in southern

6 www.nycaudubon.orgwww.nycaudubonwww.nycaudubon.o.oorrgg Kingsland Don Riepe Wildflowers

New Jersey to be thrashed and cold-stored in peat plugs for winter. In the spring the plants were trucked back to Broad Channel on Jamaica Earth Day Lecture Bay for planting. A flotilla of boats was organized to bring the plants and Roof Tour and hundreds of volunteers out to the two marsh sites for systematic planting. To date, over 250,000 individual plugs of saltmarsh cordgrass Saturday, April 22, 1pm have been hand-planted at these sites. Currently, the sites are being monitored by the National Park 520 KINGSLAND AVENUE, BROOKLYN, NY 11222 Service to assess the rate of native species restoration. The American Littoral Society is planning to undertake another two years of planting to fill in the gaps and ensure the establishment of the native grasses. It is hoped that the USACE and its team of city, state, and federal agencies can continue this restoration initiative to stabilize the rate of marsh erosion, and ultimately find solutions to the problem. NYC Audubon’s role in this effort is being supported by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Service’s Five Star and Urban Waters program and contributing funds from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, FedEx, and Bank of America. NYC Audubon’s conservation and outreach efforts in Jamaica Bay are also generously supported by Investors Bank Foundation, Williams, Patagonia, and ConEd. ©Don Riepe MY YARD IS “FOR THE BIRDS”: THE THINGS BIRDS LOOK FOR IN URBAN AND SUBURBAN YARDS, AND WHY THEY NEED TO BE THERE by Joyann Cirigliano

lease join us at the Kingsland Wildflowers Roof and Community Space in Greenpoint for a Ppresentation by Joyann Cirigliano, president and Atlantic Flyway projects coordinator at Four Harbors Audubon Society. Learn about the importance of backyard Aerial Photo of Elders Point West Marsh gardens for birds, and the ways in which utilizing native plants in landscape design will attract these feathered ©Don Riepe friends. The lecture will be followed by a tour of the Kingsland Wildflowers roof. This event is free and open to the public.

UPCOMING KINGSLAND WILDFLOWERS SPRING AND SUMMER PROGRAMS We are currently finalizing additional spring and summer programming at Kingsland Wildflowers. All upcoming events will be publicized in our eGret email newsletter and at www.kingslandwildflowers.com.

Funding provided by the Office of the New York State Attorney General and the New York State Department of Environmental American Littoral Society Volunteers Planting Conservation through the Greenpoint Community Environmental Fund Saltmarsh Cordgrass at Black Wall Marsh

Spring 2017 7 BIRDING CEMETERIES IN THE FIVE BOROUGHS:

STATEN ISLAND’S MORAVIAN CEMETERY Mary Jane Kaplan ©François Portmann advantage of view extends toward the , framed by Brooklyn and birding in cemeteries the New Jersey Highlands. The cemetery’s position at the eastern Ais the quiet they edge of the 2,800-acre makes it a strong offer. In most cases, cemeteries stopover target for migrating birds. Immediately adjacent is High are not found next to major Rock Park, identified on NYC Audubon’s website as 190 acres of highways, and the birds’ older second-growth forest, and “a fine place to bird in spring, fall, voices are not drowned out and winter.” by the noise from ball games, The Moravian Cemetery is a short walk from the Staten Island children at play, or musical Railroad’s Grant City station, after a 23-minute ride from the St. performances, as one often George Ferry Terminal. Come spring, when migrant birds return finds in city parks. and cherry trees, azalea, rhododendron, and mountain laurel are in Quiet did indeed prevail bloom, the cemetery will be well worth an exploratory visit. in late September last year when I scouted the Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island Yellow-bellied Sapsucker with NYC Audubon guide Tod Winston in search of birds. Despite a dark, rain-threatening sky that made spotting somewhat difficult, we saw or heard 25 species in a couple of hours, including rose-breasted grosbeak, red-breasted nuthatch, brown thrasher, downy and hairy woodpeckers, and yellow-bellied sapsucker. (Postings on ebird.org total 143 species for the cemetery.) At the same time, we enjoyed the fall foliage of the cemetery’s splendid collection of stately trees. The cemetery, which dates from 1740, comprises 113 acres of rolling land, with two lakes—which helps explain the Christmas Bird Count of 1922, which included loon, goldeneye, horned grebe, and red-breasted merganser among the 22 species seen, according to a document found by Richard Simpson, cemetery historian and tour leader. From the imposing Hillview Mausoleum, a panoramic Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island

ASSURE YOUR OWN LEGACY OF PROTECTING BIRDS

here are many ways to play a UÊ >“iʺ iÜÊ9œÀŽÊ ˆÌÞÊÕ`ÕLœ˜»Ê>ÃÊ>Ê The tax benefits of these options can be very significant and lasting role in residual beneficiary, or co-beneficiary, attractive, too. Be sure to speak with your Tsupporting NYC Audubon’s in your Retirement Account, Bank financial advisor about any arrangements mission to protect wild birds and their Account, or Insurance Policy. It’s very you make on behalf of New York City habitat in the five boroughs of New York easy! Often it can be done online. Audubon. City: Retirement plans include IRAs, 401(k) UÊ ˜VÕ`iÊ iÜÊ9œÀŽÊ ˆÌÞÊÕ`ÕLœ˜Êˆ˜Ê plans, profit-sharing plans, Keogh To learn more about ways to plan a gift your Will or Irrevocable Trust. Specify plans, and 403(b) plans. to New York City Audubon, contact “New York City Audubon Society, UÊ >ÛiÊ«>ޓi˜ÌÃÊvÀœ“ÊޜÕÀÊ,ïÀi“i˜ÌÊ Director of Development Kellye Rosenheim 71 West 23rd Street, New York, NY Account made directly to New York at [email protected] 10010” as a beneficiary. You can change City Audubon. You must be 70 ½ or or 646-502-9611. your bequest or designation at any time. older. Payments made this way are not included in your gross income.

8 www.nycaudubon.org Feathered Friends: A New Afterschool Program Chris Cooper

iss Sybil, I think it’s a mourning dove.” Ethel Mae, all of eight years old, may speak with a soft voice, but when she speaks she tends “Mto get things right. On this brief walk through , it takes her only a quick study through her binoculars to note the bird’s field marks and describe them to guide Sybil Costello. “I SEE IT!” another third grader, Jayden, shouts and charges forward—and guide Anders Peltomaa reminds him that this will only make the bird fly away. Jayden expresses frustration with binoculars, but Anders promises him he’ll get the hang of it. So it goes on a typical afternoon with the first-ever NYC Audubon “Feathered Friends” Student Birding Club. Sybil, Anders, and I recently completed the fall term of this new pilot afterschool program, designed to take interested “alumni” of Audubon New York’s “For ©Sybil Costello The Birds!” school-day education initiative on weekly guided birdwalks in local parks. It’s hoped that in the long run, the program will foster an appreciation of the natural environment and stewardship of wild places. The lessons and birdwalks of For The Birds! are a one-term experience for participants: When they finish that program, the “bird nerds” that it creates have nowhere else to go. Feathered Friends seeks to meet that need with a club that students can return to year after year. For The Birds! hatches the nestlings; Feathered Friends nurtures them until the young naturalists are ready to fledge. So what have we learned from piloting Feathered Friends with third graders at P.S. 344 AmPark Neighborhood School in the Bronx? The need is real. These kids had retained a tremendous amount of knowledge and enthusiasm, which might have been wasted without Feathered Friends. Of 20 club members, 18 had been in For The Birds! The difference in approach between Jayden, one of the two newcomers, and Ethel Mae, a For The Birds! alumna, stands as testament to what great potential we’re working with. The wonderful thing is, newcomers like Jayden seem to come up to speed fast because they’re picking up skills and enthusiasm from their peers. Afterschool is hard! We adult guides have had to learn whole new skills in how to manage students whose attention spans and discipline in the club environment are markedly Students from the AmPark Neighborhood School different from those in a classroom setting. Birding in Van Cortlandt Park, the Bronx It’s worth the effort. In this age when endless TV and video game options are creating a generation of couch potatoes, just getting the kids out of doors to appreciate the natural world is a triumph. We’ve started by introducing them to binoculars, the birder’s essential tool, and giving them tons of practice. Next semester will be focused around a specific science project—likely building and monitoring nest boxes for chickadees. Whatever we do, it will be aimed at investing the students in the natural treasures (in this case, Van Cortlandt Park) right in their own neighborhood. Finally, there are always surprises. For example, there was a day when young Jonathan, without any field guide or reference in hand, spontaneously told me that the scientific name for the red-tailed hawk is Buteo jamaicensis. That Feathered Friend could have knocked me over with a feather!

Spring 2017 9 The Marbled Godwit Carol Peace Robins ©Don Riepe he marbled godwit, known near freshwater marshes or ponds. scientifically as Limosa They line their ground nests with Tfedoa, and more informally grass and usually lay four greenish- by our own Don Riepe (member of olive eggs. Parents take turns NYC Audubon’s Advisory Council) incubating the eggs for about 22 as the “garbled modwit,” is a days. The young leave the nest soon member of the sandpiper family. At after hatching and immediately 18 inches tall, it’s a big sandpiper start pursuing their own food: For and the largest of the godwits. This them and their parents, this means cinnamon-colored shorebird has roots, seeds, and insects, including long legs and a slightly upturned grasshoppers. long pinkish bill. If you bird the By fall, godwits are off to the beaches frequently, you wouldn’t Marbled Godwits with American Oystercatchers east or west coasts, where they be blamed for thinking that certain and Black-bellied Plover form large flocks and roost together sandpipers tend to look alike. Bills in the saltmarsh meadows. They are a bit longer or shorter, they turn up or down; legs are really forage in shallow salt water, probing deeply in the mud or wet sand long or a little less so. It takes practice to tell the various species for mollusks, marine worms, and crustaceans. It’s common to see apart. them with their heads completely submerged in search of food. Don photographed the above godwits at Jamaica Bay in Don’s Jamaica Bay godwits probably headed south to coastal November. He said they’ve been sighted at various shorelines along Virginia or beyond, where they would join others for the winter. And the bay at high tide, often with their American oystercatcher pals. come late spring, it’s time to move back to their summer homes to “The godwits arrive in late summer and fall,” he said, “and stick start the cycle again. Join us at the Shorebird Festival at Jamaica Bay around until mid-November.” this summer (festival details will published in the summer edition Marbled godwits actually begin their lives in the northern of The Urban Audubon) and learn the tricks to identifying shorebirds. Great Plains, from Canada down to the Dakotas, Idaho, and Perhaps you’ll spot Don’s marbled godwits. Montana. This is where they breed in summer, in prairie grasses

Winter/Spring 2017 Lecture Series and Annual Meeting

All lectures are free and open to the public. This series has been made possible by the support of Claude and Lucienne Bloch.

COASTAL CHANGE, OCEAN CONSERVATION AND CONSERVATION PROGRAM UPDATE RESILIENT COMMUNITIES AND ANNUAL MEETING By Marcha Johnson, Amanda Bayley, and Don Watson By Susan Elbin, PhD, and Conservation Staff Thursday, March 16, 7pm Tuesday, June 6, 6pm Reidy Hall at the Unitarian Church of All Souls, The , Central Park, at 64th Street, Lexington Avenue between 79th and 80th Streets Third-Floor Gallery

With the publication of Coastal Change, Ocean Conservation and NYC Audubon conducts scientific monitoring in all five boroughs Resilient Communities, editors Marcha Johnson and Amanda Bayley to understand how birds are using our urban environment and how have brought together essays by leading practitioners in the fields of this environment affects them, via Project Safe Flight, our Jamaica coastal science, community resilience, habitat restoration, sustainable Bay program, and our Harbor Herons project. Join us as Dr. Susan , and floodplain management. They will share Elbin, Conservation Biologist Debra Kriensky, and our conservation what they learned compiling the book and introduce us to exciting team provide updates on what this research has taught us in the past projects underway. Joining them will be Don Watson and other year. Our board election and annual meeting will precede the lecture. contributors to address coastal adaptation in the era of climate change. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.

10 www.nycaudubon.org BIRDING BY SUBWAY: ARE YOU KIDDING?Marcia T. Fowle and Kellye Rosenheim

here else but in the metropolis Birding in Central Park or UÊ />Ži Ì i £ œÀ  ÌÀ>ˆ˜ ̜ ˜Üœœ` ˆ of New York City can you go is truly remarkable, but have you explored Park for a scheduled walk. The number Wbirding by subway—or bus? all the hot spots that bird-rich Staten Island of participants is usually limited to 15, New York City Audubon’s latest Birding by has to offer? Take a free ride on the Staten so sign up early. Subway brochure tells you how, where, and Island Ferry and follow the brochure’s bus UÊ 6>ÀˆœÕà wi` ÌÀˆ«Ã >Ài ÃV i`Տi` vœÀ Ì i when. If you wonder why birdlife is so rich in instructions to . Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, with no our City, or what you can do to help protect it, With the new Second Avenue subway participant limit and no registration this guide explains that too. extension, you can take the Q train to the 96th needed. The walk from the A train’s Start by taking a look at the brochure’s Street stop, walk to 102nd Street, and take the Broad Channel stop is about ¾ of a subway map and its list of “birding stops” in foot bridge over the to Randall’s mile, so add that distance to your walk all five boroughs. Although the Metropolitan Island. Keep your eyes peeled for peregrine in the Refuge. Your fitness tracker will Transit Authority (MTA) equipment and falcons. applaud your workout statistic. infrastructure is antiquated in places, you’ll Or join one of NYC Audubon’s spring UÊ 7œœ`>ܘ i“iÌiÀÞ >˜` Àii˜‡7œœ` see that it takes you far and wide. At each field trips to the birding spots highlighted Cemetery offer quiet, leafy areas for stop, the best season to visit—winter, spring, in the brochure by taking the MTA to the birding. The Urban Audubon is covering summer, and fall—is noted. Hungry for scheduled meeting place. Below are some a few of the borough cemeteries; colorful spring warblers? Just peruse the list suggestions; see page 12 for our full list of Woodlawn was featured in the Spring and look for the Sp symbol directing you to a trips and classes. 2016 issue and Green-Wood is due in spring songbird haven. UÊ />ŽiÊ>ÊÀˆ`iʜ˜ÊÌ iÊ£ÊÌÀ>ˆ˜ÊvœÀÊ->ÌÕÀ`>ÞÊ Summer 2017. Join a scheduled field You may be inspired to go far afield to a walks in Van Cortlandt Park. No trip or take the MTA with a friend; both birding spot; encourage a friend to join you participant limit and no registration are easy-to-reach birding stops. anandd ssetet out togetherr oonn a field trip.trip. necessary.necessary. InIn aaddition to providing this practical in- formation,formatio Birding by Subway includes dazzling picturespictures of the City’s diverse birdlife. Noted wildlifewildlife photographer François Portmann’s strikingstriking cover photo of a yellow-crowned night-heronnight-he in breeding plumage lures you intointo thethe brochure, while stunning photos by NYC AAudubon Executive Vice President Da- vidvid SSpeiserpei depict a dozen of the City’s many birdbird sspecies.pe Photos of our urban landscape byby AAdvisorydv Council Member Don Riepe* andand PPortmanno complete the picture. Former NYCNYC Audubon Communications Manager Tod Winston, for- mer Development Manager Anne Schwartz, and designer ChristinaC Rubin crafted this informativein and handsome bro- chure.chu Follow its directions to unexploredune birding spots and cel- ebrateebrat New York City’s birds. You cancan alsoa view an interactive, online versionversion of Birding by Subway at www. nycannycaudubon.org/birding-by-subwayy ud .

*The beach and brant cityscape photo on the map side of the brochure, incorrectly attributed to François Portmann, is by Don Riepe.

Spring 2017 11 EVENTS AND ADVENTURES

captivating walks. ’s garden York City every spring. Even if BIRDING BY EAR IN CENTRAL NYC Audubon Events • • setting overlooking the you’ve never picked up a pair of PARK Partnership Events • flyway provides the perfect habitat for binoculars, you’ll soon be identifying Tuesdays, April 11-May 9, 7-9:30am resident and migrating birds. Ages 10 warblers, thrushes, waterbirds, and Guide: Tod Winston WINTER BIRDS OF • and up welcome with an adult. NYC more—both by sight and by ear. Meet at Central Park West and 72nd BARNEGAT, NJ Audubon members enjoy two-for-one Three fun and educational in-class Street. Join Tod Winston for a five- Saturday, March 4, 9am-4pm admission (see www.wavehill.org for sessions, coordinated with field trips week exploration of all of the chips, Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers more information) to Jamaica Bay and Central Park tweets, trills, and warbles we hear as LLC (transport to Jamaica Bay included). we wander Strawberry Fields and the Explore Barnegat Inlet’s expansive • THE SKY-DANCE OF THE Limited to 12. $180 (126) Ramble. Though we certainly won't beach to view the winter birds that WOODCOCK, BROOKLYN pass up any non-singing birds we gather where land, bay, and sea meet. Saturdays, March 25 and April 1, • EARLY SPRING BIRD WALK AT come across, this series is intended Search for harlequin ducks, horned 5-9:30pm JAMAICA BAY specifically for those who'd like to larks, Lapland longspurs, snow Guide: Gabriel Willow Saturday, April 1, 10am-1pm identify birds by sound alone. We'll buntings, and snowy and short-eared The American woodcock is a Guide: Don Riepe discuss the meanings of different owls. Transport by passenger van remarkable bird. It is in the sandpiper With American Littoral Society and songs and calls as we get to know included. Limited to 12. $115 (80) family but lives in woodlands, often Gateway them. All experience levels welcome. far from beaches. The male performs Meet at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Limited to 12. $127 (89) • WINTER BIRDS OF SANDY HOOK, an incredible crepuscular aerial Refuge for a slide program and NJ display and song early in the spring, walk to look for eastern phoebes, SPRING MIGRATION IN PELHAM Saturday, March 11, 10am-5pm • soon after the snow melts in the American oystercatchers, osprey, BAY PARK, THE BRONX Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers northern United States. Let’s go look and other early migrants. For more Saturday, April 15, 9am-4pm LLC for it (and bats and owls and other information and to register, contact Guide: Gabriel Willow Sandy Hook, a spectacular barrier critters, too) at Field. Don Riepe at 718-474-0896 or Explore the lovely coves and rocky island at the northernmost point of Bring comfortable shoes, a headlamp [email protected]. No limit. Free outcroppings of the City’s largest the NJ coast, hosts a variety of species or flashlight, and a snack for a park, , seeking out including Arctic-bound migrants and post-woodcock picnic. Transport by • BIRDING TOURS OF BRYANT migrating songbirds, late wintering harbor seals that lie on the beach to passenger van included. Limited to PARK birds, ducks, and a breeding pair warm up in the sun. Other possible 12. $90 (63) per trip Mondays, April 10-May 15, 8-9am of great horned owls. The rich and sightings include loons, sea ducks, Thursdays, April 13-May 18, 5-6pm diverse habitat makes this park snow buntings, and horned larks. • BEGINNING BIRDING Guide: Gabriel Willow an urban gem and a great home Transport by passenger van included. Classes: Wednesdays, March 29; With Bryant Park Corporation for wildlife. Past rarities include Limited to 12. $103 (72) April 5 and 12, 6:30-8:30pm Meet at the Birding Tour sign at a northern goshawk and a purple Trips: Saturdays, April 8, 8am-2pm the 42nd Street and 6th Avenue sandpiper. Bring lunch and water. INTRO TO BIRDING: BIRD WALK • (Jamaica Bay) and April 15, 8-10:30am entrance to the Park. Discover the Transport by passenger van included. IN CENTRAL PARK (Central Park) surprising variety of birds that stop Limited to 12. $90 (63) Sunday, March 12, 8-10:30am Guide: Tod Winston in Bryant Park during migration. No Guide: Tod Winston Learn the keys to identifying the registration necessary. No limit. Free PROSPECT PARK BIRD WALK Meet at Central Park West and 72nd • spectacular variety of birds that Sundays, April 16 and June 18, 8-11am Street. Are you curious about "birding" migrate northwards through New Guide: Gabriel Willow but don’t have much (or any) ©David Speiser Meet under the arch in Grand Army experience? Come on a relaxed walk Plaza. Join Gabriel Willow for a to some of Central Park’s hotspots leisurely walk to see spring migrants to go over birding basics and see and breeding bird residents of sparrows, finches, warblers, ducks, “Brooklyn's Backyard.” Beautiful and more. Binoculars available. Prospect Park’s wide variety of Limited to 15. $36 (25) habitats attracts a large number of migrants and breeding bird species— SPRING BIRDING AT WAVE HILL, • significantly more than Central Park, THE BRONX in fact. We will explore the Park's Sundays, March 12, April 9, May 14, meadows, forests, and waterways and June 11, 9:30-11:30am in search of waterfowl, warblers, Guide: Gabriel Willow tanagers, and more. Limited to 15. With Wave Hill $36 (25) per walk Meet at the Perkins Visitor Center. Naturalist Gabriel Willow contributes his extensive knowledge of bird species and their behaviors on these American Woodcock

12 www.nycaudubon.org • EVENING SPRING MIGRATION • BIRDING GEMS OF QUEENS: • SPRING MIGRATION MORNING Each walk limited to 25. To register, WALKS IN CENTRAL PARK EVERGREENS CEMETERY AND THE WALK IN CENTRAL PARK email [email protected] Mondays, April 17-May 22, 5:30-7pm Fridays, April 28, May 5, and May 12, or visit www.queensbotanical.org/ Tuesdays, April 18-May 23, 5:30-7pm Sunday, April 23, 7:30am-1:30pm 8-10am calendar. Free with Garden admission Wednesdays, April 19-May 24, Guide: Kellye Rosenheim Guide: Gabriel Willow 5:30-7pm Explore the delights of historic Meet at 72nd Street and Central Park • BIRD WALK IN THE NORTH Guide: Gabriel Willow Evergreens Cemetery and its spring West and join Gabriel Willow for a WOODS Meet at 72nd Street and Central Park migrants. The trip continues with a spring morning walk in Central Park Thursday, May 4, 7:30-10:30am West for this six-week series of walks. long stop at Ridgewood Reservoir, to welcome the arrival of warblers, Guide: Tod Winston Witness the spectacle of spring where we will search the treetops vireos, tanagers, cuckoos, and other Meet at 103rd Street and Central Park migration as songbirds follow the and basin for more birds. Moderately species stopping off in the Park for a West, parkside. Explore the peaceful Atlantic flyway northwards. Look for strenuous with a great deal of hills rest and a snack on their way north. North Woods and Loch at the height orioles, tanagers, warblers, vireos, and stairs. Bring lunch. Transport by We will explore the Ramble and of spring songbird migration. We'll and other migrants in the wilds of passenger van included. Limited to surrounding areas, as well as stop for look (and listen) for warblers, vireos, Central Park, and learn about the 12. $96 (67) a rest and a enjoy a snack ourselves tanagers, grosbeaks, and more. finer points of their identification and at the Boathouse. Limited to 15. $36 Limited to 15. $36 (25) ecology. Limited to 15. $145 (102) per • BIRDING GEMS OF STATEN (25) per walk series ISLAND: SPRING HIKE IN THE • BIRDS, TECHNOLOGY, GREENBELT • AFTERNOON SPRING WALK AT AND CITIZEN SCIENCE: eBIRD • BIRDS AND PLANTS: NEW Sunday, April 23, 9:30am-3pm INWOOD HILL PARK WORKSHOP YORK IN Guide: Gabriel Willow Saturdays, April 29 and May 13, Thursday, May 4, 7-8:30pm (class) SPRINGTIME, THE BRONX With NYC Parks and the Greenbelt 2-5pm Saturday, May 6, 3-5pm (walk) Saturdays, April 22 and May 20, Conservancy Guide: Nadir Souirgi Guide: Gabriel Willow 10am-1pm Meet at the Manhattan terminal of Meet at , just inside Birders increasingly use technological Guide: Gabriel Willow the Staten Island Ferry and begin the Park entrance at Indian Road and tools to locate birds, share their Meet by the ticket booth just inside your tour on water as we cross the 218th Street. Inwood Hill Park, simply sightings, and keep track of their the Garden’s Mosholu Gate on Upper Bay. Explore trails within the put, is a jewel. Nestled between the observations. The most widely-used Southern Boulevard. The New York 3,000-acre Staten Island Greenbelt Hudson River, Dyckman Street, and of these tools is eBird, a website and Botanical Garden is home to a large and visit High Rock Park, Walker Seaman Avenue, this last tract of app that allows users to upload and tract of East Coast old-growth forest. Pond, and the Pouch Camp property: largely undeveloped oak and tulip track their sightings, see what other During the peak of spring migration, 143 acres of unspoiled woods and forest transports you to another users have found, and much more. the beautiful gardens come alive with wetlands. Look for spring migrants world and another time. Glacial "pot- Best of all, it’s also a citizen science migrating songbirds. Limited to 15. and learn about the Greenbelt’s holes," towering trees, and stunning tool that pools together all of the Entrance fee to NYBG not included. ecology. Trip involves approximately river views create an unrivaled data, allowing scientists to study $39 (27) per walk 3.5 miles of hiking. Transportation on backdrop by which to observe trends in bird population trends, Staten Island included. Limited to 19. the many migratory and breeding migration timing, and more. Learn • THE BIRDS OF WOODLAWN $43 (30) avian species that are drawn to this how to use eBird, as well as other CEMETERY, THE BRONX hotspot. Limited to 15. $36 (25) per modern technological tools such as Sunday, April 23, 8-10:30am • MORNING SPRING MIGRATION walk field guide apps, automated bird ID Guides: Tod Winston, Joseph WALKS IN CENTRAL PARK apps, and more. Limited to 12. $65 McManus, Friends of Woodlawn Wednesdays, April 26-May 24, 7:30- • (45) Docent 10:30am BIRD WALKS With The Friends of Woodlawn Thursdays, April 27-May 25, 7:30- Saturdays, April 29, May 13, and June • INTRODUCTION TO BIRD SONG Meet at the Jerome Avenue Entrance 10:30am 3, and Sundays, May 7 and May 21, Class: Friday, May 5, 6:30-8:30pm of Woodlawn Cemetery. Join us for Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers 9:30-10:30am Trip: Sunday, May 7, 8am-noon a morning bird walk and tour of LLC Guide: Corey Finger Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers beautiful Woodlawn Cemetery: Tod Meet at 72nd Street and Central With Queens Botanical Garden LLC Winston and Joseph McManus will Park West. This five-week series of Join us on a new series of walks in Do you ever wonder who is singing? look for spring migrants and year- walks will observe the of birds partnership with Queens Botanical Learn to identify the large variety round residents on the expansive, passing through Central Park during Garden. We’ll explore the Garden of migrant and resident birds in wooded cemetery grounds, while spring migration. Limited to 15. $143 in search of migrant songbirds and New York City. Joe Giunta will first a Friends of Woodlawn docent will (100) per series learn about the valuable resources introduce you to the subtleties share fascinating stories about the the Garden offers birds and other of bird-song identification in the cemetery’s history and the interesting wildlife. Binoculars available. Register classroom followed by a field trip in mixture of individuals interred there. for one date or the whole series of Central Park to bird by eye and ear. Limited to 15. $35 (24) five free walks (walk-ins welcome). Limited to 12. $72 (50)

continued on page 14

Spring 2017 13 EVENTS AND ADVENTURES (CONTINUED) ©Steve Nanz • VAN CORTLANDT BIRD WALKS, • BIRDING GEMS OF STATEN • SPRING MIGRANTS AT INWOOD THE BRONX ISLAND: SPRING MIGRATION AT HILL PARK, MANHATTAN Saturdays, May 6-July 29, 8-9:30am Saturday, May 20, 8:30-11am Guides: NYC Audubon, Van Cortlandt Sunday, May 7, 8am-3pm Guide: Annie Barry Park Conservancy Guide: Cliff Hagen, Meet at the entrance to Inwood Hill With the Van Cortlandt Park With NYC Department of Parks & Park at the corner of Isham Street and Conservancy Recreation Seaman Avenue. Join Annie Barry for a Meet at Van Cortlandt Nature Meet at the Manhattan terminal of hike through a mature forest in search Center. The history of birding and the Staten Island Ferry and start your of kinglets, warblers, flycatchers, Van Cortlandt Park are inseparable. trip with a journey across the Upper sparrows, Baltimore orioles, and other Influential birders such as Roger Tory Bay. From wetlands to woodlands to migrants and residents. We’ll then Peterson and Allan D. Cruickshank rich, rolling grasslands, Freshkills Park head to the shores of recently restored got their starts on Van Cortlandt’s offers a diverse collection of habitats Muscota Marsh, the last natural ecologically diverse grounds. These and wildlife. On any given spring day, Yellow Warbler saltmarsh in Manhattan, to search for walks celebrate the tradition set over 100 species of birds and a variety herons and ducks. Some hilly walking forth by these great ornithologists. of butterflies can be seen here. Join waterfowl, and more. Bring lunch and required. Limited to 15. $36 (25) Participants will look for various local naturalist Cliff Hagen and the water. Transport by passenger van species of residents and migrants and NYC Parks Department on this special included. Limited to 12. $115 (80) • NESTING PEREGRINES AND RED- discuss a wide range of avian topics. opportunity to explore the deep, secret TAILS OF THE UPPER WEST SIDE For more information, call 212-691- places of the City's latest, greatest • EVENING BIRD WALK IN THE Sunday, May 21, 1-4pm 7483. No registration necessary. No park. Transport by passenger van on NORTH WOODS Guide: Gabriel Willow limit. Free S.I. included. Limited to 12. $50 (35) Thursday, May 11, 5-6:30am Meet in front of Riverside Church. Guide: Kellye Rosenheim Many New Yorkers are astonished to • STERLING FOREST WARBLERS, • CONSERVANCY Meet at 100th Street and Central Park discover that their city of steel and ORANGE COUNTY, NY BIRD WALK AT THE SOUTHERN TIP West, parkside. Explore the peaceful glass is home to a diverse population Saturday, May 6, 7am-3pm OF MANHATTAN North Woods and Loch at the height of large birds of prey: The City boasts Guides: Don Riepe, Tod Winston Tuesday, May 9, 8-9am of spring songbird migration. We'll the world’s highest densities of the Explore the woodland and pond Guide: Gabriel Willow look (and listen) for warblers, vireos, peregrine falcon, the world’s fastest habitat of the 20,000-acre Sterling With The Battery Conservancy tanagers, grosbeaks, and more. flyer, and a growing population of red- Forest preserve during peak spring Meet at the Netherland Memorial Limited to 15. $36 (25) tailed hawks (several pairs of which migration. Look for nesting warblers Flagpole located at the entrance to have reached celebrity status). We’ll (including golden-winged, cerulean, the Battery Conservancy at the corner • SPRING WARBLERS visit the nesting site of a pair of each hooded, prairie, and blue-winged), as of Battery Place and State Street. Class: Friday, May 12, 6:30-8:30pm of these fascinating species, and may well as spring wildflowers, reptiles, and Join Gabriel Willow and a Battery Trip: Sunday, May 14, 8-11am glimpse parents feeding their chicks. amphibians. Trip involves 4-mile hike Conservancy docent to explore this Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers Limited to 15. $36 (25) and some rocky terrain. Bring lunch redesigned, replanted, and revitalized LLC and water. Transport by passenger van 25-acre park overlooking New York First learn to identify the 30-plus • HORSESHOE CRAB FESTIVAL AT included. Limited to 12. $115 (80) Harbor. We’ll seek out migrating species of warblers that migrate JAMAICA BAY WILDLIFE REFUGE birds and visit the lovely Garden of through our area each spring, using Saturday, May 27, 9am-3pm • SPRING MIGRATION ON Remembrance and Bosque designed field marks and other techniques. With American Littoral Society and RANDALL’S ISLAND by Piet Oudolf, renowned Dutch Then go out in the field and reinforce Gateway National Recreation Area Sunday, May 7, 9am-2pm landscape architect. Free; RSVP what you’ve learned on our field trip See page 18 for details. Guides: Gabriel Willow, Randall’s preferred; visit tbcevents.eventbrite. to Central Park. Limited to 15. $72 Island Park Alliance Staff com for more info (50) • BREEDING BIRDS OF With Randall’s Island Park JAMAICA BAY Alliance, Inc. • PEAK MIGRATION DAY AT ALLEY • SPRING MIGRATION AT Sunday, May 28, 7am-1pm Meet on the northwest corner of POND PARK AND JAMAICA BAY, JAMAICA BAY Guide: Tod Winston 102nd Street and the FDR Drive. QUEENS Sunday, May 14, 10am-1pm Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is home We’ll walk across the foot bridge to Tuesday, May 9, 8am-4pm Guide: Don Riepe to nesting cedar waxwings, brown Randall’s Island, an under-explored Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers With American Littoral Society and thrashers, white-eyed vireos, tree location in the East River that hosts LLC Gateway National Recreation Area swallows, yellow warblers, American restored freshwater wetlands and Join Joe Giunta for this tour of the Meet at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife redstarts, osprey, willet, and seven saltmarsh. We’ll look for spring crown jewels of Queens: Alley Pond Refuge during peak spring migration species of wading birds. We'll walk the migrants (both waterbirds and land Park and Jamaica Bay. First visit Alley for a slide program and hike around refuge trails and observe these species birds) as we explore the results of Pond’s wooded grounds and kettle the reserve to look for many species and many more on their breeding recent restoration efforts. Limited to ponds to search for warblers and of migratory birds. For reservations, grounds. Bring lunch. Transport by 20. $40 (28) vireos, then hike the trails of Jamaica contact Don Riepe at 718-474-0896 passenger van included. Limited to 12. Bay to see migrant shorebirds, or [email protected]. Free $90 (63) 14 www.nycaudubon.org • JAMAICA BAY SUNSET CRUISE • THE BREEDING BIRDS OF • FRESHKILLS DISCOVERY DAY, off-limits to the public will be open Sunday, May 28, 5-8pm DOODLETOWN ROAD, ROCKLAND STATEN ISLAND on this day and offer views of the With American Littoral Society and COUNTY, NY Sunday, June 4, 11am-4pm Park’s hills, creeks, and wildlife. Gateway National Recreation Area Thursday, June 1, 8am-4pm Guides: NYC Audubon, Activities include guided bird walks, Meet at pier 4 in Sheepshead Bay Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers With NYC Department of Parks & hiking, running, bike-riding, and to board the “Golden Sunshine.” LLC Recreation kayaking, free shuttle buses into the Learn about the Bay and its history, A great variety of warblers and other At 2,200 acres, Freshkills Park Park and to the top of a hill offering management, and ecology. See songbirds, including species at is almost three times the size of panoramic views of New York, and egrets, herons, ibis, terns, laughing risk, breed at Doodletown Road in Central Park and the largest park educational tours and displays. Visit gulls, osprey, peregrine falcons, Bear Mountain State Park. Hooded, to be developed in New York City www.freshkillspark.org for more and shorebirds. Includes wine and cerulean, and golden-winged in over 100 years. It also has a information. No limit. Free cheese, fruit, drinks, and snacks. warblers may be seen, as well as significant history as the site of For information and reservations, indigo buntings, wild turkeys, and the former Freshkills Landfill. The • SUNSET ECOCRUISES TO THE contact Don Riepe at 718-474-0896 much more. Bring lunch and water. landfill has been covered with layers HARBOR HERON ISLANDS or [email protected]. $55 Transport by passenger van included. of soil and infrastructure, and the Wednesdays, June 7-August 16 Limited to 12. $122 (85) site has become a place for wildlife, 7-9pm (Brother Islands; Hoffman and recreation, science, education, Swinburne Islands) and art. Trails and paths normally 6:30-9:30pm (Jamaica Bay) Guide: Gabriel Willow With New York Water Taxi OVERNIGHT TRIPS Meet at South Street Seaport Pier 16 and set sail in search of glossy • ASSATEAGUE/CHINCOTEAGUE Beach, Cape May Meadows, • BASHAKILL, SHAWANGUNK ibis, little blue and tricolored herons, WEEKEND and more in search of returning NWR, AND DOODLETOWN, NY great and snowy egrets, black- and Thursday, April 27-Sunday, April 30 songbirds, shorebirds, wading Saturday, June 10, 8am-Sunday, yellow-crowned night-herons: All of Guide: Don Riepe birds, and terns—as well as June 11, 6pm these spectacular wading birds nest here in . Visit the With American Littoral Society lingering winter visitors such as sea Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers fascinating Brother Islands, the large A great natural-history weekend ducks and gannets. Transport by LLC egret and cormorant colonies on on the Virginia coast. See wild passenger van included. Limited to Look for breeding eastern Hoffman and Swinburne Islands, or ponies, migrating warblers, nesting 10. $340 ($50 single supplement) meadowlarks, American bitterns, the great expanses of Jamaica Bay. osprey and bald eagles, shorebirds, cerulean warblers, and more at Whichever your destination, you’ll waders, and more. Includes three • DOWN EAST & ACADIA: these three great birding areas. experience the wonders of New York nights’ lodging at Refuge Inn, a A BIRDER’S PARADISE An overnight stay will facilitate Harbor at sunset and see some of boat tour of marshes, a safari bus Friday, May 26-Saturday, June 3 being in the right spot at the right the 3,000 herons, egrets, and ibis tour of backwater dunes, guided Guide: Gabriel Willow time. Bring lunch for the first day, nesting here. Gabriel Willow will once hikes along beaches, woods, and THIS TRIP IS SOLD OUT binoculars, and a spotting scope again offer an entertaining tour of marshes, breakfasts, a seafood (if you have one). Transport by the harbor's wildlife, along with its dinner, plus two evening programs. MONTAUK SPRING WEEKEND passenger van included. Limited to • ecological and social history—against Contact Don Riepe at 718-474- Friday, June 2-Sunday, June 4 10. $320 ($75 single supplement) the stunning backdrop of the City 0896 or [email protected] Guides: Mike Bottini, Mickey skyline at sunset. To choose a cruise for reservations and details. $395 Cohen, Don Riepe BASHAKILL, NEVERSINK, AND • and register, contact New York Water ($150 single supplement, appx. $95 STERLING FOREST, NY With American Littoral Society Taxi at 212-742-1969 or visit our for van transport) Saturday, June 17, 8am-Sunday, Join us for our 20th year at the sunset ecocruises webpage at www. June 18, 6pm luxurious Montauk Manor and nycaudubon.org/sunset-ecocruises. CAPE MAY SPRING • enjoy indoor/outdoor heated Guide: Joe Giunta, Happy Warblers Limited to 90. Price varies by MIGRATION WEEKEND, NJ pools, jacuzzi, and spacious LLC destination Saturday, April 29, 9am-Sunday, suites. Registration price includes Look for breeding American April 30, 7pm five meals, five guided field trips, bitterns; cerulean, hooded, and • BIRDING GEMS OF STATEN Guide: Gabriel Willow two evening slide programs, an golden-winged warblers; and more ISLAND: CLOVE LAKES PARK Welcome the spring in lovely evening star watch, and free pickup at these three great birding areas. Saturday, June 10, 8am-noon Cape May, NJ, the East’s capital at the LIRR station in Montauk. An overnight stay will facilitate Guide: Gabriel Willow of birding. On good spring Contact Don Riepe at 718-474- being in the right spot at the right Meet at the Manhattan terminal of migration days, the area’s forests 0896 or [email protected] for time. Bring lunch for the first day, the Staten Island Ferry and journey to and marshes are swarming with reservations and details. $395 ($140 binoculars, and a spotting scope the "forgotten borough" to discover warblers in breeding plumage. single supplement) (if you have one). Transport by some of the beautiful forests and We’ll visit Cape May Point, Higbee passenger van included. Limited to incredible birding spots of Clove 10. $320 ($75 single supplement) continued on page 16

Spring 2017 15 EVENTS AND ADVENTURES (CONTINUED)

Lakes Park. Look for ducks and of egrets, night-herons, belted specialties at Doodletown, such Wood Cemetery, rich in both seabirds in New York Harbor on our kingfishers, and marsh wrens—along as cerulean, hooded, blue-winged, history and wildlife, in search of way across on the ferry ride and then with nesting osprey and peregrine golden-winged, and worm-eating spring migrants and its most catch a bus to the Park. Numerous falcons. We'll travel along the warblers. We will then head to unique avian residents: the huge warblers, vireos, tanagers, and other Hackensack River to both man-made the Constitution Marsh Audubon flocks of brilliant green monk migratory songbirds can be seen and restored sites and learn Sanctuary, home to breeding wood parakeets that nest there. Native here, as well as nesting eastern about the area's environmental duck, bald eagle, least bittern, marsh to South America, these charming screech-owls and great blue herons. history. Bring lunch. Transport by wren, and more. After a picnic immigrants flourish even in our We'll even see one of the largest and passenger van included. Limited to lunch, we will drive to Indian Brook harsh winters. Limited to 15. $46 oldest trees in New York City. Limited 11. $113 (79) Farm in search of breeding field (32) to 15. Bus fare ($2.75 each way; and savannah sparrows, bobolinks, please bring your MetroCard or exact • BREEDING BIRDS OF THE and indigo buntings. Transport by change) not included in registration HUDSON HIGHLANDS passenger van included. Limited to price. $43 (30) Saturdays, June 17 and July 8, 12. $129 (90) per trip • EARLY MEMBER 8am-5pm REGISTRATION FOR • EXPLORE THE MEADOWLANDS Guide: Gabriel Willow • THE PARAKEETS OF GREEN- UPCOMING EVENTS BY PONTOON BOAT, SECAUCUS, Join Gabriel Willow on a day-long WOOD CEMETERY, BROOKLYN Mid-summer to early fall NJ trip to some of the most exciting Sunday, June 25, 10am-1pm events will be posted at www. Saturday, June 17, 7:30am-12:30pm and beautiful birding locations in Guide: Gabriel Willow nycaudubon.org and available Guides: Tod Winston and the Hudson Valley: Doodletown With Green-Wood Cemetery for registration for contributing NJ Meadowlands Docent Road, Constitution Marsh, and Meet at the cemetery entrance at NYC Audubon members With NJ Meadowlands Commission Indian Brook Farm. We'll look 5th Avenue and 25th Street, Park starting on Monday, May 8. Explore the Meadowlands on a for uncommon breeding warbler Slope, Brooklyn. Explore Green- (Registration will open to all on relaxing pontoon boat ride in search Monday, May 22.)

NYC Audubon Members-Only Events • TO REGISTER FOR ALL NYC AUDUBON EVENTS and for more information, visit www. Join us for a free NYC Audubon SPRING MIGRATION WITH KIDS SPRING MIGRATION nycaudubon.org or call Danielle member event this spring. Please MEMBER WALK JEFF KIMBALL Sherman at 212-691-7483 x304 note: Member events are free Saturday, April 29, 3-4:30pm Wednesday, May 3, 7:30-9:30am unless otherwise specified. for Contributing NYC Audubon Meet at Central Park West and See the “Central Park Effect” members at the Student/Senior 72nd Street and explore Central for yourself! Join Jeff Kimball, IMPORTANT INFORMATION level and up. Except for the KIDS Park’s best birding hotspots filmmaker and president of NYC • Classes meet at 71 West 23rd walk, all member walks are limited with Nancy Ward and Kellye Audubon, when migration is in Street, Suite 1523. to 20 people. As these events are Rosenheim. Walk is only for pre- full swing. Meet at Central Park • Contributing Members (Student/ popular and fill quickly, please registered KIDS Members ages West and 72nd Street. Senior level and up) receive a limit your registration to one 8-12. All KIDS Members must 30% discount on most local free member event per month. be accompanied by a parent or SPRING MIGRATION IN trips and classes (on discounted Contact Kellye Rosenheim at guardian. Please let us know if , QUEENS events, the discounted price [email protected] or you need a pair of binoculars. To Saturday, May 6, 9-10:30am appears in parentheses after call 212-691-7483 x306 to register. register, parents should email Meet NYC Audubon Board the nonmember price). See [email protected]. Visit Member Kellie Quiñones at Hoyt membership form on page 19. SONGS OF CENTRAL PARK www.nycaudubon.org/kids- Avenue North and 21st Street • For all coach and van trips, the Tuesday, April 25, 7:30-9:30am membership for more information to seek out migrating birds and meeting location is in front of 71 Meet at Central Park West and about our KIDS Membership resident monk parakeets. West 23rd Street in Manhattan 72nd Street to seek out early program. unless otherwise specified. spring migrants with NYC CENTRAL PARK’S NORTH • We depart promptly at the stated Audubon Board Member Tom SPRING WALK IN THE CENTRAL WOODS start time. Stephenson, author of The PARK RAMBLE Monday, May 8, 7:30-9:30am • For all overnight trips, Warbler Guide and creator of the Monday, May 1, 7:30-9:30am Meet Kellye Rosenheim at Central membership in NYC Audubon at soon-to-be-released BirdGenie Meet at Central Park West and Park West and 100th Street to see the Student/ Senior level and up smartphone app. 72nd Street. Explore the Ramble what the North Woods have to is required. with NYC Audubon Immediate offer at the peak of migration. See membership form on Past President Harry Maas and page 19. marvel at spring migration.

16 www.nycaudubon.org BOOK REVIEWS Suzanne Charlé and Meryl Greenblatt

The Moth Snowstorm: never paid much attention to the flock hood when, during a period of intense fam- Nature and Joy of house sparrows that flitted about the ily strife, he first started birdwatching in the entrance to Central Park until reading River Dee estuary, an unexpected wilderness By Michael McCarthy I Michael McCarthy’s The Moth Snowstorm. that gave him joy. New York Review Books, 2016 In his passionate plea for nature, McCarthy Subtitled Nature and Joy, this book is fi- records with dismay the disappearance from nally a manifesto, urging us to forestall envi- ’s parks of the Passer domesticus, once ronmental devastation, not through the noble one of the world’s most successful creatures. but flawed undertakings of sustainable de- England, he writes, “has annihilated half velopment and “ecosystem services,” which, of its biodiversity.” Since the breakup of McCarthy argues, “engage the intellect but The Beatles, bird populations—already not the imagination.” Rather, he champions in decline—have been cut in half. Insect a belief that “fires people’s hearts”—that is, populations have faded as well, hence the the recognition by each of us of our capacity disappearance of “moth snowstorms” that to love the natural world, “the modern un- once swooped through England’s summer derstanding . . . that there is an ancient bond nights, colliding with headlights of with the natural world deep within us, which oncoming cars. makes it not a luxury . . . but part of our In the brilliant and heartbreaking chap- essence—the natural home for our psyches.” ter “The Great Thinning,” the prize-winning Now, most mornings I revel in that environmental journalist travels through his- bond, listening to the house sparrows’ “so- tory and the world, tracking the decline of ciable chirpings,” as translated by McCarthy: nature’s exuberance and naming the culprit: “Hey! What? You? Eh? Who? Him. Nah. humans—earth’s “problem child.” Her.” Yeah, here, in the heart of New York The Moth Snowstorm is a deeply mov- City. SC ing memoir; McCarthy’s lifelong fascination with birds and nature dates back to his child-

Half-Earth: Our Planet’s dward O. Wilson is known to many imagination, and it is now up to humans to Fight for Life for his probing curiosity and com- manage the planet to suit our needs. While I mitment to conservation. I began agree with his concerns, Wilson’s tone might By Edward O. Wilson E Half-Earth—a term coined by Tony Hiss leave one feeling defeated. Liveright Publishing, 2016 in a 2014 Smithsonian Magazine article— In addition, his surprising solution— excited to explore Wilson’s premise that “only that technology will help reduce our by committing half of the planet’s surface to ecological footprint by improving the nature can we hope to save the immensity of quality (as opposed to quantity) of our life-forms that compose it.” This remedy is use of resources, propelling a shift from intended to reverse the human-induced cli- “extensive” to “intensive” economic growth, mate change responsible for the deeply con- and therefore leaving more land for the rest cerning decline in biodiversity that threatens of Earth’s species—does little to reassure me. our future. Wilson’s chapter on the best places in By the time Wilson finishes detailing the biosphere makes a more personal and the abuses we’ve bestowed on Earth’s positive case for preserving biodiversity. creatures and (not undeservedly) chewing Had there also been examples of humans out the human race, fewer than 25 pages successfully coexisting with other species in a remain for solutions. Through most of the thriving ecosystem, I might have come away book, he takes issue with “Anthropocene more inspired. Better that than fretting over ideologists”—those who say that pristine how to wring more productivity out of an nature survives only as a figment of the already-taxed planet. MG

Spring 2017 17 HORSESHOE CRAB News & Notes FESTIVAL

Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge ©Don Riepe Saturday, May 27, 9am-3pm ©Don Riepe

JAMAICA BAY’S WEST POND BREACH CLOSED We are excited to report that repairs to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge’s West Pond are underway. The breach has been filled with soil to prevent backflow of seawater. Now that the breach has been closed, the National Park Service is working to fortify the closure and fill a substantial amount of oin us for a day of celebrating the annual arrival of the ancient horseshoe the Pond with freshwater to jumpstart its crabs to our local shores. During the full and new moons of May and return to its original state as a freshwater JJune, these prehistoric animals, which date back approximately 400 source for birds before it was breached million years, come ashore to mate. The females lay billions of eggs at during Hurricane Sandy. the high tide line each season. At the same time, thousands of migrating shorebirds arrive in the northeast bays to feed on the eggs, regaining the body NYC AUDUBON STAFF NEWS weight they lost during their long journey north. At the festival you’ll see Many thanks to Darren Klein for his and hold live horseshoe crabs and learn about their important ecological and exceptional contributions to NYC medicinal values. Audubon. Darren started with our For more information and reservations, contact the American Littoral organization in 2013 as a conservation Society at 718-474-0896 or email Don Riepe at [email protected]. policy intern before coming aboard The program is free, but suggested donations of $20 for adults and $10 for full-time as our program and advocacy children to NYC Audubon are most welcome to offset the festival cost. manager. In addition to his outstanding The Horseshoe Crab Festival is a NYC Audubon partnership program work organizing and overseeing the more with the American Littoral Society and Gateway National Recreation Area. than 200 trips, walks, and outreach events we put on each year, Darren developed SCHEDULE NYC Audubon’s D-Bird, our online 8:30am Meet at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge Visitor crowd-sourcing data collection tool for Center for coffee and doughnuts reporting dead or injured birds. He will 9am Carpool to the horseshoe crab viewing site be missed around the office. We wish him 11:30am Return to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge the best as he takes his web development Visitor Center talents to Circles, a tech startup firm. Noon Lunch (bring lunch or drive to deli located in NYC Audubon is excited to welcome nearby Broad Channel) Danielle Sherman as our new program and 1pm-3pm Talks by horseshoe crab experts and ranger-guided advocacy manager. Danielle comes to us from a career in business and government walks for children and general public and is excited to be working toward bird protection and conservation.

18 www.nycaudubon.org Acknowledgments

NYC Audubon’s conservation work and public programs are made possible by philanthropic Don Riepe Dr. Eileen Kemether Alexis Rockman Bernard B. Leventhal contributions from members, friends, corporations, foundations, and government agencies. Roland Food Harry Maas We are grateful to all those who have sustained our work this past season, including the 1,203 Kellye & Jeff Rosenheim Joy Matacotta Jeanne & Robert Savitt Gerry & Eleanor McGee members and donors whose individual gifts in amounts up to $2,499 collectively provided Nancy Shamban Dave Polek Gareth Smit & Soo- Stephen Varone $153,903 in support of our mission from June 1 to December 31, 2016. Jeong Kang Bobby Veltri David Speiser Tod Winston AMERICAN KESTREL The Chervenak- U.S. Fish & Wildlife The Durst Organization Tom Stephenson CIRCLE Nunnalle Foundation Service Fishs Eddy Paul Sweet MEMORIAL GIFTS Tylee Abbott Commercial Roofing Walt Disney Company Susan Elbin The Tarquin Michael Ahern Gabrielle & Louis Bacon Solutions Foundation Joe Giunta Tattly Designy Betty Brummett Karen Benfield & John Con Edison Wildlife Conservation Great Performances Temporary Tattoos Catherine A. Cullen Zucker The Dobson Society Hugo Guinness Cathy Weiner Lillian A. Langsan Claude & Lucienne Foundation William C. Bullitt Jacob K. Javits Sperone Westwater Frances Loomis Payer Bloch The Eppley Foundation Foundation Convention Center Wildlife Conservation Laurie Phillips Ronald Bourque for Research The Williams JM Kaplan Fund Society Harvey Lewis Seldman Marsilia Boyle Federal Express Companies Kathryn Heintz Wildtones Sam Vella Virginia Carter Film Action Oregon, The Wood Thrush Marian Heiskell Gabriel Willow Mariska Zelazinsky Joseph & Barbara Ellis DBA Hollywood Foundation Inn on the Wharf, Lubec Tod Winston Andrew Farnsworth & Theatre Deborah Jones Heather Wolf BEQUESTS Patricia Ryan First Cornerstone IN-KIND DONATIONS Debra Kriensky Carl Zeiss Sports Estate of Helen Ann Marcia & Bruce Fowle Foundation Annie Barry Deborah Laurel Optics Mattin Philip Fried & Bruce FXFOWLE Karen Benfield Harry Maas Estate of Evelyn Patterson Genting New York LLC Nora Benoliel Machias River Inn TRIBUTE GIFTS Nethercott Richard Fried & Stella Greenpoint Community Broadway Stages Masonic Hall NYC Rumeli Banik Kim Environmental Fund Christine Burgin & Materials for the Arts Heidi Cleven Ronnie & Richard Hudson River William Wegman Karen D’Alessandri Grosbard Foundation Virginia Carter New York Water Taxi Kathy Drake Nancy Hager Investors Bank Christian Cooper Newmark Grubb Knight Susan & Greg Elbin Catherine & Lloyd Foundation Sybil Costello Frank Marcia T. Fowle Heller Jacob Burns Film Judy and John Craig Patagonia Olivia Gentile Sarah Jeffords Center Gary and Ellen Davis Phillips Nizer LLP Kathryn Heintz Jeffrey Kimball & Jacob K. Javits John Derian Kellie Quiñones Catherine Heller Pamela Hogan Convention Center Lauren & Ethan Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Klingsberg Parks Conservancy Deborah Laurel Kekst Adrienne & Thomas Kimball Foundation Lynch Leon Levy Foundation MAKE A DIFFERENCE Contributing members are essential to our education and conservation Clay Maitland Lily Auchincloss work. Help protect birds and habitat in the five boroughs by joining our flock. As a member of Jennifer & Philip Maritz Foundation Edith McBean Manomet Center for NYC Audubon you will receive The Urban Audubon newsletter and The eGret enewsletter; enjoy Andre Meade Conservation Sciences discounts on field trips and classes; and make a difference in the City’s wildlife and natural areas. Joyce Menschel The Marta Heflin [ ] American Kestrel Circle $2,500 [ ] Conservationist $250 [ ] Supporter $100 Mary & Malcolm Morris Foundation Lew & Sheila Rosenberg Michael Ahern [ ] Family $75 [ ] Dual $50 [ ] Friend $25 [ ] Student/Senior(65+)$15 John & Heather Shemilt Production Services [ ] Dual Senior (65+) $30 [ ] New [ ] Renewal Fredric & Winnie Spar Moore Charitable Foundation Antonia Stolper & Bob [ ] I would like become a member by making a recurring donation in the amount Fertik National Audubon Virginia K. Stowe Society of $_____ each month. Stephen Varone National Fish and Additionally, I would like to make a donation to NYC Audubon in the amount of $ ______. Aracy Troxell Winter & Wildlife Foundation Klaus J. Winter National Park Service I’m already a member but would like to make a gift in the amount of $ ______. Elizabeth Woods & The Nature Charles Denholm Conservancy Name: ______New York State CORPORATIONS, Department of Address: ______FOUNDATIONS, Environmental AND GOVERNMENT Conservation AGENCIES NYC Soil & Water Phone: H: ______C: ______Email: ______Achelis Foundation Conservation District AmazonSmile NYS Department [ ] Enclosed is my check payable to NYC Audubon Foundation of Environmental American Bird Conservation [ ] Charge my credit card: [ ] VISA [ ] MC [ ] AMEX [ ] DSC Conservancy Patagonia CARD #______Exp. Date: ______Sec.Code ______Bank of America Robert and Joyce Mail this form with your payment to: Bloomberg Menschel Family Philanthropies Foundation NYC Audubon • 71 West 23rd Street, Suite 1523 • New York, NY 10010

Broadway Stages Romemu Membership in NYC Audubon does not include National Audubon membership or Audubon Magazine. Donations to NYC Audubon are tax-deductible to the Central Park South Shore Audubon extent allowed by law. NYC Audubon is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Conservancy Society

Spring 2017 19 New York City Audubon NONPROFIT ORG. 71 West 23rd Street US POSTAGE Suite 1523 PAID New York, NY 10010 HUDSON NH PERMIT No. 82

DATED MATERIAL: Spring 2017 Newsletter

S PRING NYC SHOREBIRD BLITZ—SUNDAY, MAY 21 ©Lloyd Spitalnik ontribute to NYC Audubon’s conservation efforts by helping us take a one-day snapshot of spring shorebird Cactivity throughout New York City. Scheduled for May 21, the third NYC Shorebird Blitz is a citizen science initiative that aims to find the total number of shorebirds using our City

Ruddy Turnstones, Red Knots, and Semipalmated Sandpiper

during a 24-hour period, helping us answer important conservation questions such as how many shorebirds are coming through our area during peak spring migration, how they are distributed throughout the City, what they are doing while here, and what disturbances they face. At last September’s NYC Fall Shorebird Blitz, 23 citizen scientists covered 35 locations throughout the 5 boroughs (see Conservation Notes on page 5 to learn what was found that day). This time we will cover more territory. Whether you have been shorebirding for years or are a beginner, there are plenty of areas that need to be covered, so mark your calendars and start practicing your shorebird identification. For more information or to get involved, email dkriensky@ Shorebird Sightings September 3, 2016 nycaudubon.org.

20 www.nycaudubon.org