Annual Report 2011

annuaL report 2011

1 New York City Audubon is tax-exempt under section 501(c) 3 of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax- ew York City is home to more than 350 bird species. For some it is deductible to the extent allowed by law. New York City Audubon meets all of the a year-round residence, for others a seasonal breeding ground, while Better Business Bureau’s Standards of some may pay a visit just once in a decade. Remarkably, that number Charity Accountability. represents more than a third of all bird species in the US. It is ironic that New York City is a birder’s paradise because as the decadesN fl y by, the millions of birds that pass this way annually have less and less space in which to rest, nest, and forage. It is the work of NYC Audubon and supporters like you to reverse that trend. This year, more than 400 volunteers joined us in our ongoing programs throughout the city, clearing more than a ton of garbage from the shores of Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn and Queens, planting more than 600 native trees in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, removing invasive plant LETTER FROM species from Clove Lakes Park in Staten Island and Idlewild Park in Queens, and monitoring bird populations throughout THE PRESIDENT the harbor. Our efforts also continue to protect Four Sparrow Marsh in Brooklyn, Arlington Cove Marsh and Pouch Camp in Staten Island, and Ridgewood Reservoir in Queens and Brooklyn, among others, to ensure the future of these natural areas and keep them safe for our winged neighbors. This year our recently launched environmental education program for inner-city students reached a total of almost 350 teens whom we brought to the Bronx River and Jamaica Bay to look around, and learn. If we are able to continue this outreach, NEW YORK CITY AUDUBON 2010-2011 OFFICERS, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, over time we will greatly expand our advocacy base with the energy and diversity of a new ADVISORY COUNCIL, AND STAFF generation. President Advisory Council Our Lights Out New York program continues to grow and we expect to soon close Oakes Ames Sarah Grimké Aucoin Vice President Drianne Benner in on our near-term target of having recruited 100 NYC offi ce towers for the program. Lynne Hertzog Dr. Claude Bloch Participants such as the Chrysler Building, Bank of America Tower, Con Edison Clock Treasurer Albert K. Butzel Diane Keating Rebekah Creshkoff Tower, New York Times Building, and many more have all agreed to shut off their exterior Recording Secretary Andrew Darrell decorative lights from midnight until dawn during the spring and autumn migration Peter Joost Joseph H. Ellis Corresponding Sandra Fiebelkorn seasons, vitally important for the safety of migrating birds. Secretary Richard Gershon Marsilia A. Boyle Janice Laneve We have much work to do in the coming year: Increase our efforts to defend and Past President Melanie Lyons enhance the natural areas that our hundreds of bird species need to sustain them in the Peter Rhoades Mott E. J. McAdams Mary Tyler Moore most developed urban area in the country. We need to expand our studies of fl ight patterns Board of Directors George J. Mullen, Jr. and window collisions so we can get our Lights Out program and bird-safe glass included Richard T. Andrias Alexander Papachristou Andrew Farnsworth Hector Prud’homme in NYC building codes. We have to increase our efforts to plant native species and remove Marcia T. Fowle Lynn Rollins Diana Greene Lewis Rosenberg invasive species in parks and natural areas throughout the city. And we need to continue Cathy Heller James R. Sheffi eld our efforts in removing trash from areas where birds nest and forage in all fi ve boroughs— Noel D. Humphreys Mary Jane Kaplan Staff work our under-funded city agencies frequently cannot perform. Ari Kavour Glenn Phillips Birds cannot defend themselves from the onslaught of development or continued Jared Keyes Executive Director Robert J. Kimtis Susan Elbin, Ph.D. outpouring of toxins into their environment. They need our help, and yours, and we are Harrison Maas Director of Conservation grateful for and encouraged by all the help we have had this year. Thank you. Pamela Manice & Science Steve Nanz Lisa Synoradzki Jayne Nozik Director of Development Dorothy Peteet John Rowden, Ph.D. Regards, Don Riepe Associate Director of Dimitri Sevastopoulo Citizen Science and John Shemilt Outreach Peter Shen Barbara Lysenko David Speiser Finance Manager Emily Loffredo Membership Coordinator Oakes Ames Tod Winston Program Assistant President Leslie Chase Communications Manager, Safe fl ight Coordinator Jeff Friedrich Program Assistant

2 EDUCATION

New York City Audubon offers a rich array of education programs for members and the general public.

eduCation proGrams For aduLts Watershed Corporation to teach students about the watershed of Our trips allow participants to explore all fi ve boroughs, as well as New York City, including trips to important reservoirs, and began regional and international sites that are important destinations for teaching that program to students at a middle school in Brooklyn. our city’s migrating birds. We hosted more than 270 events this year, In addition, we initiated a project with the nonprofi t organization including classroom courses, bike trips, and nature walks in all fi ve Rocking the Boat (RTB), located in the Hunts Point section of the boroughs, as well as eco-cruises on the East River. More than 3,100 South Bronx, to involve students in their after-school programs in participants enjoyed this year’s adventures. monitoring long-legged wading birds. NYC Audubon trained RTB staff and their interns in identifi cation and monitoring techniques eduCation proGrams For ChiLdren and mentored the students as they collected data in support of our NYC Audubon reaches the children of New York City in a citizen science project, studying foraging patterns of waders in New variety of ways. Almost 5,000 students receive LookAround NYC, our York Harbor. award-winning, science-based newsletter for 4th to 6th graders. The We also continued our partnership with the Wallerstein focus of this year’s LookAround issues were the underwater Hudson Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education at New York Canyon, the layers of life in the forest, fi shing, and how to keep city University to teach students about the ecology of Jamaica Bay and garbage and sewage from harming marine wildlife. its importance to migratory shorebirds. Two NYU graduate students In the recent past, we have brought almost 350 New York City worked with us to refi ne a three-part curriculum that included students to the natural environments of the boroughs. This year in classroom sessions as well as a trip to the bay for monitoring and a new effort, we developed an eight-part outdoor curriculum for cleanup. Three schools participated this year. 2nd graders. Launched in a Bronx charter school, we introduced the students to a variety of natural habitats in parks using a hands-on, experiential program. We also received a grant from the Catskill 3 VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers are the lifeblood of NYC Audubon and assist us in achieving our mission in numerous ways.

Education volunteers assisted with eco-cruises, and other nature trips, native trees and removed alien species in city parks, and joined in helped produce our children’s newsletter, LookAround NYC, and our International Coastal Cleanup Day. Citizen science volunteers also member newsletter, The Urban Audubon. Inside our offi ces, volunteers collected data for the Great Egret Foraging Study around New York were an instrumental presence as well, helping to answer phones, Harbor, patrolled routes around the city looking for dead and injured assisting with important mailings and working on special projects. birds in support of Project Safe Flight, monitored the Tribute in Our volunteers come from all fi ve boroughs and are representative of Light on September 11th, and more (see “Conservation”). the diversity of people in the city. Our thanks to the 400 volunteers who contributed more than Also this year, through the support of a Toyota TogetherGreen 2,500 hours this year! Volunteer Days grant, our volunteer crews planted hundreds of CONSERVATION NYC Audubon’s conservation programs are made possible by leadership This year NYC Audubon created a workshop for architects about support from the Leon Levy Foundation and from TogetherGreen, a making the city safer for birds. Partnering with the NYC chapter of partnership between Toyota and the National Audubon Society. the US Green Building Council, NYC Audubon was able to award the two-dozen participating architects with continuing education proJeCt saFe FLiGht credit from the American Institute of Architects. Given the success New York City is located at a crucial crossroads on the New York of this fi rst effort, we plan to hold these workshops at least semi- City Atlantic Flyway, one of just four major migration routes in the annually in the future. United States. Millions of birds make a stop here every year to refuel Project Safe Flight also continued its monitoring of the September for their journeys, which may be thousands of miles long. Our research 11 “Tribute in Light,” with 12 volunteers and staff participating in indicates that as many as 90,000 birds unexpectedly end their ﬂ ights all-night observation. The conditions this year presented the perfect here every year when they collide with reﬂ ective glass and die. storm: after a succession of stormy days that delayed migration for Project Safe Flight’s monitoring and research program improves our most birds, on September 11 the rain stopped, there was a new moon, understanding of the causes behind bird collisions with glass and studies and low winds. When the birds whose migrations had been delayed ways to prevent them. During the 2010 spring and fall migrations, 25 fi nally took to the skies, the September 11 memorial trapped more volunteers patrolled Manhattan and found dead or injured birds from than 10,000 of them in the huge beams of light rising from Battery 25 different species. These surveys enable us to approach the managers Park. Fortunately, NYC Audubon and the Municipal Art Society, the of the most deadly buildings to discuss mitigation. sponsor of this annual memorial event, had a protocol in place: The 4 lights were turned off fi ve times during the course of the night-long Plumb Beach for horseshoe crabs. This year our team included ceremony, allowing the birds to escape the beams and continue safely enthusiastic members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. on their migratory pathways. This program contributed data to the International Shorebird Survey, Subsequently, NYC Audubon staff ornithologists Susan Elbin a long-term database, and to the NYS Department of Environmental and John Rowden, and board member Andrew Farnsworth, presented Conservation Horseshoe Crabs database. a paper about nocturnal migration and the lessons learned from the Analysis of our data indicates that Plumb Beach is the most Tribute in Light to the Association of Northeastern Biologists during productive location for horseshoe crabs of all beaches monitored their Albany conference on applied fi eld biology. in the state. Shorebird numbers among the 24 species counted in Jamaica Bay declined quite dramatically between 2009 and 2010, harBor herons from 28,442 to 11,441. Most of the decline was attributable to local Keeping count of colonial waterbirds enables us to determine the population drops by the thousands in semipalmated sandpipers, health of New York Harbor on a continuing basis. The 2010 nesting sanderlings, and dunlins, with a smaller but high-percentage drop survey marked NYC Audubon’s 25th year in this effort. This year in red knots. Whether these declines are a statistical outlier resulting we observed nine species of wading birds nesting on nine islands in from weather conditions, or a long-term alteration due to climate the harbor. In comparison to the last comprehensive nesting survey change, or a factor we have not yet recognized, remains to be seen. conducted in 2007, population increases were observed for great This observed change, however, shows how important our monitoring egret (+24%), black-crowned night-heron (+6%), glossy ibis (+4%), is in providing an early warning. Results from this monitoring work and yellow-crowned night-heron populations (+107%). Snowy egret are shared with the National Park Service and the Shorebird Recovery population numbers had declined slightly (-10%), and cattle egret, Project of Massachusetts-based Manomet Center for Conservation little blue heron, tricolored heron, and green heron have persisted Science, which uses such data to inform management practices at constant, low numbers. These population levels indicate that the nationally. New York Harbor is providing good nesting and adequate foraging habitat. Additional information about colony productivity is still needed. In addition to our population survey work, In our conservation work in particular, three doctoral students are working with us in we train citizen scientists who adopt as the colonies, examining their avocation the work of assisting us in feathers of nestling birds for preserving the hundreds of bird species that growth and environmental stressors, and for nestling pass this way every year. diet as evidenced by isotopic signatures in carbon and nitrogen found in growing feathers. These studies and our analyses of regurgitated, partially-digested food and pellets (composed of bones, scales, and other nondigestible matter) help us identify the diet composition and quality. This information allows resource managers to protect important areas that support birds as they raise their young. naturaL areas initiative At the request of the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, NYC Audubon volunteers conducted a fi rst-ever breeding bird census in Cunningham Park, Queens—240 acres of forest habitat and ponds. Beginning in May 2010, three trained volunteers systematically searched Cunningham Park for breeding birds during a 10-week period, beginning in mid-May. Using standard Breeding Bird Census protocols, the team observed 44 species, 10 of which were confi rmed or probable breeders. American robins were the most abundant breeding bird on the site. We were also able to conduct a second year of monitoring and site restoration work in Jamaica Bay, studying shorebirds and the horseshoe crabs whose eggs provide an important food source for the birds. From mid-April until late in June, volunteer citizen scientists monitored several Jamaica Bay beaches for shorebirds and Brooklyn’s 5 Grants & Contributions $624,806 73% 73% GRANTS & CONTRIBUTIONS Special Events 122,613 14% Program Service Revenue 56,540 7% Membership Dues 48,824 6%

Total Support & Revenue $852,783 100%

14% Special Events

7% Program Service Revenue

6% Membership Dues INCOME & EXPENSES

Conservation $341,375 40% 40% CONSERVATION Education $196,500 23% Fundraising $150,479 18% 23% EDUCATION Membership $71,189 8% Management & General $55,941 7% Reserve Fund $37,299 4%

18% FUNDRAISING Total Expenses $852,783 100% 8% MEMBERSHIP 7% MANAGEMENT & GENERAL 4% RESERVE FUND

6 SUPPORT

New York City Audubon’s conservation programs are made possible by the leadership support of the Leon Levy Foundation.

FY11 support For neW YorK CitY auduBon ameriCan KestreL Bill & Terry Pelster Titia de Lange Pam Taylor & Eames Yates Patricia Marco CirCLe Drianne Benner & Kevin Susanne & Douglas Durst Tupper W. Thomas Helen Mattin ($2,500 and above) Perry Aline & Henry Euler Brenda Torres-Barreto Andre Meade Claude & Lucienne Bloch Kimberly & Jean Putzer Irving & Elizabeth Flinn Elizabeth Weinshel Tracy Meade & Robert Bate Ronald & Jean Bourque Elizabeth Barlow Richard Fried Frederic & Robin Withington Mildred R. Murphy Henry Christensen Rogers Lewis & Sheila Nancy B. Hager John Wittenberg Jean Pettibone Rebekah Creshkoff Rosenberg Julia & Barney Hallingby D. Bruce Yolton George R. Petty, Jr. Joseph & Barbara Ellis John & Heather Shemilt Kathleen Heenan & Clary 3 Anonymous Helen Pilkington Bruce & Marcia Fowle Peter Shen & Mary Seeger Olmstead Carol Rocker Phillip Fried Constantine & Lynne Hertzog patrons Matthew Rymkiewicz Edward & Diana Greene Anne Sidamon-Eristoff Noel & Sharon Humphreys ($250 - $499) Mary Schorr Cathy & Lloyd Heller David Speiser & Kimberly Anne Impellizzeri Michael & Betsy Alderman J. Kevin Smith Jared & Songmei Keyes Kriger Mark A. Izeman & Tanya Janet Asimov Joshua N. Solomon Dimitri Sevastopoulo & Antonia Stolper Khotin Catherine R. Barron Virginia Stotz Catherine Rasenberger Mindy & Marc Utay Mary Jane Kaplan Peter Bickford Carolyn Summers & David A. Heidi Steiner & Steve Nanz Reynold & Joyce Richard Kaplan Deborah Buell & Charles Henry Brittenham Virginia K. Stowe Weidenaar Ari Kavour George R. Bunn, Jr. Gladys Thomas Elizabeth Woods & Susan R. Witter Diane Keating Albert & Brenda Butzel Lewis E. Topper Charles Denholm 3 Anonymous Robert J. Kimtis & Susan Stanley Kolber & Christina Irene & Richard Van Slyke Bynum Clayton Natalie Warady Conservationists steWards Rolf Kinne Elizabeth Cornwall Scott Zevon ($1,000 - $2,499) ($500 - $999) Cynthia Kracauer Owen & Marianne Davis Oakes & Louise Ames Carol Abrahams Robert & Carol Krinsky L. F. Boker & Susanna Doyle supporters Gian Andrea Botta Alberto Acosta & Rebecca Frederick Luce Walter A. Eberstadt ($100 - $249) Ned Boyajian Wolfe Harrison & Barbara Maas Lisa K. Edwards Barbara P. Abel Marsilia A. Boyle James & Mary Adelstein Carole McCarthy Frances Beinecke & Paul J. Dolores Alcaide Sharon Chantiles & Frederick & Annelyse Allen Mary Tyler Moore & Robert Elston Peter Alfano J. Kevin Wertz Matthew Baxter Levine, M.D. Margot P. Ernst Marlene Alva Christopher & Stephanie Ellen R. Becker Lenore & Peter Rhoades Mott Sandra Fiebelkorn Albert Amateau Clark Barbara Belknap Michele Balfour Nathoo & Alfred C. Finger Marjorie & Kenneth Aran John Cooney Vivian Berger & Michael Raffi q Nathoo John Flicker Ruth Atherton Andrew Darrell & Dana Tang Finkelstein Gaile Newman Michael & Anne Golden Justine & Edward Auchincloss Gale Epstein Douglas Blonsky Wendy & Hank Paulson John C. Gray, Jr. Ofelia Baradi Peter Joost MaryJane Boland Mona Payton Tom Green Lee F. Barash Janice Laneve Mary T. Bruckmann Glenn Phillips & David Nish Carolyn Grossner Andrea Barbieri Douglas & Sarah Luke Abigail Angell Canfi eld James Price Betty Hamilton Irene Bareis James R. Maher Katherine Carpenter Hector & Erica Prud’homme Ellen Hand Phoebe Barnard & Gregory Pamela Manice Christopher Wood Carroll Mary Rasenberger Anneliese Harstick Fukutomi Nicole Miller Judith Churchill Cheryl Reich Jane Hassler Annie Barry Rachel & George Mullen, Jr. John & Susan Clarke Donald & Genie Rice Florence Lapidus Karen Baynard Heidi Nitze Noel & Baukje Cohen Jim & Jill Sheffi eld Sylvie Le Blancq Robert Bender & Loretta Nash Michael & Elena Patterson J. Hamilton Crawford III Forbes Singer Jonathan Lehman John Bergman 7 Lewis Berman Anthony Feher Hamilton & Edith Kean Bill & Karin Rabin Monica Wambold Mary C. Birchard Lee Feuerstein Jane Kendall Steven & Donna Rabinowitz Alan Wanzenberg Priscilla Blakemore Elizabethe Finkler Marilyn Kennedy Anne Radcliffe Nancy Ann Ward Julie Bliss Emily FitzGerald Al Kieser Anita Randolfi Susan Weigl & Irene Bosher Reston Blumwest Richard C. Fitzpatrick Thomas Killip Linda Ray Lee Weiskott Ardith Bondi Joan M. Flanigan Jeffrey L. Kimball & Alison Bruce Rea Elizabeth White Katherine Booth Peter Flint Pamela Hogan Christina Reik Warren White & Holly Peter A. Boysen Rachel Freeman & Slawek Fred Koontz Luanne Rice Kempner Carmine Branagan Justynski Carol Kostik Don Riepe, American Gilda Wray Alyson Breier Jane Friedensohn Dorothy Kreiselman Littoral Society Judith A. Yoepp Ellen Breslow-Newhouse Hugh P. Gabriel Leslie & Edna Berk Kuhn Minney & Ted Robb Linda E. Young Mary B. Brown Jamie Garde Johanne LaGrange Donna Roberts Alexander Zagoreos Jim & Yuko Brumm Joy Garland Louise Lamphier Felix & Elizabeth Rohatyn Jane Zucker & Rafael Peter Buffington Robert F. Gatje Carol Landess Shari Romar Campos-Ramirez David Callard John F. Geer Francis Ledwidge Herb Rosenblum Howard Zuckerman Amy S. Campbell Valerie Georgoulakos Jerome & Natalie Levy Carol Rosenfeld Mary M. Zulack Prudence Carlson Richard & Leslie Gershon Gillian Lewis Gillian Rosenfeld 6 Anonymous Mark Carney Laurie Goldstein Warren Liebesman Carol Rothberg James Fraser Carpenter Muriel J. Gould Jo Loesser William Rowden Foundations Clifford P. Case & Erin Gray Susan Loesser Christina Rubin Lily Auchincloss Foundation Karen B. Dubno Barbara Green Barbara Lysenko Karen Ryugo & Jim Burnosky Brooklyn Community March & Philip Cavanaugh Jesse Greenspan Karen Madsen Peter G. Sacks Foundation Millie & Lo-Yi Chan Kurt Grelak Guillaume & Christina Ralph & Marilyn Saltus Leon Levy Foundation B. Chandrasekaran Beth Grossman Malle Peter Santogade Marcia & Philip Rothblum Helen Chapman Linda Gui Janet Maltby Sarah Savage Foundation Hamilton Chase Danielle Gustafson Anne Manice Karen & Charles Schader Roslyn Chernesk Hedy Hartman Thomas Martin & Jenina Schiller Corporations, Gretchen Wold Elizabeth R. Schloss Government & Kathleen Massey Thelma Schoonmaker Nonprofit Partners E.J. McAdams & Ruby T. Senie Catskill Watershed Corporation Kathleen Ruen Gail Sepler ConocoPhillips Maureen W. McCarthy Katherine Sevalla Disney Worldwide Services Regina McCarthy Erica Shatz Spry The Durst Organization Edward McGuire Mary M. Shuford Lower Manhattan Cultural Alice McInerney Jeanne Sigler & Jim Fratto Council Henry McKean Frank Silagy & Marthe Gold National Audubon Society & Karen McLaughlin & Arthur Simpson & Toyota (through the Mark Schubin Catherine Ellard TogetherGreen Initiative) Rita McMahon Jasmatie Singh-Wright National Oceanic and Joseph A. McManus Marjorie Slavin Atmospheric Administration Kathleen & Neil Chrisman Daryl Hartshorne Lucy McMichael Kenneth Smith The Port Authority of Nancy Comley Kay Haxton Josephine Merck & Martin Smith NY & NJ Suzanne M. Crosby & Marian Heiskell Jim Stevenson Helene Soehngen Prospect Park Alliance Alberto Ottaviani Gail Hertz Marianita Meyer & George & Sheila Stephenson Rodale/Prevention Magazine Catherine Cusack Richard L. Hirsch Robert J. Spragg Tom & Wendy Stephenson Wildlife Trust Denise Daly Eleanor Hoagland Zina Michajiliczenko Andrew & Marci Stern 2 Anonymous Dorothy Davis Michael & Ellen Hoffman Leslie & Richard Miller Judith A. Stevens John & Judy Day Robert Hoguet, III Robert C. Milton, Jr. Charles & Molly Stockley Corporate Matching Marie DeAngelis Janet Hollander Louis & Joan Morrell Vera Straka Gifts John Dembeck Katharine Houghton Malcolm & Mary Morris Zoe Strother AXA Stephen Dewhurst Jenny Hourihan Chappy & Melissa Morris Jean E. Sullivan Bank of New York Mellon Paul Dillon Susan Houston Hanna & Jeffrey Moskin Joan F. Susha Bristol-Myers Squibb Nina A. Dioletis Anne H. Howat Douglas P. Murray & Charles & Sally Svenson Gap Foundation Robert Disch Jean Huggard Peggy Blumenthal Marc Sweet GE Foundation Frank Donovan Edith & William Lawrence & Sherrie Nagin Lisa Synoradzki & Oscar Fields IBM International Pat Doudna Melissa Husby B.W. Nimkin Thomas & Stephany Haines ISO Kathy Drake Pam Hutto & Kenneth Virginia Niz Grace Tilger JP Morgan Chase Bryan Ebert Hochman Janet Nolan Coralie Toevs New York Stock Exchange Eva H. Eckert Peggy Isabella Conrad Obregon John & Emily Toran Foundation Constance C. Ellis Justin B. Israel Suzanne Pataki Judith Torop The Capital Group Companies Patricia & Peter Elsbach Helen T. Jacobs Dorothy Peteet Victoria Traube Robert S. Erskine Anna S. Jeffrey Regina Phelps Herb & Pat Trossman Bequests Mary Hanna Farag Joan & Roman Rome Helen & Thomas Phillips Elizabeth Ungar Estate of James Edward Jacobs Charles Fears Deborah Jones Matthew Pimm Diana VanBuren Estate of Esther Morse Kathleen & Martin Kaiser Marguerite Pitts Bruce Volpe Estate of Hazel Roy 8 Vivian Kaufmann Allan Portnoy John Waldman