Easygrants ID: 28639 National Fish and Wildlife Foundation NFWF/Legacy Grant Project ID: 1401.11.028639 LI Sound Futures Fund 2011 - Education & Small Grants - Submit Final Programmatic Report (Activities) Grantee Organization: Rocking the Boat, Inc. Project Title: Great Egret Foraging Science Education (NY)

Project Period 05/01/2012 - 08/31/2013 Award Amount $20,000.00 Matching Contributions $10,000.00 Project Location Description (from Proposal) The project will be conducted at six different sites along the Bronx River in the South Bronx. Latitude:N 40° 49' 15.9036" Longitude:W 73° 53' 0.5489"

Project Summary (from Proposal) Train 64 high school students to conduct regular surveys of the wading bird population, particularly herons and egrets, at six different sites along the Bronx River. Project will teach hands-on science methods, using the foraging habits of the birds, and the data collected are used to determine sites for future restoration of habitat for waterbirds in New York City.

Summary of Accomplishments 98 high school students from the South Bronx—participants in Rocking the Boat’s after-school and summer On-Water Youth Development and Environmental Job Skills programs—conducted the Great Egret Foraging Study in 2012 and 2013. Over the course of two monitoring seasons, which each ran from May through August, students collected 27 sets of data—11 in 2012 and 16 in 2013—on the presence and behavior of nine bird species of interest. All of the 2012 data has been shared with project partner New York City Audubon and the 2013 data will be shared in the coming weeks. In addition to conducting the weekly survey, students created field guides outlining the coloring, size, behavior, and distinguishing markings of each bird species included in the project.

Lessons Learned A key lesson learned from the project was the value of partnering with an organized, well established, and well equipped organization like New York City Audubon that can provide training, protocols, and data sheets; compile and analyze data; and serve as a coordinating body for the larger project, allowing Rocking the Boat to concentrate on its own smaller, local effort. Knowing that their data would be included in a larger study that would help inform future conservation efforts motivated students and provided them with a greater sense of purpose for their efforts.

A component of the project that proved even more valuable than anticipated that could easily be adopted by other conservation organizations was the field guides students created. Having a small guide containing information on just the nine species of interest rather than a general guide with information on hundreds of different birds proved incredibly useful out in the field. Moreover, the process of making the guides helped solidify students’ familiarity with the birds they were studying.

Conservation Activities Conducting wading bird surveys Progress Measures # of participants in activity Value at Grant Completion 98 Conservation Activities Developing educational materials Progress Measures # of educational signs Value at Grant Completion 2 Conservation Activities Educating the public

Page 1 of 17 Progress Measures # of participants in activity Value at Grant Completion 1500

Page 2 of 17 Final Programmatic Report Narrative

Instructions: Save this document on your computer and complete the narrative in the format provided. The final narrative should not exceed ten (10) pages; do not delete the text provided below. Once complete, upload this document into the on-line final programmatic report task as instructed.

1. Summary of Accomplishments In four to five sentences, provide a brief summary of the project’s key accomplishments and outcomes that were observed or measured.

98 high school students from the South Bronx—participants in Rocking the Boat’s after-school and summer On- Water Youth Development and Environmental Job Skills programs—conducted the Great Egret Foraging Study in 2012 and 2013. Over the course of two monitoring seasons, which each ran from May through August, students collected 27 sets of data—11 in 2012 and 16 in 2013—on the presence and behavior of nine bird species of interest. All of the 2012 data has been shared with project partner New York City Audubon and the 2013 data will be shared in the coming weeks. In addition to conducting the weekly survey, students created field guides outlining the coloring, size, behavior, and distinguishing markings of each bird species included in the project.

2. Project Activities & Outcomes

Activities  Describe and quantify (using the approved metrics referenced in your grant agreement) the primary activities conducted during this grant.

Students were trained by ornithologists from New York City Audubon to identify various bird species and collect data according to established protocols prior to the start of both the 2012 and 2013 monitoring seasons, which began in May and ran through the end of August. Once trained, students conducted the survey on a weekly basis for the duration of the season, with the exception of the four weeks in between the organization’s spring and summer semesters.

Each week, students rowed in Rocking the Boat’s colorful student-built wooden boats to each of six monitoring sites on the Bronx River: Concrete Plant Park, ABC Carpet & Home (where Rocking the Boat built and installed a 10,000 square foot wetland and an osprey platform in 2012), Garrison Avenue, Hunts Point Riverside Park, North Hunts Point Market, and Soundview Park. For at least five minutes at each location, students used binoculars to look for species of interest: Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Little Blue Heron, Tri-colored Heron, and Glossy Ibis. When birds were spotted, students took turns counting the number and species of birds present and observed their activities—feeding preening, breeding, roosting, loafing, etc.—for three minutes, calling out this information to fellow students who recorded it on a data sheet. They also documented features of the birds’ habitats—mud flat, low marsh, high marsh areas—as well as tides, currents, and weather at the time of their observations.

Apprentices created field guides for use while conducting the survey, which were also shared with other community groups working on the Bronx River as well as members of the general public who attended various events hosted or attended by Rocking the Boat. The guides were created in summer 2012, following a workshop led by Lilly Briggs, a PhD candidate at Cornell’s School of Ornithology, who helped students further understand the important role of herons (and all birds) within the Bronx River’s ecosystem and reviewed methods for identifying different species. After the workshop, each Apprentice was assigned a heron species for which they created a one-page field identification guide.

Page 3 of 17  Briefly explain discrepancies between the activities conducted during the grant and the activities agreed upon in your grant agreement.

There were no significant discrepancies between the activities conducted and those agreed upon in Rocking the Boat’s contract with NFWF.

Outcomes  Describe and quantify progress towards achieving the project outcomes described in your grant agreement. (Quantify using the approved metrics referenced in your grant agreement or by using more relevant metrics not included in the application.)

Project Outcome Quantity High school students learn about the local ecosystem and are 98 students participated in two trainings during the grant trained in data collection and use of technical equipment period Monitoring data is collected at six sites on the Bronx River 27 sets of data and shared with New York City Audubon Educational materials are developed one field guide Educating the public Roughly 3,000 people learned about the project at public events including two End-of-Semester Community Boat Launch Celebrations, two Family Nights, Rocking the Boat’s weekly Community Rowing Program, and through the organization’s On-Water Classroom Program.

 Briefly explain discrepancies between what actually happened compared to what was anticipated to happen.

There were no significant discrepancies between proposed and actual outcomes.

 Provide any further information (such as unexpected outcomes) important for understanding project activities and outcome results.

The survey was a highlight for many students who pointed to it during their evaluations as the project they gained the most from. In addition to learning about the various birds they were studying, students developed better observational skills and patience and enjoyed the slower, more contemplative nature of the project, a big change from the normal pace of their lives in the South Bronx.

Monitoring was especially rewarding during the summer semesters when students saw many more birds than in the spring, including large numbers of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Black-crowned Night Herons, and Great Egrets. They also spotted several Great Blue Herons and a few Tri-colored Herons and were treated to a Belted Kingfisher sighting on the last day of monitoring this year. The Kingfisher is not one of the species students were monitoring for but they were excited, nonetheless, as it was the first time they had seen one on the Bronx River!

3. Lessons Learned Describe the key lessons learned from this project, such as the least and most effective conservation practices or notable aspects of the project’s methods, monitoring, or results. How could other conservation organizations adapt their projects to build upon some of these key lessons about what worked best and what did not?

A key lesson learned from the project was the value of partnering with an organized, well established, and well equipped organization like New York City Audubon that can provide training, protocols, and data sheets; compile and analyze data; and serve as a coordinating body for the larger project, allowing Rocking the Boat to concentrate on its own smaller, local effort. Knowing that their data would be included in a larger study that would help inform future conservation efforts motivated students and provided them with a greater sense of purpose for their efforts.

A component of the project that proved even more valuable than anticipated that could easily be adopted by other conservation organizations was the field guides students created. Having a small guide containing information on just the nine species of interest rather than a general guide with information on hundreds of different birds proved

Page 4 of 17 incredibly useful out in the field. Moreover, the process of making the guides helped solidify students’ familiarity with the birds they were studying.

4. Dissemination Briefly identify any dissemination of lessons learned or other project results to external audiences, such as the public or other conservation organizations.

Last January, Rocking the Boat’s Director of Public Programs and resident bird expert Chrissy Word presented on the organization’s methods, findings, and lessons learned from the project at the Annual Harbor Herons and Colonial Waterbirds Symposium hosted by New York City Audubon and the National Park Service on Staten Island. Ms. Word made a similar presentation at this year’s conference on December 11.

Findings from the project were also shared with the general public throughout the grant period at mid-semester Family Nights and End-of-Semester Community Celebrations attended by parents, siblings, and friends of Rocking the Boat students and Apprentices as well as members of the local community; at the annual WoodenBoat show at Mystic Seaport where students shared their work with hundreds of attendees; and at Rocking the Boat’s weekly Community Rowing Program, which introduced more than 1,200 community members to the Bronx River each summer.

5. Project Documents Include in your final programmatic report, via the Uploads section of this task, the following:

 2-10 representative photos from the project. Photos need to have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi and must be accompanied with a legend or caption describing the file name and content of the photos;  report publications, GIS data, brochures, videos, outreach tools, press releases, media coverage;  any project deliverables per the terms of your grant agreement.

POSTING OF FINAL REPORT: This report and attached project documents may be shared by the Foundation and any Funding Source for the Project via their respective websites. In the event that the Recipient intends to claim that its final report or project documents contains material that does not have to be posted on such websites because it is protected from disclosure by statutory or regulatory provisions, the Recipient shall clearly mark all such potentially protected materials as “PROTECTED” and provide an explanation and complete citation to the statutory or regulatory source for such protection.

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Page 9 of 17 Black Crowned Night Heron LhLength: 23‐28 in Adult Wing Span: 48 in Behavior These Birds use their nests to attract mates and they grasp their prey instead of stabbing them with their beaks.

Markings Adult Black Crowns are usually medium‐sized, with a shthort neck and thic k blac k bill. They have blac k bkbacks and grey wings, a white belly and short yellow legs.

Markings Juvenile Herons look brown with white spots on the wings and broad, indistinct streaks on their JUVENILE belly. Their bills are also, for the most part, yellow.

Page 10 of 17 TRICOLOR H E R O N

Length: 22 to 30 in Wing Span: 38 in Adult

Behavior

• Nests in colonies, often with other herons, usually on platforms of sti ck s in trees or sh rub s.

Markings

Small, dark heron. Long yellowish legs. Long, dark, pointed bill. Long neck often kept pulled in tight to Juvenile body. Legs and neck long, but shorter than most herons.

Page 11 of 17 Great Egret Adult Length:37‐40 in Wing Span: 51‐56in

Behavior

Nest in trees near water and prey by walking slowly or standing still and catching their prey. Markings Great egrets are tall and have a fllfull white body, curved necks and pointed bright yellow bills ,long black legs.

Markings(Juvenile) Feathering on the crown and lack of hihheight are two of the fie ld markings that set aside the juvenile egret from the adult. JUVENILE

Page 12 of 17 Glossy Ibis

• Length: 23 in • Wingspan :36 in

Behavior

They wade through the shallows probing the mud with their long down‐curved bills. Markings Dark, copper‐colored wading bird with a long, down‐curved bill and long, gray brown legs.

Markings Has a blue beak, browner color overall.

Page 13 of 17 Great Blue Heron Adult Length: 38 – 54 in Wing Span: 66 –79 in

Behavior

The Great Blue Heron wades slowly and stands around statue‐like as it prepares to catch its prey in shallow waters or open fields. Their very slow wing beats and tucked in neck make them unmistakable in flight.

Markings

Large, graceful heron with long neck and legs Stout yellow and ggyray bill Crown striped with black and white Blue‐gray body Markings Broad, two‐toned wings Long legs and slender, curving neck Dark crown and gray body JUVENILE Black‐and‐white striped throat and breastsa

Page 14 of 17 Green Heron Adult Length: 16 –18 in Wing Span: 25 –27 in

Behavior

Stands still next to water and grabs small fish with quick thrust of neck. One of the few birds that uses bait to attract fish, it drops such things as bread crusts, insects, and twigs onto the water.

Markings Small, dark heron, long yellowish legs, long red brown neckfk often k ept pu lldiihlled in tight to b bdody. Legs and neck long, but shorter than most herons. Long, dark, pointed bill. Markings Brown-and-white streaked neck. Yellow spectacle-shaped markings surround the eye and extend to the bridge of the bill. Juvenile

Page 15 of 17 HEIGHT: 27 INCHESLittle blue heron Adult Wing Span: 40 INCHES

Markings JUVENILE •THE BODY IS DARK BLUE •LONG NECK, LEGS, AND BEAK •YELLOW EYES Markings •THE BODY IS WHITE •GREENISH LONG LEGS •LONG BEAK •YELLOW EYES

Page 16 of 17 Snowy Egret Length: 20-27 inches Wing Span : 41 inches Adult

Behavior The S nowy E gret i s a pati ent pred ator that wades in shallow water or stands right on the waters edge. They also are fairlyyy friendly towards humans .

Markings The Snowy Egret has a long slender black bill, black legs, and yellow feet. JUVENILE

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