The Urban Audubon
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The newsletter of New York City Audubon Fall 2014 / Volume XXXV No. 3 THE URBAN AUDUBON TheThe GreeningGreening ofof SewageSewage OverflowsOverflows AreAre BatsBats ConveningConvening atat thethe JavitsJavits Center?Center? Fall 2014 1 00000_NYC_Audubon_Fall2014.indd 1 8/13/14 12:30 PM NYC AUDUBON MISSION & VISION Mission: NYC Audubon is a grassroots President’s Perch Harrison Maas community that works for the protection of wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs, improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers. s this issue of The Urban Audubon goes to press, New York City is full of fledgling Vision: NYC Audubon envisions a birds begging to be fed, leading us to reflect on the birds that nest in our area. day when birds and people in the AThe variety is astounding. Every borough has its fair share of breeders, including five boroughs enjoy a healthy, livable Manhattan, its parks filled with nesting Baltimore orioles, warbling vireos, and eastern habitat. kingbirds. In a historical first, a female ruby-throated hummingbird was found this spring THE URBAN AUDUBON sitting on a nest in Central Park’s Ramble—while a common tern colony continues to Editors Lauren Klingsberg & grow on Governors Island. Queens and Brooklyn are home to countless breeders as well: Marcia T. Fowle Spotted sandpipers breed in Queens’ Alley Pond Park, green herons in Brooklyn’s Prospect Managing Editor Tod Winston Newsletter Committee Lucienne Park, and oystercatchers and egrets thrive in Jamaica Bay. The Bronx has its own bird-rich Bloch, Ned Boyajian, Suzanne Charlé, green spaces, such as Pelham Bay Park and New York Botanical Garden, both home to Ellen Gerber, Catherine Heller, Lynne nesting great horned owls, and of course Van Cortlandt Park, its forests ringing with the Hertzog, Mary Jane Kaplan, Abby McBride, Sarah McGullam, Don Riepe, song of wood thrushes. The leader in terms of diversity and numbers, however, may be Carol Peace Robins Staten Island, home to a spectacular range of wild habitats: The Greenbelt’s diverse spaces include Clove Lakes Park, featuring nesting great blue herons, while North Mount Loretto Printing & Mailing Kase Printing, Inc. Design Whitehouse & Company Woods has hosted both whip-poor-wills and black-and-white warblers in recent years. Art Director Christina Rubin A surprising number of birds breed in New York City and stay here through the Publisher NYC Audubon dog days of summer. And of course vast numbers migrate through the City in spring and fall, stopping in our parks to feed and rest. Considerable numbers also use New York THE URBAN AUDUBON is published four times per year (spring, summer, City as their winter home. Birds and the City are a 365-day-a-year, 24/7 combination, fall, and winter) by New York City and as birders and conservationists, we monitor their fluctuating numbers with concern. Audubon Society, Inc. Many of us in the birding world were heartened this past spring by what seemed to be BOARD OF directors the best migration in years. In an age where birds of many species are declining, some President Harrison D. Maas precipitously, this spring’s migration, with its abundance of birds, was encouraging. But it Executive Vice President David Speiser also reminded us of the immense and difficult task before us, in protecting birds and their Vice President Richard T. Andrias Treasurer John Shemilt habitat and doing everything possible to stabilize, if not increase, bird populations across Secretary Marsilia A. Boyle the country, and indeed across the world. Immediate Past President Oakes Ames And this, of course, is NYC Audubon’s mission. We strive to protect our beaches, Directors Robert Bate, Clifford Case, our woodlands, and our open spaces in order to provide habitat in all seasons and protect Judy Craig, Alexander Ewing, Andrew Farnsworth, Marcia T. Fowle, Catherine our birdlife at all times, through such programs as Project Safe Flight, Lights Out New Heller, Lynne Hertzog, Sarah Jeffords, York, Harbor Herons, park restoration (such as McGolrick Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn), Jeffrey Kimball, Lauren Klingsberg, breeding bird surveys, and, of course, via our advocacy on behalf of birds and their habitat, Lawrence Levine, Eugene Nardelli, Fredric Spar, Tom Stephenson plus many other initiatives described in these pages or on our website (www.nycaudubon. org). With your help and support, NYC Audubon continues to make this city a better ADVISORY COUNCIL place to live, for both birds and people. Sarah Grimké Aucoin, Drianne Benner, Dr. Claude Bloch, Albert K. Butzel, Rebekah Creshkoff, Andrew Darrell, Joseph H. Ellis, Mary Jane Kaplan, Robert J. Kimtis, Kimberly Kriger, Janice Laneve, Pamela Manice, Mary Tyler NYC Audubon Welcomes New Executive Director Kathryn Heintz Moore, Peter Rhoades Mott, Dorothy We are happy to announce that Kathryn Heintz will commence work as NYC M. Peteet, Don Riepe, Lewis Rosenberg, James R. Sheffield, AlisonS trong Audubon’s new executive director on September 2. Kathryn served as director, principal gifts and annual fund, for the Wildlife Conservation Society for the past two years, where she was instrumental in building and implementing a campaign for elephant conservation and in developing new approaches for funding of global initiatives. From 2001 to 2012 she was director of development at Wave Hill in the Bronx. She brings a wealth of experience that will be invaluable to the organization. Kathryn, welcome to the NYC Audubon family. RECYCLED Supporting responsible use of forest resources 2 www.nycaudubon.org 00000_NYC_Audubon_Fall2014.indd 2 8/13/14 12:30 PM In This Issue Fall 2014 © R obert B rauman 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: Osprey ©Lloyd Spitalnik Small Banner Photographs: Susan Elbin, Steve Nanz, and Don Riepe *This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. © 6 L aura M eyers Features 6 The Greening of Sewage Overflows by Suzanne Charlé and Mary Jane Kaplan 14 The Fort Tilden Observation Platform: Fall Birding at Its Best! by Lynne Hertzog 15 National Park Service Adopts Long-Awaited Gateway 10 General Management Plan © by Larry Levine D avid S peiser 16 NYC Audubon Welcomes New Board Members by Cathy Heller 17 Are Bats Convening at the Javits Center? by Ned Boyajian 15 18 Thank You to Summer Staff and Interns © M 20 The Fall Roost 2014 ichael D urham * Departments 4 Conservation Notes 14 Book Review 5 Volunteer! 18 News & Notes 17 10 Events and Adventures 19 Acknowledgments 12 National/International Trips Fall 2014 3 00000_NYC_Audubon_Fall2014.indd 3 8/13/14 12:30 PM Conservation Notes Susan Elbin he primary goal of NYC Audubon’s tion, Toyota TogetherGreen, and the Neo- JAMAICA BAY conservation program is to focus ef- tropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act, • Protect Sites Critical to Marsh-Nesting Tforts on activities that have the most NYC Audubon partnered with the Bryant Shorebirds significant impacts on priority bird species Park Corporation (BPC) to pilot a project Darren Klein was also instrumental in and their habitats. This past spring and sum- that asked the 31-member BPC mainte- helping summarize comments on the mer, our staff, research assistants, summer in- nance staff not only to remove dead birds, Gateway National Recreation Area (National terns, and citizen scientists have been hard at but also to report them using a new innova- Park Service) General Management Plan, work to achieve this goal. The principal activi- tive text-in system. As evidenced by data including comments on the final draft. ties are summarized below: from our regular monitoring efforts, Bryant Klein has been sending elected officials Park continued to be a collision hotspot; our comments, either by mail or in person. IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS AND birds found there included common yel- We were able to help formalize increased PROJECT SAFE FLIGHT lowthroats, ovenbirds, and thrush species. protection for bird species of conservation • Improve Stopover Habitat Quality: The maintenance staff reported several birds need. (See article on page 15.) A new project funded by the Greenpoint this spring, including a hermit thrush, an We continue our work with Shiloh Community Environmental Fund is our ovenbird, and an indigo bunting. This fall Schulte of the Manomet Center for first major effort to improve stopover we will work with BPC to expand this pro- Conservation Sciences (Manomet, MA) habitat for migratory songbirds and pol- gram to other areas of the City. to monitor and protect American linators. Working with the New York City oystercatchers on Breezy Point, islands Parks & Recreation staff at McGolrick • Seek Solutions to Issues Facing in Jamaica Bay, and on Arverne Beaches Park, Brooklyn, and NYC Parks & Recre- Migrating Birds by Monitoring Col- in the Rockaways. In early May, NYC ation Field Ecologist Alexander Summers lisions with Buildings and Glass and Audubon Research Associate Emilio Tobon as native plant consultant, NYC Audubon Increasing Scientific Understanding perfected his use of the “whoosh net.” We Research Assistant Kaitlyn Parkins and of Migration were able to catch, tag, and release 16 adult Intern Melanie del Rosario planned and NYC Audubon’s team of citizen science oystercatchers with this low-risk lure and planted a native plant garden that is not volunteers once again patrolled the streets trap system. Adult birds tagged in 2013 only good for birds and insects but is also of Manhattan for birds killed by collisions returned to nest in 2014. Productivity a beautiful neighborhood amenity. Volun- with glass. In addition to Bryant Park, the data are being analyzed for a multiyear teers from the area did the planting and final weeks of May proved deadly at the comparison. summertime maintenance of the garden. Metropolitan Museum of Art for a number NYC Audubon Intern Alison Kocek, Local school children, part of Audubon of Canada warblers, common yellowthroats, PhD student at SUNY Syracuse, continues to New York’s For the Birds program, ad- black-and-white warblers, hermit thrushes, conduct research on Staten Island, studying opted a section of the garden.