NEW YORK CITY AUDUBON’S HARBOR HERONS PROJECT: 2016 NESTING SURVEY REPORT 9 December 2016 Prepared for: New York City Audubon Kathryn Heintz, Executive Director 71 W. 23rd Street, Suite 1523 New York, NY 10010 Tel. 212-691-7483 www.nycaudubon.org Prepared by: Tod Winston, Research Assistant New York City Audubon 71 W. 23rd Street, Suite 1523 New York, NY 10010 Tel. 917-698-1892
[email protected] 1 New York City Audubon’s Conservation Programs are made possible by the leadership support of The Leon Levy Foundation. Support for the Harbor Herons Nesting Surveys comes from New York City Audubon major donor contributions. This report should be cited as: Winston, T. 2016. New York City Audubon’s Harbor Herons Project: 2016 Nesting Survey Report. New York City Audubon, New York, NY. 2 Abstract New York City Audubon’s Harbor Herons Project Nesting Survey of the New York/New Jersey Harbor and surrounding waterways was conducted between 17 May and 17 June, 2016. This report principally summarizes long-legged wading bird, cormorant, gull, and tern nesting activity observed on selected harbor islands, and also includes surveys of aids to navigation and selected mainland sites. Species summaries: Seven species of long-legged wading birds nested on ten of nineteen islands surveyed in New York Harbor as well as at several mainland sites, while two additional wading bird species nested exclusively at mainland sites. Surveyed wading bird species, hereafter collectively referred to as waders, included Black-crowned Night-Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Great Blue Heron, and Green Heron.