ThTHEE nNEWSLEEwSlETTERTTER ofOF nENEWw YoYORKRk CiCITY AAUDUBONUdUbon SU MMwinERTER 2016 2014 / VOLU/ VolMUMEE XXXV XXXVII nNo.O. 42 ThE URbAn AUdUbon NYCNYC GrasslandsGrasslands CaseCase Study:Study: FloydFloyd BennettBennett FieldField 11th11th AnnualAnnual JamaicaJamaica BayBay ShorebirdShorebird FestivalFestival SUMMER 2016 1 67500_NYC Audubon_Summer16.indd 1 5/2/16 8:55 AM NYC AUDUBON MISSION & VISION Mission: nYC Audubon is a grassroots community that works for the protection IRD S YE IEW Kathryn Heintz B ’ E V of wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs, improving the quality of life for all new Yorkers. irds that flock together seem to understand that there is strength in Vision: nYC Audubon envisions a day when birds and people in the numbers, and power in collective efforts. NYC Audubon has its own five boroughs enjoy a healthy, livable faithful flock, and from my perch, it is a thrill to see us all flying habitat. B together. Thousands of members and wild-bird enthusiasts are turning out for our THE URBAN AUDUBON walks, classes, trips, lectures, festivals, and volunteer events. We are adding new Editors lauren klingsberg & Marcia T. fowle programs in an effort to meet the demand. Hundreds are also responding to our Managing Editor Tod winston fundraising appeals. This show of support makes a huge difference and encourages Newsletter Committee Ellen Azorin, lucienne bloch, ned boyajian, us every day. Some 542 friends and members contributed a collective $154,039 Suzanne Charlé, diane darrow, in the first three months of the calendar year, the closing quarter of our fiscal year. Catherine heller, Mary Jane kaplan, That is strength in numbers flocking together. Abby Mcbride, Sarah McGullam, hillarie o’Toole, Jennifer Rauch, And our flock is growing. Spring migration 2016 carries NYC Audubon into don Riepe, Carol Peace Robins its 38th year as an urban conservation organization. With strengthening numbers, Printing & Mailing kase Printing, inc. we embark upon this new cycle with confidence. We are buoyed by the collective Design whitehouse & Company efforts of our board and advisory council, volunteers who share with us their vision Art Director Christina Rubin Publisher nYC Audubon and leadership. But this year is unusual. June 2016 will bring us a new president as Harry Maas’s term concludes. 2016 will also see a number of remarkable THE URBAN AUDUBON is published members rotate from the board to the advisory council. Among them are two four times per year (spring, summer, fall, and winter) by new York City past presidents, Marcia Fowle and Oakes Ames; a vice president, Rick Andrias; Audubon Society, inc. a secretary, Marcy Boyle; and a preeminent bird-conservation scientist, Andrew BOARD OF DIRECTORS Farnsworth. These six super-volunteers have collectively contributed more than 72 President harrison d. Maas years of board service. Our election in June at the NYC Audubon Annual Meeting Executive Vice President david Speiser Vice President Richard T. Andrias (see page 14) welcomes a new slate of officers and directors who will strive to fill Treasurer John Shemilt their shoes, adding to our flock’s collective wisdom. Corresponding Secretary Marsilia A. What lies ahead for wild birds in New York City? Continue to flock with boyle Recording Secretary Alexander Ewing us this summer and help shape their future. I invite you to find inspiration in Immediate Past President oakes Ames these pages, to learn about the challenges urban birds face, and to see what NYC Directors Robert bate; karen benfield; drianne benner; Alexander Ewing; Audubon is doing to strengthen their numbers. Then join us for a walk in the Andrew farnsworth, Phd; Marcia T. park, a cruise around the harbor, and celebrations of terns and shorebirds. See fowle; Richard fried, VMd; Catherine Schragis heller; Sarah Jeffords; Jeffrey you there! kimball; lauren klingsberg; lawrence levine; Eugene nardelli; fredric Spar; Tom Stephenson ADVISORY COUNCIL Sarah Grimké Aucoin; Claude bloch, Md; Albert k. butzel; Clifford Case; Rebekah Creshkoff; Andrew darrell; Remember the Birds Joseph h. Ellis; lynne hertzog; Mary Jane kaplan; Robert J. kimtis; kimberly Make sure that New York City remains a haven for the birds and wildlife kriger; Janice laneve; Pamela Manice; Peter Rhoades Mott; dorothy M. Peteet, you love. A bequest is a generous and straightforward way to safeguard birds Phd; don Riepe; lewis Rosenberg; and their habitat in New York City’s five boroughs. It can be expressed as, “I James R. Sheffield bequeath [a sum of money or a percentage of my estate] to New York City EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Audubon Society, Inc. a not-for-profit organization with offices at 71 West kathryn heintz 23rd Street, Suite 1523, New York, NY 10010.” To learn more, contact Director of Development Kellye Rosenheim at [email protected] DIRECTOR OF CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE or 646-502-9611. Susan Elbin, Phd RECYCLED Supporting responsible use of 2 www.nycaudubon.org forest resources 67500_NYC Audubon_Summer16.indd 2 5/2/16 8:55 AM IN THIS ISSUE SUMMER 2016 ©Ron NYC AUDUBON b 71 west 23rd Street ourque Suite 1523 new York, nY 10010 Tel: 212-691-7483 fax: 646-606-3301 www.nycaudubon.org Cover Photograph: Grasshopper Sparrow ©david Speiser Small Banner Photographs: Susan Elbin, Steve nanz, and don Riepe *This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license. © 6 d avid Speiser Features 5 “It’s Your Tern” Festival 6 New York City Grasslands Case Study: Floyd Bennett Field by Ron bourque 7 Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum) 7 by don Riepe 12 A Freshwater Pond Returns to the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge © by harrison Maas d an Pancamo 13 11th Annual Jamaica Bay Shorebird Festival at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge * 14 Working Together to Conserve New York City’s American Oystercatchers by Catherine heller 8 15 Book Excerpt: Birdwatching in New York City and on Long Island by deborah Rivel and kellye Rosenheim © l loyd Spitalnik 17 Freshkills Park Discovery Days, Staten Island 17 Celebrate Jamaica Bay on World Oceans Day 20 The Fall Roost DEPARTMENTS 14 Annual Meeting and final Spring lecture 2 Remember the birds 14 16 book Reviews 4 Conservation notes 18 Acknowledgments 5 Volunteer! 19 news & notes 8 Events and Adventures 19 Support nYC Audubon’s Mission SUMMER 2016 3 67500_NYC Audubon_Summer16.indd 3 5/2/16 8:55 AM CONSERVATION NOteS Susan Elbin © l ronmental Conservation’s Jason Smith, who is In orbe excogita, in urbe age! aura Meyers YC Audubon focuses its conserva- coordinating a color-coding system for different tion and science activities within the states that band black skimmer chicks. five boroughs of New York City, but Conservation Biologist Debra Kriensky N leads our local work with migratory shorebirds, the outcomes of that work support bird conser- vation on a regional, national, and global scale. asking the question: are the birds finding what In English: we think globally and act locally. In they need in Jamaica Bay? Shorebird surveys this issue, Conservation Notes illustrates how and horseshoe crab monitoring give us an indi- we apply this framework to NYC Audubon’s cation of habitat use, but this coming year Deb- two main conservation programs: Waterbirds ra wants to learn more. Two shorebird “blitzes” of New York Harbor and Project Safe Flight. are planned for May and September during A review of major global conservation is- which expert shorebirders will traverse the city sues for all bird species reveals many grave con- Black-Crowned Night-Heron and count all the shorebirds they can find in one cerns: global climate change, severe storms, sea- to either island since their abrupt departures in day. We will also join a larger, global partner- level rise, habitat degradation, built structures 2012 and 2013, respectively. ship with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as barriers, invasive species, and hunting. Best Local movements of waterbirds can tell us and New Jersey Audubon as we use a new tech- practices and approaches used by large nonprofit about the quality of available food resources. nology, nanotagging, to track the migration of organizations like National Audubon, Cornell Former Development Assistant Joe O’Sullivan semipalmated sandpipers banded in Jamaica Lab of Ornithology, and American Bird Conser- continues to manage our citizen-science forag- Bay as they pass by stationary VHF data loggers vancy (to name just a few) include counting and ing surveys. In 2015 we partnered with New in the eastern U.S. and across northern Canada. mapping individual birds; monitoring popu- Jersey Audubon and Lenoir-Rhyne Univer- lations; applying new technology; engaging sity scientists to employ a new transmitter PROJECT SAFE FLIGHT citizen scientists; and sharing lessons learned. technology in order to follow two adult male In addition to the same threats faced by These larger issues and general approaches mir- great egrets (Edward and Clarence) from their migratory shorebirds such as lack of quality ror our work here at NYC Audubon. nesting activities on Hoffman Island to their stopover habitat and invasive species, migra- wintering grounds in South Carolina. We are tory landbirds also encounter collisions with Waterbirds OF NEW YORK HARBOR seeking a grant that will allow us to statistically buildings and glass. The Leon Levy Founda- Global and local conservation issues for analyze these local trend data. tion is generously supporting our work in this waterbirds are similar. Declining numbers of In addition to the overall conservation is- area. Glass testing continues as we partner with long-legged wading birds nesting in colonies sues confronting all birds, beach-nesting and American Bird Conservancy, New Jersey Audu- along the northeast coast parallel the Harbor migratory shorebirds face a similar global and bon, and the Wildlife Conservation Society to Herons’ nesting dynamics in the New York local subset of threats: habitat loss from coastal test different glass products for detection by Harbor.