The almanac uses observations written by naturalists, river lovers of all ages, and scientists to assemble a journal of the river's unique moments.

The almanac is printed by Purple Mountain Press, Ltd., (800-325-2665) and is lavishly illustrated by Marlena Marallo. It is available for $10, plus New York State sales tax, and $3.50 for shipping. E-mail address is: Purple@mail.catskill.net

These excerpts are taken, with permission from the publisher, from the Hudson River Almanac, Volume II. Each month, we'll be adding another excerpt from the book that corresponds to the current month.

May, 1995
May 2, Furnace Brook - I observed black crappie spawning in Furnace Woods Lake. - Christopher Letts
Ossining - The lilac were in bloom along the Tappan Zee. - Christopher Letts

May 8, Furnace Brook - At 8 a.m. I heard barred owls calling back and forth in broad daylight. I called once -- they stopped calling. I called again and the male came flying in and landed 30 yards away to see who the interloper was. - Christopher Letts

May 9, Furnace Woods Lake - I rescued a tangled water snake from a mass of monofilament fishing line that would have surely killed it. I had to cut the strands for several minutes to get the animal free. In appreciation, it promptly bit me, and now my hands and arms stink of the water snake. - Christopher Letts
Furnace Brook - I saw our first brood of wood ducks today along Furnace Brook. - Christopher Letts

May 11, Tappan Zee - Bob Gabrielson reported catching a four-spot flounder, just over 12 inches long, in his shad net this morning. He also caught an 11-inch windowpane flounder, a 13-inch weakfish, striped sea robins, and a 10-pound bluefish.
Commercial shad fishermen in the Haverstraw Bay-Tappan Zee reach are used to seeing strange and unusual animals come up in their nets. However George Kucera was nonetheless amazed to come upon a 4-inch seahorse today as he was picking shad from Bob Gabrielson's gill net.
Lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus) One glance at a seahorse and it becomes evident how they got their name. They look most unlike a fish, and children (even adults) are often at a loss to figure out exactly what they are. A fish is not usually the first choice. Seahorses, confined to brackish water, seem to be uncommon in the lower Hudson but it may be that we are looking in the wrong places. In other systems they are often seen by snorklers - their prehensile tail wrapped around vegetation or some other secure structure - swaying in the current.

May 13, George's Island - We had an old-fashioned shad bake on the banks of the Hudson. The water temperature was 57 degrees as we pulled a seine through the inlet between George's Island and Dogan Point. Among the catch was our first blue crab of the season. - C. Lavett Smith, Pat Yazgi

May 16, Croton Point - Dawn at Sarah's Point. Glassy water in the bay and over the reef. Large carp were jumping off the south shore throwing a 3-foot geyser in the air upon re-entry. It was low tide at the Croton Point reef; overhead trees sparkled with a new flight of warblers and orioles. Over at the Croton Point bridge a half-mile away, a pile driver began to chant "KERCHUK-ah, KERCHUK-ah," which was not impressive to a pair of common loon fishing on the reef. It seemed unusual that this pair was still in winter plumage; they must have had a long way to go. I saw a nesting pair of phoebes under the brick arch of the old wine cellars. A marsh hawk coursed the landfill and a protesting osprey made itself scarce under unwanted crow escort. - Christopher Letts

May 22, Furnace Brook - At one of the impoundment dams on Furnace Brook, a family of Canada geese took to the water. One two-year-old gosling got caught in the brush and fell behind. As we approached, it broke free and dove into the pond, immediately diving several feet down and submarining 50 feet before surfacing again. I've often seen adults swim underwater for up to 45 seconds and 50 yards, but this was the first time I have seen a gosling use this method of escape. - Christopher Letts

May 23, Croton Point - I saw my first monarch of the spring, resting in a set of river otter tracks in the moist sand at Sarah's Point. - Christopher Letts

May 27, Furnace Brook - A yellow-billed cuckoo was calling, and thee was a ruby-throated hummingbird on a nest in a white ash. I watched and got within 15 feet of a river otter and a great blue heron. The first chimney swifts have arrived. - Christopher Letts

May 30, Furnace Brook - White clover was in bloom. I watched a Canada goose family - a pair of adults with 23 goslings - in three very distinct size groups. Did they goose-nap a couple of other families? - Christopher Letts