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 III. Each month, we'll be adding another excerpt from the book that corresponds to the current month.

August 1996
August 1 - Garrison - We caught a larval Atlantic needlefish (17mm) today, in a plankton tow in the South Cove of Constitution Marsh Sanctuary. Eric Lind

August 2 - Foundry Cove - In addition to a mixed flock of semipalmated and least sandpipers, we spotted two snowy egrets. Eric Lind
Garrison - Four immature black-crowned night herons were seen roosting together on a fallen black locust in Constitution Marsh. Eric Lind

August 4 - Foundry Cove - While investigating Foundry Cove, we spotted four snowy egrets. Eric Lind

August 5 - Croton Point - Low tide, not a breeze to stir the huge blooms of rose mallow in the marsh. I walked along the south shore toward the mouth of the Croton River, peering into each creek mouth as I passed. I was rewarded with good looks at a pair of least bitterns, and two immature black-crowned night herons. Half a dozen marsh wrens were singing in the reeds and fiddler crabs scuttled on the mud banks. Their numbers are sharply reduced this season compared to last year. Blue crab molts were plentiful, though many fewer than a year ago.
Beach seining so far this season has been a disappointment. Snapper bluefish and menhaden of all sizes are plentiful, and large numbers of yoy (young-of-the year) river herring are dimpling the surface continually, but shrimp are absent, and the late summer "funny fish" we look forward to have not appeared. I suspect low salinity to be the cause. Christopher Letts

August 6 - Verplanck - In 40 crab pots Cal Greenberg had only 36 keeper-crabs. Most he caught were "shorts," too small for the market.
Nyack - "There are no crabs out there!" Bob Gabrielson

August 11 - Croton Point - Under a clear dark sky (three nights from a new moon) punctuated by the Perseids meteor shower - periodic and brief dashes, streaks and flares - and air temperatures in the 50s, the inshore river dropped 3 degrees. Salinity also continued to drop. It was now 1.8 ppt. Tom Lake
Croton Point - Thirty of us were again on a ride in an old hay wagon up to the top of the Croton Landfill under a stark blue sky. Like a Harrier jet, rising from below up over the crown of the hill into our field of vision, an osprey rode a thermal to its apex, soared above us, then winged away to the north. You could almost sense that it was biding its time until the tide ebbed and presented luncheon opportunities. Tree swallows were everywhere, exercising their position at the top of the food web, beginning with wildflowers, then the insects, grasshoppers, butterflies, moths and others. Or are they on top? In and among them darted a falcon, a kestrel, either sharing the insects or measuring the swallows. A handful of goldfinches in a short cottonwood made it look like a lemon tree. Tom Lake

August 14 - Yonkers - As I was doing a beach program with some children, an unusual bird flew past and landed on the rocks, just north of the Beczak Center. John Carver, who also saw the bird and observed it for nearly half an hour, identified it as a black skimmer. Julia Reich

August 18 - New Hamburg - It was a warm summer's day with a clear sky and low humidity. While sailing along the east shore of the Hudson, an Atlantic sturgeon (at least 3' in length) jumped straight up from the river and landed with a splash 20' feet away. What a treat! Jeff Anzevino

August 25 - Croton Point - The shallow inshore waters had been warmed to 82 degrees by the August sun - several degrees warmer than the ambient river. Overhead we watched three osprey course above the landfill, slowly drifting south to Croton Marsh where low tide was looming and prospects for dinner were improving. The salinity was 4.8 ppt (it was 9.4 on the same day in 1995). Our expectations of finding marine or even brackish water fauna were limited. We hauled our seine net just once through a bed of wild celery and water milfoil. As our net came ashore a cry of "anguilla" could be heard from the Hispanic members of our audience as a foot-long American eel made its appearance (Anguilla, L. eel). We found several precisely, almost surgically, severed ends (both fore and aft) of spottail shiners: a clear indication of bluefish activity. In contrast to summer 1995, which had higher salinity, we found no silverside, silver perch, pipefish, gobies, flounder, shrimp, or comb jellies. Tom Lake, Christopher Letts, Bob Walters