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). It is available for $10, plus New York State sales tax, and $3.50 for shipping. E-mail address is: Purple@mail.catskill.net

Limited copies of The Hudson River Almanac: Volume II are also available at the same price. Volumes I and III are sold out.

These excerpts are taken, with permission from the publisher, from the Hudson River Almanac, Volume IV, 1997-98. Each month, we'll be adding another excerpt from the book that corresponds to the current month.

To contribute observations to the Hudson River Almanac, write to Tom Lake, 3 Steinhaus Lane, Wappinger Falls, NY 12590-3927, or fax: 297-8935 or e-mail to trlake@mailcity.com.

Those who wish to see more recent excerpts from the Hudson River Almanac may visit the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Web site at http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/hudson/monthly.html

September 1999
September 4 - Senasqua - As we drew our seine into the swash it teemed with hundreds of small yoy (young of the year) menhaden. However, something different was slipping out of view. We parted the bunker with our hands and found a small crevalle jack. Eric Lind, Murray Fisher
Tappan Zee - Ian Raywid and I were were out in our Sea Ox at first light to pick the gillnet we had set the night before: fresh bait for our blue crab pots. The river was gorgeous! In the ten minute run from the dock to the net we saw no fewer than a hundred schools of bait (Atlantic menhaden or bunker) breaking the river's surface, being chased by bluefish. In my sixty years on the Hudson River, I have never seen as much bait, as much life, as I have seen in the river this summer. Dozens of 15" - 17" bunker were in the net as well as eight 17" - 20" weakfish. The bigger weakies bounce off the small mesh. There may be some around the size they call "tiderunners," 10 - 12 pounders. Small summer flounder in numbers I have never seen in the Tappan Zee continue to show up in our crab pots. Larger, legal-size (14") summer flounder were being caught off the docks around Nyack. Bob Gabrielson

September 13 - Croton Point - The bountiful Hudson seems to be more bountiful than ever this year. Talk at the docks and boat ramps is of the seemingly unending schools of baitfish, mostly finger-sized menhaden. Ten minutes with a dip net in the wild celery yielded scores of small blue crabs and hundreds of shrimp, more than I have ever seen. The surface of Croton Bay was covered with gulls, osprey and cormorants, and wading birds were present in large numbers to take advantage of the season's largess. I don't recall seeing so many gulls in one place since the garbage dump trucks stopped rolling on to Croton Point 15 years ago. Semipalmated plovers mixed with a large flock of killdeer on the athletic field. Jerking its way around a tiny grass puddle was a solitary sandpiper. Christopher Letts

September 17 - Westchester County - Tropical storm Floyd dumped ten inches of rain in 24 hours and then served up a night of gale force winds. Huge trees crashed, basements flooded, creeks turned into rivers, and schools and businesses stayed closed for a second day. Monarch butterflies drifted dreamily from one clump of flowers to another, colors bright and wings intact. How did they weather the storm? Christopher Letts

September 26 - Croton Point - It seemed everything with wings was in the air today. Hundreds of blue jays circled high and swung out from Sarah's Point on their way to the Palisades cliffs. Broad-winged hawks and kestrels did the same, and monarchs were passing at the rate of 35 an hour. I saw no fewer than six flocks of chickadees making their way south and west along the Point: the largest flock more than forty birds. I saw my first flights of migratory geese, buried deep in the sky. Christopher Letts

September 29 - Dobbs Ferry - Our beach seine was filled with nearly 600 fish-snapper blues, white perch, a vast school of silverside, and several 4"-7" striped bass. For whatever reason, this year's crop of striped bass is running 2-3 times the average size for this time of the year. Low flying monarchs passed in twos and threes, dipping within inches, brushing against us as they beat into strong southerlies. The students from Irvington were thrilled to be so close to so much loveliness. As they passed, the students called out the tally; they were moving past us at the rate of fifty an hour. Christopher Letts