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.

September, 1995
Verplanck, 9/1 - Cal Greenburg reported catching an 18-inch Spanish mackerel in his bait net (a short gill net used to catch Atlantic menhaden for blue crab bait).

Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus) is considered uncommon north of Chesapeake Bay -- and a rather rare summer visitor to the Hudson Estuary -- a few seem to show up each summer. They arrive during summers of low freshwater flow and high salinity, and are occasionally taken in crab pots and by sport fishermen in the lower Hudson. Although they can grow to 3 feet in length, a typical Hudson River Spanish mackerel is 12-20 inches long. The much more common mackerel of the lower Hudson estuary and NY Bight is the Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombus).

Piermont Marsh, 9/2 - Drew Ciganek, Steve Palkovic, and Walter Snyder were bottle-crabbing off Piermont Marsh. As Walter Snyder hauled up one line, he found an adult albino Atlantic blue crab. It measured 7 inches point to point across the carapace - probably a two-year-old. It was difficult to assess how unusual this was. A query of several long-time Hudson River crabbers failed to uncover, in their collective memories, any other records of an albino blue crab in the Hudson River.

Nyack, 9/8 - Bob Gabrielson reported that he continues to catch quite a few scup, summer flounder, and oyster toadfish as a bycatch in his crab pots. Bob has been crabbing for 30 years and cannot ever remember seeing so many scup (known colloquially as porgy) in the Tappan Zee.

Croton River 9/14 - There was a ten-fold increase in the number of grass shrimp in our seine and other sampling gear compared to last year. Barnacle encrusted every bit of suitable substrate: tennis shoes, beer cans, tires, drowned driftwood, and rocks. The prolonged high salinity levels of this summer certainly must be favoring their growth. -- Christopher Letts, Tom Lake

Bear Mountain 9/15 - During the Bear Mountain Hawk Watch, I saw a lone raven being chased in flight by three crows. Overhead we spotted 6 black vultures. These are being spotted much more regularly, with 6 being the most we have seen at one time. -- Philip Meisner

Nyack State Beach Park 9/18 - We captured three silver perch in our seine today. These lovely little drum continued to be rather common this summer, possibly due to the increased brackishness in the Tappan Zee. Salinity was 11.2 ppt. -- Christopher Letts, Tom Lake

Croton Point 9/22 - The Croton Point landfill seems to have a great attraction for American kestrels. I counted nine today, coursing, hovering, swooping and diving. The wind was from the south, and the birds were on the north side. Are they marking time until tomorrow's northerlies boost them across the Tappan Zee? Or are they working over the prey harboring on the north face of the landfill? Maybe both. The viewing perspective can be weird. The tallest growth on the landfill for perching are mullein and primrose stalks. In the dim light of the approaching mist and fog, the kestrels might have been gyrfalcons. -- Christopher Letts

Bear Mountain 9/23 - Philip Meisner of the Trailside Museum's staff, reported a total of 13 timber rattlesnake sightings at Bear Mountain State Park during the summer. Four were road kills. In view of the drought, Phil believes that they were more active in search for water.
North Tarrytown (Sleepy Hollow) - A crisp fresh morning after 1 1/2 inches of rain yesterday. A flock of two dozen wild turkeys treated themselves to white oak acorns shaken down by yesterday's storm. A mixed flock of about 1,500 rusty blackbirds, brown-headed cowbirds, and starlings, rolled like a cloud over a meadow at Rockefeller State Park, then disappeared like mist into the woods when three migrating red-tailed hawks circled into sight. From the heights of the property, the Hudson glinted gray in the clear morning air. -- Christopher Letts, Nancy Letts

Croton Point 9/23 - The setting sun left a full-spectrum glow as it disappeared behind High Tor and Low Tor. We were night-seining at Croton Point, and a crowd of 200 people anxiously awaited our net - a 200-foot haul seine - to come ashore.
Just before sunset we had swept our seine through the shallows just off the beach and caught hundreds of white perch and striped bass. Would the species composition change after sundown?
In the total darkness of the new moon we again pulled our net through the same area. This time we found predators: eels, bluefish, and blue crabs. And we found their prey: bay anchovies, Atlantic silverside, grass shrimp, killifish, and many young-of-the-year silver perch. Darkness seemed to have drawn together predator and prey in the warm shallows of Haverstraw Bay. The water temperature was 69F; the salinity was 9.7 ppt. -- Tom Lake, Christopher Letts, Peter Baker

Croton Point 9/24 - Thirty people joined me on a bright and breezy afternoon. Our objective was to observe fall migrants with the emphasis on monarch butterflies. A year ago we rejoiced at the glory of monarchs amid sunflowers on the Croton Point landfill. On some days we saw 50 per hour, lazing in the sunshine, waiting for the northerly breeze to boost them across the Tappan Zee en route to Mexico. This year I have not seen 50 in total. However, we soon saw two merlins, half a dozen turkey vultures, and a flock of about 250 blue jays. We continued to see flocks of blue jays and more turkey vultures as we mounted the heights to the top. Our reward for the climb was a wonderful view of the kestrels, as many as five at a time, hunting over the face of the hill, sometimes hovering for long seconds just 50 yards away from our group. For a time this fall, I was puzzled by the number of stoops with no apparent kills - were these young and inexperienced birds? Over the past week I have observed that these birds seemed to be feeding on the wing. Several times today, with bright light and binoculars, I saw the gleam of discarded wings fluttering down the wind. The birds were feeding on dragonflies and butterflies.
When we'd had enough of the kestrel aerobatics and taken our fill of the view of the river and the Palisades, we left the hill. On our return we saw a single monarch moseying across the field, visiting blooms of aster and goldenrod. -- Christopher Letts

Dobbs Ferry 9/25 - At 9 a.m. with the river's tide flooding, our NYSDEC Division of Marine Resources' Hudson River striped bass sampling crew was at Dobbs Ferry. In the course of collection we captured a somewhat uncommon fish in our net: a striped anchovy. Water temperature was 68F; the salinity was 10 ppt. -- Kim McKown