Bronx River Beavers

Just a little note about a recent experience…

Beavers in the  Bronx River

Damian

Add comment Posted in  sighted  Tagged:  beaver, Bronx, Bronx Photos, bronx river, Bronx River Wildlife, Bronx Zoo, canoe, Damian Griffin, wildlife January 6, 2012

Sure it’s a Hawk, but which one?

On a  paddling trip  this season in the estuary of the Bronx River, a participant  suggested that I put together a guide book about all of the birds you might see along the river. I had spotted, pointed out and identified kingfishers, black crowned night herons,  glossy ibis, great egrets, double crested cormorants and even a least or an american bittern. “It’s easy for you, ” she said, “you know birds.”  I actually get that comment often when out on  and around the river. The truth is I know only the birds I have seen here along the river which turns out to be quite a few, but my knowledge is strictly local.

By the time my daughter enters first grade, she will be able to recognize and name hundreds of corporate logos.  At 4 years of age she already can navigate around the neighborhood and through stores with a steady stream of  cognition related to disney characters,  golden arches and even the specific pharmacies that seem to proliferating faster the deeper the recession. That is very much a part of her environment and for many of us, especially in an urban environment, it becomes the entire environment.

Most of us cannot name more than a few different species of trees even though NYC has some 168 different species of street trees.  It is more about focus than it is availability. I am slowly learning more trees as my daughter and I stop to look at the different leaves around. I am good with the honey locust and ginko as they are so plentiful.

And it is so with birds.  Just a couple of years ago I called every large, raptor type bird I say a Red Tail Hawk.  I think I was right most of the time, but now I actually look and try to be sure. In our neighborhood which I think is considered Longwood/Hunts Point, we have kestrels that come around at regular intervals. Just two days ago I was spotted a shadow on the side walk that cam by twice in about three seconds and it was a kestrel coming in for an attempted kill in the park nearby.  But know I need help:

Down at Concrete Plant Park,  I have been seeing a couple of hawks.  My only frame of reference was that they were not Red Tails but that they might not be kestrels either.  They seemed a little too big and robust.Chrissy Word down at Rocking the Boat guided me towards the Sharp Shinned Hawk( I want that name!) . Neither did they hang around long enough to be truly noted by someone like me. Today, the two of them sat still for a couple of minutes. They were too far away to get a good picture, but this is what I have:  

I am sure a more experienced eye will have to problem telling me what this pair are.

And so, with this I slightly change the ratio of corporate logo knowledge to natural environment knowledge and call it a small success.

Damian

Add comment Posted in  Uncategorized  Tagged:  Bronx, Bronx Photos, bronx river, Bronx River Wildlife, canoe, concrete plant park, Damian Griffin, ecology, estuaries, kestre, sharp shinned hawk, wildlife November 7, 2011

A Rising Tide… South Bronx

It is amazing to consider the force that the moon exerts upon the earth.  Most of us in the city take no notice of the moon unless it suddenly appears between two buildings; a streetlight out of place.

But on the river, it is one of the natural forces that we pay attention to on a daily basis. As it rotates around the earth, its gravity pulls our oceans towards it, causing high tides on the area closest to the moon and on the opposite side of the world, low tides half way around. Like squeezing a balloon in the middle, it bulges on both sides as midway areas reduce.  It is amazing to think that that distant lamp has such power over us.

So why care about the tides? For those of us that work and enjoy the river, one thing is knowing in which direction the water is being pulled in order to make a river journey less arduous or even unsafe. Riding the rising tide is not just a nice phrase to us. But it also provides an ecological service to the estuary.   Every six hours nutrients and sediments are dragged in and out, organisms are provide a great variety of habitats in which to thrive, and oddly enough, the  change of tides may have restorative effect to our own physiognomy.  I can’t help but look to see where the tide is as I ride through Concrete Plant Park every day.

This week we experienced what is called a “King Tide”, the highest tide of the year.  Every 14 days there are spring tides, the highest tides  ( also the lowest,  six hours later), due to the full and new moons, but twice a year the angle of the earth is such that the tides reach a maximum.  The tide change on the Bronx River averages about seven feet of change, but on this most recent king tide, 10/26- 10/28,  the tidal change was more than nine feet from low to high tide.   The attached pictures were taken at a low and a high tide and demonstrate this great change.

king tide highlowcpp

King tides are now being measured and monitored as data for tracking climate change. They are regular enough that they can be measured and compared to other king tides. Hourly tides fluctuate too much to be absolutely reliable. Presumably, the tidal change is becoming greater which is a bad thing. But, being out there and   watching the tide change is amazing.

Check here for monitoring information:  http://www.livesmartbc.ca/connect/kingtidephotos/

1 comment Posted in  Uncategorized  Tagged:  Bronx, Bronx Photos, bronx river, concrete plant park, Damian Griffin, estuaries, King Tide, salt water, Tide October 28, 2011

Death on the River’s Edge 9/12/11

“They said they found my son’s body here today,” he said quietly. I had approached them  to let them know that personal cars should not enter the park. “I just don’t know where. They said in this park.”

“I want to know what happened, where it happened. They said there were corona bottles and that he fell. It’s really for his mother you know. She collapsed when she heard.

“When they called they said he was found in a park and that I could come to the medical examiner’s office to see the body.”

I was stunned. Anger aside, I don’t do well with emotions in general and now I was presented with a man who had just experienced what I consider to be the greatest possible tragedy, the loss of a child, combined with the uncertainty of time, place and circumstance. Here I stood in Concrete Plant Park,  a place that I consider to be one of the places of hope in my world, now feeling confused and unsure.  I reverted to my understanding of the cultural mores of  such a situation, said I was sorry, but then understood that I now had to serve as a connection to place, to explain some part of what in the end is an unknowable circumstance.

We walked across the park, the father walking by my side and speaking of his son and asking questions that he would then quickly answer for himself.

“This must be a very lonely place at night;” he said, “why would he come here alone? He had been sad lately.”

He then pointed at a thin, dark haired girl who walked quietly next to the other more animated members of their group. “That’s his sister, his twin,” he said.

We reached the water’s edge. A blue examination glove lay there, and a garbage can nearby was overflowing with yellow police caution tape.   Six feet down the ramp, one rubber sandal sat facing up the hill. “That’s his sandal,” the father said, picking it up. I felt ashamed that this had remained at the scene, and then noticed that, just off the shore, its partner was floating slowly away. I stepped to the edge, looked around for a stick or something and then sat down to take off my shoes to wade in. Before I had untied one lace, the father strode past me, pants pulled up and barefoot, momentarily lost his balance on the slippery surface of the stones, and retrieved the sandal, paring it in his hands with its mate.

As the father stood their quietly, the twin sister as quiet by his side, the cousins looked around the immediate area and questioned the information they had been given by the police.  They pointed at the ground and looked around the area. They found a dozen or so unsmoked cigarettes, his brand, in a saturated pile and speculated that they had fallen out of his pocket.

“How could he have fallen here and hit his head so hard? It just doesn’t seem possible. And look where the water is way down there? Why would he be way up here?”

I explained that the tides did come up to the top, and showed them the puddle that showed that the tide had indeed been quite high. I would learn several days later when meeting up with other family members that they were unable to calculate the time of death due to the fact that, according to the report, he had fallen, hit his head and become unconscious. Either he had fallen into the water, or the tide had risen before he regained consciousness and the actual death was caused by drowning.  Partially in, partially out of the water and the effects of the tides complicate the investigation.

The police ruled it an accident but the family has a difficult time accepting all of the information.  Why would he have been alone? If he was with someone, where did they go and, if it was an accident, wouldn’t they have called someone? The park was tagged that night as well. Was that related?

More and more questions on top of the question of why, after only eighteen years on this earth, Anil Nutan Sankar, was now gone forever.

Add comment Posted in  Uncategorized  Tagged:  Anil Nutan Sankar, Bronx, bronx river, concrete plant park, Damian Griffin October 3, 2011

Green River

Jennifer Plewka of Phipps CDC reported today that the Bronx River ran a bright green through Drew Gardens for a short time today. She likened the color to antifreeze. The one thing I was sure of was that it was not anti freeze. When anti freeze hits the water, it tends to stay on top of the surface, puddle up somewhat and then break apart in pieces. It almost looks like a thin solid on the surface.  The bright green color made me think of two possibilities: Cyanobacteria and fluorescein.

Cyanobacteria or blue green algae have been seen on the Bronx River in certain areas. Algae are naturally occurring and usually not noticed unless there is a bloom. If there is an increased nutrient load from either fertilizer or sewage, the algae receive much more energy than it is accustomed to and grows very quickly. The same can occur in water bodies where there exists thermal stratification or a lack of mixing of the layers of water. On a hot day, the water at the surface heats up while the lower levels stay cool. The algae float to the surface and , taking advantage of the light from the sun, increase their growth rate.  This is very apt to occur on the Bronx River as the various impoundments, often referred to as waterfalls, slow the flow of the river.  Jennifer’s description of the sewage like smell after the event also points to this as the cause.   http://www.nalms.org/nalmsnew/nalms.aspx?subcatid=66&Sid=3

Flourescien is a supposedly non toxic chemical that is used as a tracer in sewage lines to search for leaks or, in the case of the storm drains in Westchester, illegal connections that might empty directly into the river.  The chemical is poured in through and expected drain and the river outfall pipe is monitored for traces of the flourescien.  In December of last year a river in British Columbia ran bright green for several hours after an excessive amount was used in a tracing event. No damage to the ecosystem was reported but I can’t imagine it had a positive effect either. http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/12/31/green-chemical-in-b-c-river-not-toxic-study-confirms/

The latter event is, at least, a possible demonstration of efforts to improve our local water bodies. Should it be the former, however, it may be a harbinger of what is to come. If heat is a major player,  we should expect to see more blooms if the article below is  reliable:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110606113405.htm

Add comment Posted in  Uncategorized  Tagged:  Bronx, bronx river, cyanobacteria, Damian Griffin, Dissolved Oxygen, Drew Gardens, ecology, estuaries, Green river, river, sewage June 6, 2011

Beaver Talk

Several years ago, nobody talked about beavers in the Bronx. they didnt even warrant much of a footnote in the history of the area that bears a beaver on its insignia. That all changed when folks began to notice some unusual activity around the river in the botanical garden.

the first person i heard mentioning the possibility of beaver was Drew Mittiga.  Besides being a part of the Alliance rec team, Drew supervised a group of Christadora youth in the NYBG on knotweed removal.  In his walks to little visited parts of the garden, he saw what he could only attribute to beaver, though being a kid from the Bronx, what did he know?  Little did he know but the folks at the Bronx Zoo had been noticing something too.  After setting up some trip cameras and doing some behind the scenes negotiations, WCS announced thatthere was a beaver living in the area, that they had pictures and the name was Jose after  Congressman Jose Serrano whose efforts at pulling together funds made him “el padrino del Rio Bronx.”

That seems like almost a lifetime ago and that beaver that was touted as being testament to the rebirth of the Bronx River now has a partner (lover? mate? girlfriend? boyfriend? No one knows). Recent occurences of beavers doing what beavers are famous for, downing trees, has made the conversation shift. As someone at NYBG said at the unveiling of the Bronx River Intermunicipal Plan, “One beaver is alright. two beavers, that may be alright  too. But when you say a beaver pair and its family; lets talk.”   So lets talk.

A question I always had about the arrival and confirmation of a beaver in the neighborhood was what took so long to confirm it? Shouldn’t all of the downed trees have been a clear sign?  Well, the fact is that beaver don’t spend all of their time taking down trees.  Yes they do need to gnaw on wood to keep their teeth from growing through there jaw, to eat the cambium layer of the tree for sustanance or to build a dam,  but for most of the year they will eat a variety of hebacious plants both on land and in the water. So this beaver had spent a good amount of time looking around anddewciding if this was where it wanted to stay and eating grasses and such.  The coming of the colder weather brings a decline in herbaceous plants and a need to stock up for winter, and the more durablke woody plants are best for storage. Beaver will cut down saplings and branches off of larger downed trees and the find am area of suitable depth where they can be stuck in the mud. Should the water freeze over the cache will be available. The beaver known as Jose apparently arrived in the spring or sometime thereafter and did not do significant tree work until much later in the season.

I have neglected to mention the damming nature of beavers in our context. Beavers dam to provide themselves with suitable depths for safety of kith and kin, as well as depth below a freezing water body.  As it turns out humans have done such a great job of impounding the river that these particular beavers have no need to do any damming. That is important on a few levels, not the least of which being the reduced need for the labor of building and maintaining dams.  Like city dwellers that have no need to mow a lawn or fix the roof, these beaver can occupy their time with foraging, wandering and, inevitably, dental hygiene.

The Bronx River beaver has received mostly acclaim for being, the first wild beaver seen in NYC in over two hundred years, purported proof of the restoration of the river, and just plain cool to have in an urban area. But as with most objects of affection, the closer one looks the more possible imperfections you are able to see and consider. So it is with the beaver. Remember, the beaver is making its home in the two largest natural area in the area, one of which makes its living off of showing people its trees; standing trees. Now that two beaver have been spotted, that increases all of the issues. Towards the end of November last year the beaver pair apparently got a little ancy about the coming cold and whatever it is beaver worry about (family? Job options?), finding some satisfaction in the taking down of 5 large willow trees, larger than beavers are expected to down.  And what about the future if they are a mating pair? As was stated earlier: Let’s talk.

2 comments Posted in  Uncategorized  Tagged:  beaver, Bronx, bronx river, Bronx River Wildlife, Bronx Zoo, concrete plant park, Damian Griffin, ecology, Urban Beaver, wildlife March 14, 2011

Mathematics, the River, and My Father

We work eight hours of a 24 hour day, part of our 40 hour work week in a cycle of 168 hours.  We earn a given amount of cash for those working hours to sustain through our sleep and off time. That is the basic math of our existence.   My work includes the river as it flows down to the Sound and beyond, though sometimes the Sound and the sea push themselves back up upon the river. And a part of my off time is spent with my father, now 82, as he negotiates his way through the ultimate days, be they numerous or few. It would seem that this is the basic intersect between mathematics, the river and my father. But there is something going on that is a little deeper and more difficult to fathom that joins these three together.

We follow the schedule of time and money as though we have taken to heart Lord Kelvin’s statement that, “When you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind.”   And so to approach satisfaction and live something more than meager, we count and multiply, attempt to earn interest and advance ourselves toward some end that we believe to be measurable.  But that is not the math that interests me exactly.  I am daily amazed as I consider the functional mathematics that surrounds us, and again when I come upon some seemingly natural mathematics that appears to have been discovered.  Relating the basic 24s, 60s and 360s of time and distance to the now omnipresent GPS in vehicles and, in reality, make that little apparatus possible astounds me.   Passing under a bridge and seeing the series of triangles that holds to firm throws me back to the Egyptians and their three knotted rope, using triangles to calculate squares.   A tall structure cannot be passed by without the thought of the engineering decisions made by calculations, and then the thought of measuring the structure itself using trigonometry; Basic, firm mathematics that we use to construct our world. Basic, and absolutely astonishing.

A step further into mathematics and you have π (pi), that simple ratio of the circumference to the ratio that the school system has enslaved into a number: 3.14.   So  beaten, dragged and debilitated is  π that most of us do not even continue the journey to Ф (phi) which tends to guide much natural structure, from the number of leaves on a branch  to the growth of sea shells. Begin to consider and the amazement never ends.

The Bronx River just keeps on flowing, whether we look at it or not. It has been dammed, (not just the colonial dams but I’m sure the Native Americans used to stretch weirs across to catch fish too) dumped on straightened and shortened. At various times it has been cleaned up and improved as its use was decided upon by the powers that be.   And still it managed to find its way out to the sea.

As I ride past in the morning at Concrete Plant Park, it holds my gaze while I look for signs of life and, unfortunately, misuse.  The semi-diurnal tides allow me to see the river in a different way each day as my schedule remains static the river’s changes by 40 minutes every 24 hours. Seeing the obvious change of depth, I wonder what is stronger at a given time, the river or the sea, how far up the salt wedge pushed and what has is the depth.  They are mysteries that can be calculated and they amaze me every morning.  But in the depths of the river is what cannot be seen and are their own mystery. We see that which flies and floats on the water; the buffle head and the osprey.  But beneath the surface who knows? Now, winter, ice has begun to form on the water, but not everywhere.  The current, the tides and salinity all play a part and a close look can tell you much about what is happening.

My father learned to swim in this river. In the summers of the Depression, when his mother did not have the whole family walk from West Farms to Orchard Beach to save carfare, he and his pals would wait for the high tide and jump off East Tremont Avenue into the river. His first engine in 1961, 82 on Intervale, had him protecting his old neighborhood and the streets that I ride to work each morning. He was interested in numbers. As a kid I remember him pouring over the Racing Form and then, much later, keeping bags of Lotto tickets to try to find that combination of numbers that would offer a big pay off.  It was those numbers that kept his attention as time and Alzheimer’s took into a world that I can no longer enter. “Do you want to get a lottery ticket?” I would ask on visits.  He would shuffle himself about and make all possible effort to get to the car. At the drugstore, he would buy a ticket, check his old ones and then complain that the clerk was probably lying about what the winning number were.  Today, dad’s conversation is a broken string of non sequiturs, followed by an occasional request for a specific food or drink.  At times the walker is a burden and he pushes it out of his way and crawls on hands and knees to where he needs to go.  When he feels ready, he takes himself up to bed. But still he goes. It is truly amazing, awesome in the true meaning of the word. I would be sad but I am too impressed by his persistence.

Mathematics, the river and my father amaze and astonish me with every encounter. Mathematics runs through our lives, the river runs in a never ending path and my father flows through this world  seemingly unimpeded. I cannot imagine a world fuller of wonder than that which surrounds me, and I have the privilege of taking part in its diurnal turns.

DG

Add comment Posted in  Uncategorized  Tagged:  Bronx, bronx river, concrete plant park, Damian Griffin, engine 82, father, salt wedge December 13, 2010

The Persistence of Oysters (draft)

The Persistence of Oysters

When Pilot tells Falstaff, “ Why then the world’s mine oyster, which I with sword  will open,” he saw the value of oysters a little differently then we do here along the Bronx River. To be sure finding a pearl  could make you a little more content, but for some of us, just knowing there are oysters persisting in the river adds to our contentment.

The history of oysters in NYC is long and much of the city’s history is tied to these bivalves.  From the middens  found in the area where the Lenape people  took advantage of the river’s  bounty, to the six cent,  all you can eat “Canal Street Plan” of the 1880’s, by then cultivated along Long Island’s south shore, their abundance seemed endless.  But even at that time the over harvesting, predators such as the oyster drill( a snail that drills into the oyster), and the degradation of the water quality that had ended the trade in the local rivers was soon to affect all of the surrounding areas.

So why “persistence of oysters” if they were all gone?  For decades the water quality of the Bronx River was viewed as not capable of sustaining oyster populations. But observations in 2003 by Dr. Joseph Rachlin of Lehman College showed that adult oysters were making their homes along the shoreline of Soundview Park at the mouth of the Bronx River  on the rocks that had been dumped there in creating the park. This lead to a project in 2005 funded by the Congressman José E. Serrano WCS-NOAA Lower Bronx River Partnership in which NYC Parks Natural Resource group scientists placed clam shell off the shore line to create an artificial reef. Over the course of the year they checked the shells and found that oyster spat were attaching themselves to the shells.

Where were they coming from? Well, here is where the story gets interesting.  For Eastern Oysters like those in the Bronx River reproduction is a lot about luck. First of all, they all begin life as males, then change to females the next season and remain so, though they revert to being females from time to time.  Both males and females release sperm and eggs (as many as 100 million in one season) into the open water and fertilization occurs should they happen to meet.  Within hours the fertilized egg begins to grow a shell and begin to swim in search of something to attach itself to, a job that it must complete within about 14 days. There it (spat) will stay for the rest of its life feeding on plankton that filters through its gills. That is all that is known about the providence of the naturally occurring oysters in the Bronx River.

IN 2007,  NRG introduced some  560 oyster spat onto the reef and began monitoring and tracking their growth and survival. Many survived, many died, and many more spat appeared on the reef. But what does this mean about the overall survival expectations of the reef?

Robert Leaf, doctoral candidate at Narraganset University, spent several months studying the oysters that have been vying for survival in the mouth of the Bronx River at Soundview Park.   In that time, Leaf sampled the existing oysters on the reef and tagged a representative number to come back and visit. Leaf noted all oysters on given shells, measured and made note of all new spats found. These “recruits” as they are called, could not be said to be coming from the existing oysters on the reef as the earlier studies showed that oysters could just show up.  When recruitment was compared to mortality, the oyster population appeared to be persisting.

Using a series of mathematical formulas to mimic possible occurrences on the reef ranging from high rate of mortality (not including some catastrophic event) to a banner year in oyster recruitment and extrapolated that, even in a bad year, under current conditions the population would persist. This is great news for the oysters and the surrounding ecosystem.  But what does it mean for the future water quality of the Bronx River?

When oysters enter the discussion, it is often stated that they amazing filtering power of the oysters, filtering up to two gallons of water per hour in warm months as it feeds on algae, can help clean up our waters and improve water quality.  The invasive Zebra Mussels in the Great Lakes have greatly improved water clarity (while destroying entire ecosystems) and oysters may do the same here. But the folks that have been reintroducing oysters for some time now down in the Chesapeake Bay caution using large scale water quality improvement as a measure of success.  The increase in population that would be necessary to  filter the areas in NYC where oysters can persist  is so great that it will be a long time before any such measurable effects are noted. Instead, consider the overall benefits to the ecosystem and the amazing opportunity that lies ahead.

DG

2 comments Posted in  Uncategorized  Tagged:  Bronx, bronx river, Bronx River Wildlife, Damian Griffin, ecology, estuaries, oysters December 1, 2010

Introducing Rivers to the Youngest Bronxites

“Where does the river go?” we asked the Bronx Works children. Some had answers, while others just sat and stared. But the 24 children, ranging in age from two and a half to four years old, and their parents all sang along when we asked them what they could see by the river. In a pilot  for future Bronx Childrens Museum programs,  Josie Gonzales and I shared pictures, a song and the building of a boat to introduce the group to rivers. To be completed…

Add comment Posted in  Uncategorized November 19, 2010

Bronx Career and College Preparatory HS

Some 25 students from  Bronx Career & College Preparatory HS came down to the Bronx River on Wednesday with their teacher, Mr. Erickson.  While they were there, we talked about out perspectives of the river and wether or not it was an important resource for our community.  Like most of us, many of the youth were dismissive of the river as something that would never have an effect on their lives. But, by the end of our time together, many came to realize that the river  is a force that  can change lives, depending upon how one interacts with it.  we discussed what it means to look at water, how to find the dissolved oxygen content as well as netting some of the life that the river supports. Follow the photos

Water Quality Monitoring Training at to see how the river can adjust perspectives.

Add comment Posted in  Uncategorized  Tagged:  Bronx, Bronx Photos, bronx river, Bronx River Wildlife, concrete plant park, Damian Griffin, Dissolved Oxygen, DO, ecology, estuaries, Floatables September 30, 2010