2009 Harbor Herons Interim Nesting Survey

New York City Audubon’s 2009 Harbor Herons interim nesting survey marked the 24th consecutive year of this project. The summary results are below. To view our full report, please click here.

Species Summaries

Nine species of long-legged wading birds nested on nine islands in New York Harbor. These species, hereafter collectively referred to as waders, included black-crowned night-heron, great egret, snowy egret, glossy ibis, yellow-crowned night-heron, little blue heron, tricolored heron, cattle egret, and green heron. Between the 2008 and 2009 interim surveys, population increases were observed for the black-crowned night-heron, yellow-crowned night-heron, snowy egret, and glossy ibis, and a population decrease was observed for the great egret. The tricolored heron, little blue heron, green heron, and cattle egret continued to nest at low numbers. Black-crowned night-herons were typically the numerically dominant nesting species in mixed-species colonies. A total of 1,183 double-crested cormorant nests were observed, representing a decline from the 2008 total of 1,333 nests.

Island Summaries

The largest species diversity was observed on Canarsie Pol (eight species). The greatest total number of nests was observed on Hoffman Island (542 nests), surpassing South Brother Island, which had been the largest wader colony in previous years, and continued to support a large portion of the wader community in 2009 (445 nests). No active wader nests were observed on the three islands in the Arthur Kill and Kill Van Kull. Following an eight-year decline, this year marks the second consecutive year in which no waders were observed nesting on North Brother Island. Wader nesting activity on Huckleberry Island continued to persist at low levels. Mainland nesting of yellow-crowned night-herons was observed at the Redfern Houses colony in Far Rockaway, where 59 nests were observed. Double-crested cormorants nested on seven islands, and cormorant nesting activity declined at all major nesting locations. Four additional cormorant nests were observed on aids to navigation in the Kill Van Kull, Arthur Kill and northwestern Raritan Bay. Herring and great black-backed gulls continued to nest throughout the harbor, although a total nest count was not conducted in 2009.