Bronx River Diary Expedition 6
Holy Herons Above!

September 1

“Fish Popper 1, come in. This is Fish Popper 2.”

“10-4, Fish Popper 2. What’s up?”

“We got a bogey, 12 o’clock, flying right at you.”

“Roger that, Fish Popper 2. Wow, it’s moving quickly. Did you get an ID?”

“Yes, Fish Popper 1. It’s a group of egrets on approach for landing. I’ll be right over with the camera…”

Pardon me, birds, but you’re blocking our fish. Ten egrets and a great blue heron recently “invaded” a surveyor group, appearing so suddenly that air raid sirens should have sounded. (By the way, we normally don’t pretend to be air force pilots, though someone did use the word “invasion.”) Many animals have visited us these past few weeks, including reptiles (turtles), mammals (muskrats, squirrels, and skunks), and bugs (bugs). But the birds have consistently outdone themselves, competing with the jumping fish as the most flamboyant showstoppers the Bronx River has to offer.

Regular avian visitors include: great blue herons, black-crowned night herons, great white egrets, American bitterns, cormorants, kingfishers, mallard ducks, wood ducks, Canada geese, orioles, cardinals, and goldfinches. Keep in mind that this is just what we’ve been able to see in the dusk. Some of these guys, like the geese and cardinals, can be found throughout this area. A trip to someplace wet—like the Bronx River (hint hint)—would be necessary to see aquatic birds, but it would be well worth it.

When I was young and green in the ways of river life, I was surprised to learn that 1) these birds are in the Bronx, and 2) it’s not difficult to spot them. We just stand by the riverside and the birds find us. A night heron has even taken leisurely strolls right past our feet. Since I knew next to nothing about birds before I started the surveys, it helps that large size and bold colors can make identification obvious, even to beginners like me. For instance, the egret stands around three feet high, sports a very long neck, and glows bright white—pretty unmistakable. I see them all the time on the river. Smaller birds flitting by can be more difficult to distinguish. Fortunately, the larger, slower-moving varieties keep us busy.

At times, it seems that we have too much to look at with fish jumping, birds flying, turtles swimming, and squirrels…squirreling. Now that I think about it, pretty much the only animal I haven’t seen down there is a pigeon. That could only mean one thing: We really are in the wilderness!

Fun Fish Fact of the Week

• Alewives and Alewives: So where does that name come from, anyway?
  To answer that question, I made use of two dictionaries. The first was the one that happened to be on my desk (The American Heritage College Dictionary). It said that “alewife” most likely derives from “allowes” which is an obsolete term for shad, a closely related fish. For confirmation, I then consulted the Oxford English Dictionary, which provided more detail. A few “Fun Fish Facts” back, I described how the term “alewife” applied to a woman in Medieval England who ran a tavern. (See “Alewives and Ale” from 8/10.) Well, it appears that alewives (the women) were a rather…corpulent lot. As it turns out, prominent bellies are also a distinctive feature of alewives (the fish). Someone, perhaps influenced by the similar-sounding “allowes,” connected rotund women with rotund fish and the rest, as they say, is obscure linguistic history.

• Expedition 1: The Launch
• Expedition 2: Was that a Swimming Shoe?
• Expetidition 3: Eureka!
• Expedition 4:Climbing Ladders without Feet
• Expedition 5: We Have Poppage!

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