Committees & Work Groups - Harbor Herons

Goals of the Harbor Herons Committee:

• To incorporate management actions within the Conservation Area to support an enduring and healthy breeding population of wading birds
  
  
• To foster communication among stakeholders in order to encourage best management practices that will support the wading bird colony as well as integrate the Harbor Estuary multiuse objectives;
  
  
• To develop a robust education component targeted to stakeholders, managers, and the public, emphasizing the importance of and encouraging ownership of this unique heronry and its associated foraging areas;
  
  
• To improve the protection and health of the overall foraging area habitat;
  
  
• To establish inventory, monitoring, and research programs to address the gaps in information on non-target wildlife species in order to measure the success of management actions and investigate questions regarding management of both target and non-target wildlife species.

Up until the middle of the 19th century, several species of herons and egrets used the New York/New Jersey Harbor as summer nesting and foraging grounds.  However, these birds were extirpated from the area in the latter half of the 19th century as a result of hunting and egg collecting as well as indirect human interference caused by the pollution of the estuary.  Thanks to new clean water and clean air legislations Harbor Herons have returned to the New York/New Jersey Harbor and are once again breeding, nesting and foraging in the estuary. From the Tappan Zee Bridge in the North down to Sandy Hook and Jamaica Bay in the South, the Harbor Herons have reestablished themselves in the region.

To some, the reestablishment of the Harbor Herons represents a clear sign that the New York/New Jersey Harbor is becoming cleaner and more hospitable to wildlife. Others believe that the return of these birds is a symptom of the destruction of habitat in other portions of the Harbor Herons’ range. Regardless of the reasons for their return, their valuable presence in the region makes their conservation a top priority.  In the past three decades since the reestablishment of these birds in the region, much progress has been made towards the conservation of the Harbor Herons. The conservation effort has grown into a multi-organization, multidisciplinary, collaborative initiative consisting of habitat conservation and restoration, public outreach and education, and scientific research.

The Harbor Herons Subcommittee of the Habitat Work Group was created to coordinate these projects, and serves as the nexus for Harbor Heron conservation efforts. The Harbor Herons Subcommittee is preparing a Conservation Plan in response to the need for a detailed report on the status of the Harbor Herons in the New York/New Jersey Harbor region and on the conservation issues that they face.  The need to finalize and publish this plan is critical, especially in light of continuing development and other environmental perturbations around the New York - New Jersey Harbor. 

For additional information, please contact co-chairs Susan Elbin (New York City Audubon) 212-691-7483 or Nellie Tsipoura (New Jersey Audubon) 908-766-5787.

Related Publications:
Note: publications listed below with over a 1 MB file size are noted

• Proceedings of the Harbor Herons Annual Subcommittee Meeting:
  Greater New York/New Jersey Harbor Colonial Waterbirds Working Group
  (January 2011) | PDF

• New York City Audubon’s Harbor Herons Project:
  2010 Nesting Survey – 25th Annual Report | PDF (1.1 MB)

• Harbor Herons Conservation Plan (May 2010) | PDF (1.5 MB)
  
  
• New York City Audubon's Harbor Herons Project:
  2008 Interim Nesting Survey (December 10, 2008) | PDF (1.5 MB)
  
  
• Proceedings of the Harbor Herons Annual Subcommittee Meeting:
  Greater New York/New Jersey Harbor Colonial Waterbirds Working Group
  (December 11-12, 2008) | PDF
  
  
• Guide to Harbor Herons and other colonial water birds of the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary | PDF (1.5 MB)
  
  

Related Links:

• NYC Audubon's HeronCam located on Goose Island | Click Here

Related Presentations:
Note: presentations listed below with over a 1 MB file size are noted

December 11, 2008

• New York City Audubon:
  Harbor Herons Project Nesting Survey: Wading Bird, Cormorant,
  and Gull Nesting Activity in 2008 | PDF (5 MB)
  
  
• The Jamaica Bay Institute:
  Piping Plover And Colonial Shorebird Monitoring Data for 2008 Season | PDF (1.2 MB)
  
  
• NOAA National Ocean Service Office of Response and Restoration:
  A History of Restoration in the NY/NJ Harbor - Database and Mapping System Development | PDF (1.3 MB)
  
  
• New York City Audubon:
  Double-crested Cormorants of the New York Harbor 2008 Field Season | PDF (2.5 MB)
  
  
• Gateway National Recreation Area and the USACE NY District:
  Elders Pt. (East Is.) 2007-08 Birds & Horseshoe Crabs | PDF (2.3 MB)
  
  
• 2008 Polgar Fellowship Research Project:
  Diet Composition of Double-crested Cormorants in NY Harbor
  and a Possible Bias Inherent in the Use of Pellets for Diet Analysis | PDF (4.8 MB)
  
  
• Hackensack Riverkeeper:
  Harbor Herons & Ecotourism | PDF (5.6 MB)
  
  
• Harbor Heron Committee:
  Restoration method using the Bulking & Tiering Wetland System™ | PDF (8.2 MB)
  
  
• NYC Department of Parks & Recreation‐Natural Resources Group:
  Pre‐Restoration Wading Bird Counts & Strike Study 
  Completed at Two Sites in the Bronx, NY | PDF (5.8 MB)
  
  
• NJ Meadowlands Commission:
  Colonial Waterbirds & State Wildlife Grants | PDF
  
  
• NJ Audubon Society:
  Shorebird surveys 2004-2008 Citizen Science Program | PDF
  
  
• Rocking the Boat's Wading and Shore Bird Survey | PDF

December 12, 2008

• New York City Audubon / Columbia University:
  It’s not easy being green A comparative growth study of
  native saplings in two mixed-species colonies | PDF (1 MB)
  
  
• Greater New York/New Jersey Harbor Colonial Waterbirds Working Group:
  Great Egrets of Hoffman and South Brother Islands: a Pilot Study of Foraging Ecology and Juvenile Dispersal | PDF (1.2 MB)
  
  
• Charles Clarkson:
  The Utility of Waterbirds as Bioindicators: A Ptilochronological Approach | PDF (1.4 MB)
  
  
• NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife Endangered and Nongame Species Program:
  Results of the 2008 wading bird aerial survey in the coastal marshes of New Jersey
  and 2009 Pilot Survey for Inland Heron Colonies in Northeast New Jersey | PDF
  
  
• N.Y.C. Parks & Recreation, Van Cortlandt & Pelham Bay Parks:
  Waterbirds of Goose and Huckleberry Islands, 2008 | PDF
  
  
• Cazenovia College:
  Great Egrets – Historical Perspective | PDF
  
  
• The Rahway River Association:
  Neighborhood Biodiversity Program | PDF (10.5 MB)
  
  
• Wagner College:
  Feather Samples: A Useful Tool in Waterbird Research | PDF
  
  
• East Stroudsburg University / DCNR:
  Foraging Behavior of Great Egretson the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in Relation to Environmental Characteristics | PDF (1.1 MB)
  
  
• New York Wildlife Services / USDA:
  Movements of Urban Canada Geese in New York City | PDF (2.2 MB)
  
  
• New Jersey Audubon Society:
  Heron and Egret Surveys 2008 | PDF (4.6 MB)
  
  
• Canadian Wildlife Service – Ontario Region:
  Colony growth, productivity, post- breeding roosting and movements of colour-banded Great Egrets from the Great Lakes | PDF (1.6 MB)
  

Related Pictures:

egrets
peregrines				osprey
herring gull	cormorants			canadian geese
geese		swans		yellow-crowned night herons
oyster catchers		birds on Jamaica Bay		broad channel ducks
yellow-crowned night herons		banded barn owl

New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program • 290 Broadway, 24th Floor • New York, NY 10007-1866
Phone: 212-637-3816 • Fax: 212-637-3889 • E-mail: info@harborestuary.org • Site Index • Site Search