Wildlife Sightings

That there is an Hermann's tortoise. It's an exotic and is most likely someones pet that escaped, or was set free.

Saw these ducks sitting on a log in a bay along the Hudson River. What are they?

I had the AMAZING opportunity to catch and release American Eels at Teaching the Hudson Valley's 2015 Institute. We swept a 20ft stretch of stream with an electroshock wand and caught 7 eels, one of which was 2ft long :woohoo: They are temporarily stunned by the electricity and revive quickly after we've put them in a bucket for observation.

American Eels are incredible creatures that are born in an unknown part of the Atlantic, swim up freshwater rivers and streams where they live out their 10-20yr lives, then they swim back to the open ocean to reproduce and finally die. You can get your hands on American Eels, too, by joining the Hudson River Estuary Program and NY-DEC's citizen science American Eel Research program. Check out the flier here.

The photos below were taken by fellow electroshocker Paul Banks, Interpretive Program Assistant, Olana State Historic Site.

Female mallard duck with juveniles. American black ducks (both sexes) do look similar to female mallards, but I'm confident this is a mallard.

Saw these vultures in a tree on the edge of a field, but not sure if they are the black or the turkey.