Harbor Herons

New York City, the Audubon movement, and egrets have a common history going back more than a hundred years. At the end of the 19th century, New York City resident George Bird Grinnell started the first Audubon organization. He brought together like-minded people who hoped to stop the slaughter of egrets, which were being killed by the hundreds of thousands so that their plumes could be shipped to New York and used to decorate hats.

The millinery trade brought egrets and several other bird species to the brink of extinction. Grinnell's Audubon and the organizations that followed it brought protection to the egrets and scores of other beleaguered species with the enactment of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1914.

Under this new protection, egret and heron populations recovered and spread beyond their historical southern ranges. By 1960, egrets were nesting as far north as New Hampshire. There were, however, no egret colonies in New York City.

Imagine the delight of New York birders when in 1980, Scotty Jenkins found egrets nesting on Pralls Island in the Arthur Kill on the western border of Staten Island! The Clean Water Act of 1972 had allowed water quality to improve enough to support prey species for the egrets.

Following Jenkins’ discovery, NYC Audubon began efforts to protect the nesting sites and in 1987 started an annual census of breeding herons, egrets and ibises in the city. Peggy Kane and Al Appleton led early efforts to ensure protection of the nesting sites. The first, Prall's Island, was acquired by the Parks Department in 1985, the last, South Brother Island, was acquired by the Parks Department, with the help of Congressman Jose Serrano of the Bronx, on November 20, 2007.

Twenty-five years later, the censuses continue and the birds are prospering. For more information about how we study Harbor Herons, please see our Program Overview. To see the results of the most recent nesting surveys, click here.

How You Can Get Involved

Are you interested in helping with the Harbor Herons program? NYC Audubon offers many exciting ways for volunteers to get more involved in our fieldwork. Please visit our Volunteer! page for more details.

NYC Audubon would not be able to carry out our Harbor Herons program without direct contributions from foundations, government agencies, and individuals like you. To make a donation on behalf of Harbor Herons, please click here.