Page 3
Fall 2014
NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
some decide to spend their winter
here, changing their plumage to
match our winter snow.
The birds that decide to make Great
Kills Harbor their home for at least
part of the year makes the area a
great place to observe all times of
the year! When you come to watch
the sunset grab a pair of binoculars
and see what birds are making their
home there!
Heritage Park
By Anthony Rose
On the North Shore, badly
needed park space was added
when Heritage Park formally
opened on Monday, October
23
rd. This space, at Richmond
Terrace near Van Street has
been a work in progress for al-
most twelve years.
The owner, Walter Blissenback,
ran Marine Power and Light as
well as a marina with space for
400
boats. It had not been used to
its rated capacity for a long period of
time.
Mr. Blissenback had the enlightened
idea of selling the space that he and
his brother had created with bulk-
heads and landfill for use as a water-
front park. His asking price was $5
million. He planned to retire to Flori-
da.
The Parks Department has a long-
standing policy of not spending mon-
ey to acquire parkland. They will
accept land, plan and develop a site,
but feel they have no funds to ac-
quire property.
Councilman Mike McMahon and the
Borough President’s office each set
aside a quarter of a million dollars,
but additional money was hard to
raise.
This was the keystone in a long bat-
tle begun by Linda Eskinaz, a local
activist who had long battled for a
North Shore Waterfront Greenway.
Citing the space as an access point
for long-gone Lenape Indians, she
hoped this would spur development
of an emerald necklace of parkland
along the Kill Van Kull.
Once the
Blissenback Marina came on to the
market, Ellen Pratt of the Protectors
of the Pine Oak Woods joined the
fight. She was supported by many
organizations and individuals like
Beryl Thurman of the North Shore
Waterfront Conservancy and Kerry
Sullivan of the NRPA.
An unexpected white knight rode on
to the scene. The Port Authority of
NY and NJ, often a combatant
against local communities and envi-
Nature in Great Kills Harbor
By Lisa DE Francesco
Along with some spectacular sun-
sets in Great Kills harbor that make it
a great place to visit, nature worth
watching also abounds here. I've
had the good fortune to be able to
spend a lot of time boating in the
harbor and find that being privy to
the spectacular nature is just as en-
joyable as having a boat in the har-
bor!
If you are lucky enough to also be
there in the fall you may see Os-
preys hunting and carrying away
menhaden (at one point this fall I
counted 13 Osprey at one time work-
ing the harbor), or young Ospreys
perched on top of sailboat masts
crying for food from their parents.
One other thrilling thing you may
observe is Cormorants hunting per-
haps in unison swimming under-
neath schools of peanut bunker,
scaring them in all directions. Large
birds called Royal terns (as big as
gulls and similar looking but active
hunters) may also be seen diving for
fish.
A fun bird to keep an eye out for in
the Harbor from the spring through
the fall is the Boat-tailed Grackle.
This large iridescent colored male
(
whose tail can be half its body
length) is hard to miss. They are
gregarious and noisy as they defend
their harems of dark brown females.
As winter approaches, in other parts
of Great Kills Park you may see
Snowy Owls on the beach.
Small birds called snow buntings
may also be seen among the dunes.
They are a small songbird, about 6"
in length who breed in the arctic and