DIARY: Jamaica Bay’s teeming wildlife

There were bats, and owls, horseshoe crabs and ribbon snakes. And even a few lesser-known species: Teddy Bear caterpillars, and sphinx moths.

In all, 665 species were collected in the first 24-hour survey of wildlife in and around Jamaica Bay.

As new vessel sails, don’t miss the boat

This weekend will be an especially busy one in our nautical universe. Slipping out from Sheepshead Bay’s Pier Two tomorrow at 7 a.m. will be a grand new open fishing boat, the Golden Sunshine. Joe Lind – who has earned great respect during his quarter-century-plus in the business – will be at the wheel as she heads out for a full day maiden voyage of bottom fishing.

Navy Sonar Study Focuses on Beaked Whale

Robin Baird’s research team members stare at the horizon for hours, searching for rarely seen beaked whales.

U.S. Report Shows Decline in Loggerhead Sea Turtles

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

A baby loggerhead turtle that hatched in July in Florida.

A Busy City Street Makes Room for Bikes

Cyclists and pedestrians never quite imagined it this way, but maybe there is a use for all those cars after all.

Taking Back the Streets (39th and 40th, to Be Exact)

Librado Romero/The New York Times

Vehicles on First Avenue at 39th Street. Residents want 39th to continue farther east, as it once did.

Rising Seas Likely to Flood U.S. History

Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as the Florida launch pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists are predicting.

IT’S BEST OF TIMES

FOR those of you who haven’t put your tackle away, the best fishing of the season is at hand.

PAPER WASTERS

THE environmentalists at Riverkeeper have major egg on their faces. The watchdog group, which keeps an eye on Hudson River polluters, tried to fax a one-page press release to news outlets the other week, but a “technical glitch” had them sending 150 pages of unread able gobbledygook, which wasted reams of paper. “As an environmental organization, we were horrified,” read a mass apology that wasted even more paper.

PAGE SIX

NY Post 

RANDALLS WATER PARK GOES DOWN THE DRAIN

The proposed Randalls Island water park just got flushed.

East River Transformation

New York City is in the midst of its largest building boom since the days of Robert Moses and his modernization of the five boroughs.

Troubled Randalls Island proposal faces deadline

A proposed $168 million theme park on Randalls Island is already six months behind schedule and could face even more delays unless the developer can prove by Wednesday that it has the money to build the controversial project.

Making Coney Island Green

Photo by: Herb Bar-David.

Jamaica Bay Surprises:

 Need To Document Dwindling Species Spurred By Estuary’s Rapid Degradation

The Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan Advisory Committee, established by law in 2005, released a study last month showing that the Jamaica Bay wetlands are disappearing much more rapidly than was previously thought. After comparing 2003 maps to 2005 maps, the Advisory Committee projected that the wetlands would be gone by 2012.

The New Gold Coast

Thirty-five years ago, a rising star on the New York real estate scene, Sheldon Solow, put the finishing touches on an eye-catching new office tower at 9 W. 57th St. The shiny, black glass building, held together by a white frame, has since been viewed by many as a crown jewel of Midtown, attracting top-end tenants and offering an iconic, modernist structure near the southern edge of Central Park.

Now, at 79, Mr. Solow is embarking on a project that could redefine his legacy: to build, just south of the United Nations, a complex of six skinny glass towers, four at more than 600 feet. It’s a development that would change the skyline view from the east and create a new gold coast along Midtown’s eastern edge.

For Safety, Lady Liberty’s Crown Will Stay Closed, Park Service Says

The National Park Service said yesterday that it had no intention of reopening the Statue of Liberty’s crown, which has been closed since the 9/11 attack. Federal officials said that public access to the top of the statue would pose a potentially catastrophic fire hazard.

Love a Lighthouse? Consider Adopting It

Mary DiBiase Blaich for The New York Times

Holly Campbell and Joe Wilmot near Execution Rocks.

Brooklyn is so hip that swimmers take dip in race

Downtown Express photos by Jefferson Siegel

Above, with the Manhattan Bridge in the background, swimmers churned their way across the East River from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Below, Linda Wojcik from Baltimore climbed aboard a boat after being swept off course by a strong, outgoing current.

New lease in hand, Frying Pan looks to next year

 

Chelsea Now photograph by Adrian Jimenez

The Frying Pan (left) and Lackawanna barge at their new home on the Chelsea waterfront’s Pier 66

All drawn out

Cristian Fleming