Review: Urban Naturalist Tour: Abandoned Islands of the East River

Chris Jerrey
3 min readJun 16, 2024

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I’m sure this sounds familiar.

New York City is a vibrant, diverse metropolis famous for the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and Times Square.

How about this?

New York City is part of an archipelago of 42 islands in the estuary of the Hudson River. Thanks to radical conservation efforts, New York is once again a place to encounter wildlife.

Both statements are true, but the second will surprise many people. Wildlife? In New York?

All human towns and cities are shaped by their relationship with the natural world. The price of property in Manhattan is directly linked to how much land is available on an island. In many cases, the natural world slips out of sight as the human world dominates. But, if you can find someone to show you where to look, the natural world becomes visible again. Suddenly you realise where the birds live and how they support themselves. This is what an urban naturalist tour is all about, opening your eyes to the unexpected.

My tour took place on the Manhattan, a beautiful 1920s-style motor yacht. Huge picture windows provide a good view and access was available to the open front deck. The tour left Pier 62 at Chelsea Piers at 18:45 and headed south. The towers of the Financial District shone in the setting sun. Our guide, Gabriel, was already introducing us to the bird and fish life of New York harbour, pointing out the different types of marine birds that accompanied the boat. The boat swings around the southern tip of Manhattan and starts to head north up the East River. As we proceed, Gabriel is telling us about the bird habitats, the history of the New York harbour oyster beds and how nature thrives in the places in the city that humans leave untouched.

The tour travels as far north as North and South Brother Islands, close to the infamous Rikers Island. There the boat stopped and we watched. We saw the day birds returning to roost and the nocturnal birds heading out to feed. The unexpected star of the tour was a Harbour Seal that hauled out onto the beach of North Brother Island. This caused a lot of excitement amongst the passengers.

We saw wildlife. We learned about wildlife. We learned how human activity affects the ecology of the area. We heard fascinating stories of ambitious millionaires, sinking ships and dangerous diseases. We saw the great landmarks and the industrial hinterland of the city. My attention was held for the full three hours of the tour, there was so much to take in.

The tour is run by Classic Harbor Line https://sail-nyc.com

Sarah and her team looked after us very well and Gabriel’s commentary was outstanding. If you are in New York City and want to understand more about the city’s relationship with the natural world, this trip is well worth considering.

(I took the tour on Sunday 9th June 2024 and big thanks to Sarah at Classic Harbor Lines for the invitation).

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Chris Jerrey

Photographer, blogger, environmental activist. Interested in the climate crisis, rewilding and trying to make a change for the better.