On Monday, March 9, New Yorkers going about their days were caught by a rare sight in the East River. For a moment, the usually busy city channel turned into a playground for dolphins. Soon, many elated onlookers assembled to witness the pod of dolphins in their glory, as if cheering for their favorite football team from the bleachers. The short-beaked dolphins played and danced in the East River near Randall’s Island with the city’s stunning skyline serving as a backdrop. The unexpected visit was a treat for the public, but the experts were left puzzled. Although it wasn’t the first time the short-beaked mammals entered the East River, it was the largest pod of the species to visit the city channel in recent history. Experts are left to speculate as to what drew these creatures into the waterway out of the blue.
“Whether it’s a migration or if it’s just that this is a good spot to eat — we don’t know. It’s a little bit difficult with dolphins,” Chris St. Lawrence of Gotham Whale told The Post. “It’s always cool to see big groups of dolphins in the city area. It shows that at least there’s enough food somewhere in the area to support that many animals,” he added. Gotham Whale, a New York-based organization that promotes marine conservation, revealed that common dolphins are present in metro regions all year long, but they stick to living offshore. Whereas the bottlenose dolphins are often spotted along beaches and inside estuaries. Therefore, the species’ visit to the busy waterway of New York City took the experts by surprise.
Dolphin sighting here at Randall’s Island Park! #dolphins#dolphinwatching 🐬 pic.twitter.com/wlixwAUC7P
— Randalls Island Park (@randallsisland) March 9, 2026
The organization speculates that food was the driving factor for the pod of dolphins to enter the East River. The east side of Randall’s Island is “pretty productive” for fish like striped bass, menhaden, and anchovies, says St. Lawrence. He recalled watching a pack of seagulls hunting for food in the same area later that day. If not for food, then the pod of dolphins likely entered the city waterway for recreation. “That area around Hellgate has a really strong current, and we know that dolphins often hang out in strong waves, so that could be another thing,” he explained. Since the videos showed dolphins “jumping out of the water,” St. Lawrence speculates that they likely turned the East River into a personal playground…