East End Parks Now Official Migratory Bird Havens

By Jennifer Smith, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

May 15–To boost the nesting success of birds such as piping plovers and ospreys, 2,140 acres of state parkland on Long Island’s East End were designated as New York State’s 50th bird conservation area.

The zone includes most of Napeague State Park and the western portion of Hither Hills State Park; combined, the parks get about 550,000 visitors a year. The designation should not affect existing recreational uses such as camping, said state parks officials, who announced the decision yesterday.

Beaches and marshland around Napeague Harbor shelter a rich array of rare and migratory birds, from tiny warblers to fish hawks and threatened beach-nesting species such as least terns. Inclusion in the program will provide for signs and kiosks to educate the public about bird life and ensure parks officials prioritize habitat preservation in future management decisions.

“We’re making everyone more aware of what’s out there,” said Ray Perry, an environmental educator who coordinates the bird conservation area program for New York state’s office of parks, recreation and historic preservation.

Created in 1997, New York’s bird conservation area program is intended to safeguard and enhance bird populations on state-owned land and waters. Sites are selected for the abundance or variety of bird species. “One of the things that makes Napeague special is its size and its location next to other public lands — it’s one of the largest unfragmented areas of this maritime habitat on Eastern Long Island,” Perry said.

Migratory songbirds stop by to feed on insects or fruit before resuming their journeys. Short-eared owls, endangered in New York state, are known to forage among the marshes there. Northern harriers have also been spotted during breeding season. And the beaches and dunes provide critical nesting habitat for shorebirds such as the federally threatened piping plover.

“It’s a very special place all year, especially in the winter, because of all the migrating birds,” said Alfred Scherzer, a member and past president of the East End Audubon Society.

Designation as a bird conservation area does not mean land is set aside as a sanctuary or preserve, or create extra layers of regulation beyond existing state or federal laws, Perry said. Instead, bird conservation is integrated into agency planning, management and research projects in those areas — an approach known as ecosystem-based management.

At Napeague and Hither Hills, parks managers will take a closer look at how park-goers and the use of off-road vehicles affect bird populations, particularly vulnerable beach-nesting species such as piping plovers. They also want to clear vegetation from Hicks Island to encourage return of common terns and black skimmers that once nested there, Perry said.

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