Mashomack Preserve
Shelter Island, Suffolk Co.
Edged by 10 miles of coastline, Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island is just 90 miles from New York city and encompasses tidal creeks, mature oak woodlands, fields and freshwater and saltwater marshes. From pristine shores, watch osprey dive for fish. Nearly 200 bird species, including endangered piping plover and least tern, have been recorded.
Wildlife to Watch
- Migrating raptors, including osprey and red-tailed hawks
- Shorebirds, including piping plovers, least terns, and ruddy turnstone sandpipers
- Great blue herons, great and snowy egrets, green herons, black-crowned night herons
- Waterfowl, including oldsquaw, white-winged scoter, black ducks, and hooded mergansers
- Scarlet tanagers, Baltimore orioles, towhees, ruby-throated hummingbirds
- White-tailed deer, gray foxes, red foxes, little brown bats, muskrats
- Spotted turtles and painted turtles, monarch butterflies and swallowtail butterflies, luna and rare imperial moths, dragonflies
Where to Watch
- Beaches, fresh and saltwater marshes
- Glacial kettle holes, tidal creeks and pools
- Forests, scrub, fields
Recreational Opportunities
- Visitor center with exhibits and interpretive programs, as well as restrooms and parking
- More than 20 miles of hiking trails, with overlooks and observation shelters, and one water trail
- Birdwatching - more than 200 species of birds have been recorded at the preserve
Size
2,039 acres
Nearest Town
Shelter Island
Directions
See Google Maps and enter your address for step by step directions to Mashomack Preserve (This link will open a page outside of the DEC website, Hold Shift down while clicking on the link to open it in a new window)
Contact Information
Address: 79 South Ferry Road, Shelter Island, NY 11964
Telephone: 631-749-1001
Website: The Nature Conservancy - Mashomack Preserve (leaves DEC website)
Photo Credits: Ed Sambolin, The Nature Conservancy, Susan L. Shafer