Long Island nature preserves offer close-up animal encounters
See this male red fox, along with owls, hawks, kestrels, geese and ducks, at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown. Credit: Daniel Brennan
Inside the Tackapausha Museum and Preserve’s reptile/amphibian room Elizabeth Cronan and her daughter, Riley, are enjoying a close encounter with a tree frog.
Cronan, 26, a paralegal from Seaford, and Riley, 4, had been admiring the amphibian’s ability to climb its terrarium walls with suction-cup-tipped legs. Then, a museum volunteer offers to take the teal-colored frog out of its glass tank so they can hold it.
“It feels like a smooth leather,” says Cronan, as the squirmy creature tries to jump from the palm of her hand to her shoulder. Cronan often visits the room to learn about native species before taking a walk in the adjacent preserve. “When you’re walking on the trails, you see wildlife that’s really specific to Long Island,” Cronan says.
If you enjoy animal encounters, the Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown and the Quogue Wildlife Refuge also are home to native species such as foxes, turtles, hawks and several species of owls and waterfowl.
Here’s where you can see orphaned, rescued or rehabilitated native species inside enclosures, then take a nature hike to spot them in the wild:
TACKAPAUSHA MUSEUM & PRESERVE
WHEN | WHERE Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Thursday-Sunday, 2225 Washington Ave., Seaford
INFO 516-571-7443, nassaucountyny.gov
ADMISSION $3 ($2 ages 5-12)
The nature center has been a popular attraction for generations of school kids and Scout groups. The two-floor museum includes ecology displays, live animal exhibits and interactive education areas. A nature education playground is under construction, says director Dennis Fleury. Five miles of nature trails run through the 84-acre preserve, including a paved portion that circles Tackapausha Pond.
EXHIBITS 100 live animals, including snakes, turtles, lizards, frogs, bats, hawks, owls, foxes
IN THE WILD Spring peeper chorus frogs, hawks, waterfowl
QUOGUE WILDLIFE REFUGE
WHEN | WHERE Trails open daily, dawn to dusk; nature center open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 3 Old Country Rd., Quogue
INFO 631-653-4771, quoguewildliferefuge.org
ADMISSION Free
The 305-acre refuge features an outdoor wildlife complex housing about 17 animals that are native to New York. All were rescued after being injured and are no longer able to survive in the wild, says refuge worker Kimberly Stever.
A pond, once used for harvesting ice, attracts egrets and other birds. More wildlife lurks in the refuge, which is part of the Long Island Pine Barrens region. “We’re pretty sure we have a couple of great horned owls and screech owls on the property,” Stever says. “They are elusive, but at night we can hear them calling.”
EXHIBITS Two red foxes, two screech owls, a barred owl, a barn owl, a great horned owl, gray tree frogs and box turtles. Also: a bobcat, a species no longer native to Long Island but present upstate, Stever says.
IN THE WILD Deer, Canada geese, wood ducks, mallard ducks, egrets, great blue herons, osprey.
SWEETBRIAR NATURE CENTER
WHEN | WHERE 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. daily, 62 Eckernkamp Dr., Smithtown
INFO 631-979-6344, sweetbriarnc.org
ADMISSION By donation
Hundreds of species of plants and animals make their homes in the 54-acre preserve, which includes garden, woodland, field and wetland habitats on the Nissequogue River.
EXHIBITS Red-tailed hawk, Merlin hawk, kestrel, great horned owl, long-eared owl, screech owl, golden eagle
IN THE WILD Chipmunks, squirrels, deer, foxes. While the latter two tend to be elusive, “if you are really quiet, you might see them,” says director Marie Smith.
