Staten Island Hot Spots and Early Spring Migrants

Date: Saturday, March 28, 2026

Leader: Seth Wollney
Transportation: Carpool Trip: While carpool rides for everyone usually work out, there is no guarantee of enough volunteer drivers to accommodate all participants. The Registrar will work to organize rides and to notify participants when a rental car may be necessary. Registrar will also inform participants of the carpool fee, which is based on the trip location; the cost of any rental cars should be split evenly by those participants.
Meeting Point: After your registration is confirmed, the Registrar will share directions, the exact meeting place, and time with attendees.
Schedule: Full-day trip.
Relative Difficulty: A fair amount of walking over mostly easy terrain.

Trip Description: Staten Island is a wonderland of habitats and a spectacular place to see birds, particularly during spring migration. The island’s southern shore offers fantastic coastal birding, and the Greenbelt, located at the center of the island, boasts a 2,800-acre network of forests. Trip locations are selected each year based on recent sightings and known hotspots. Past trips included stops at Conference House Park, overlooking Raritan Bay at the southernmost point of New York State; Mount Loretto (Bald Eagle); Great Kills Park (Royal and Caspian Terns, Little Blue Heron, Saltmarsh Sparrow); Arden Avenue Beach (Lesser Black-backed Gull); Oakwood Beach (Yellow-crowned Night-Heron); Miller Beach (gulls and terns); and anywhere else that our leader expects to find interesting birds.

Please read The Linnaean Society of New York COVID-19 Field Trip Guidelines before registering.

Registration: Registration opens at 9 am on Monday, March 16. After that time, click here to register. Registration closes at 6 pm on Wednesday, March 25. Members (and those who have applied for membership) will be prioritized over non-members.

Please read the About Our Trips page, if you’re going on a field trip for the first time. It details our field trip policies, recommends what to bring on a trip, and offers other useful information, pro tips, and tricks.

If after visiting the About Our Trips page, you still have questions, feel free to contact the Registrar via email.