National Wildlife Refuges are among my favorite places in the world, Jeff’s too. He has a winter birthday, so I’m always trying to find fun things to make the day cheery. It was last winter when I discovered that Long Island actually has a few NWR’s, Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge [340 Smith Rd, Shirley, NY 11967] is the closest to our Long Island base.
We decided to take a winter walk through beautiful the wetlands and watch the wildlife on his birthday.
It was a really great time. We covered the 5 miles of well marked trails available in the park.
The birding was great from waterfowl to woodpeckers, and Jeff was even treated to his first bald eagle sighting on Long Island!
Very cool. There are woodsy trails, boardwalks, and long gravel roads.
The park is bisected by the Carmans River, one of the longest rivers on Long Island. This summer we revisited the park and loved seeing it in a new season (tip! BRING BUG SPRAY). The parking lot looked a lot different blanketed in wildflowers instead of snow.
However, Indian Landing seems beautiful to me in any season at all.
I can’t wait to check out the other NWR’s on the island, and I hope they’re just as lovey as Wertheim.
