Comments Off on Wildlife-Long Island, Pictures
04 Apr 14

Wildlife-Long Island, Pictures ...

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com (All photo’s are property of LIPetPlace.com and taken by me!)

Wildlife on Long Island – it’s here, and not to hard to find, if you stop and pay attention.  I often post photo’s of wildlife on my Facebook page and much of the reaction is – where do you go to take that picture?  Is that on Long Island?  I never see anything like that.  We get caught up in our every day hustle and bustle of life, but if you are not stopping to look and appreciate the wildlife around you, you are seriously missing out.

Here are some pictures from the past 6-months or so in various locations around Long Island:

This red fox was on the boardwalk at the beach – but you may have noticed there seem to be Fox’s running around everywhere on the South Shore of LI in the last year or so.

Snowy Owl – not native to Long Island, but we had them all over the south shore beaches this winter – what a treat to see in person.

White Tailed Deer – Love seeing deer on LI – say what you want but they are to be treasured!

White Breasted-Nuthatch – common in your own backyard – but this guy was at a wildlife sanctuary on the East End.

This rabbit was actually pretty big for what I normally see – guessing he has plenty of food supply around.

Long Tailed Duck in flight over Sag Harbor waters.

Seal swimming in the waters off of Westhampton Beach.

Ok so this guy I photographed last spring!

Cardinal – one of about 30 nearby at wildlife sanctuary on the east end of LI.

This turtle was spying on me while I was taking pictures…

Red-tailed Hawk circling over Gardiners Park in Bay Shore – another good reason to keep your dogs leashed!

Ok, I know this is gross, but it is nature or wildlife on LI.  We came across this checkered Garter Snake last spring around this time of year, while out walking our dogs, my friend jumped a few feet in the air when we saw it! At first I thought it was a snake with front legs, (it was early in the morning people!), then I realized it was eating that toad…poor little guy was blinking and trying to get away.  And that was a decent size snake for LI – usually you see the little Garter snakes – but this was a first for me, the snake and him eating right in the middle of the trail. Yuck and cool at the same time.  (Still feel bad for the toad, but that is nature).

This is just a sampling of pictures of the wildlife around you here on Long Island – I dare you to get out there and slow down, and look around!  You might even spot some bald eagles too!

Comments Off on LI’s Winter Wildlife Outings
05 Jan 13

LI’s Winter Wildlife Outings ...

by Nancy E. Hassel, LIPetPlace.com

What to do on a beautiful sunny, yet cold winter weekend day on LI? Forget the malls, the movies or just staying home and veggin’ out, head out to the wilderness the Long Island has to offer! I know what your thinking, some of you, what wilderness? Well there is a ton of wildlife to see on Long Island, weather you want to take a hike in the woods or head out to the beach you won’t be disappointed. One of the best, and one of my favorite things to do is to head to the beach to see the wildlife in the sea – you got it, the adorable harbor seals! If you are living under a rock and didn’t yet know there are a lot of places to to view these beautiful graceful creatures in LI waters. Even you reading this in Queens & Nassau County, there are places to see them there too.

You can see seals on a guided walk given by a few different organizations, or you can head out and see if you can see them on your own. Recently (today if your reading this at post date) I took my cousin and we headed to Cupsogue Beach in Westhampton Beach to see if we could spot any harbor seals, and boy were we in luck! (Cupsogue by the way – was one of the beaches that was completely breached by hurricane Sandy – but they have already dredged and filled in the breach – we were literally standing on it today in amazement that was covered in water not too long ago).

Ok back to the adorable, and somewhat dog-like seals. We were in luck today because the seals were not out on the sand bar sunning themselves, (and would just look like blobs for lack of a better term out in the bay), but instead they were in the water and seemed to us to be fishing for lunch – it was lunch time after all when we were there. They looked like they were having a great time, and popping out of the water and looking at us, looking at them. It was quite comical – almost as if they were looking at us like, “what are you looking at?” or “Are you looking at me?” It is really magical to see these creatures of the sea and land right before us.

I have seen a seal while kayaking in the Peconic Bay a few summers ago with my niece we couldn’t believe our eyes, it got pretty close to us and was so freaking cute! I have kayaked in that bay for 6 consecutive summers, and that was the only time we saw a seal there, not to say they are not there – they can swim pretty fast – but it was unusual for that body of water.

If you are looking for an educational seal walk/hike or want your kids or yourselves to learn about the seals – I would recommend the CRESLI or Montauk Point State Park walks. You will have a guided tour and learn a lot.  I have done both in the past. Today was just a great, and oddly warmer at the beach then the mainland, full of seals frolicking in the water, some other onlookers and just a great way to see one of LI’s best wildlife super stars. And if you’re hungry after your walk along Cupsogue head into Westhampton Beach Village and there are cute cafe’s to get your lunch (that you don’t have to swim for), and lovely shops too.

So what kind of seals are there in our waters? Mainly, Harbor Seals are the species that frequent our waters.  According to the NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation or the DEC if you will, harbor seals are the most abundant; their average dive time is 3 minutes – which seemed to be very accurate today – but can dive for up top 30 minutes; they have large eyes, acute hearing – which made sense because every time we turned around today looking at Hurricane Sandy’s erosion – the seals seemed to pop up and be looking at us, hysterical! They also have long whiskers which are sensitive and help them hunt prey. While they have no tears, they have a mucus that washes over their eyes while under water to help protect their eyes from the salt water and when they are land it gives them a teary eyed appearance. (Who knew?)

Bundle up when you go, dress in layers, bring a good camera if you have it and a zoom lens to get the best photo’s and/or a pair of binoculars.  Be patient and watch for them and they will more than likely delight you with their playful show. See below for additional pictures. Enjoy!