Wildlife

One of the most endangered whales on Earth — roughly 370 remain — and they migrate through New York waters, sometimes surprisingly close to shore in winter and spring. A sighting is a once-in-a-decade event to be reported, not chased.

The smallest baleen whale in North American waters; compact rostrum and a well-defined white band across each dark flipper.

The second-largest whale on Earth, after the blue whale; endangered under the ESA and a regular sighting on CRESLI's Montauk trips.

Acrobatic baleen whale that feeds in the productive waters off Montauk each summer, often seen breaching and lunge-feeding near bait schools.

Summer pods work the ocean beaches from Shinnecock to Montauk, often visible from the sand as a line of fins moving parallel to shore. The most likely large marine mammal an East End beachgoer will actually see.

Light tan to blue-gray seal with dark speckling, commonly seen resting on rocks along the coast through the colder months.

Larger than a harbor seal, with the long horse-like head of an adult male; roughly 450,000 range through US and Canadian waters. Seals sun on the rocks off Montauk Point in winter, and CRESLI's Cupsogue walks log both harbor and gray seals.

The smallest sea turtle in the world, and endangered throughout its range. Juveniles range up the Atlantic as far as Nova Scotia; mass cold-stunning strandings follow a sudden drop in inshore water temperature.

Large sea turtle with a heart-shaped, reddish-brown carapace and powerful jaws. The Northwest Atlantic population is listed as threatened under the ESA.

Juvenile green turtles summer in the Peconic Estuary and Long Island's south shore bays, feeding on eelgrass and algae before autumn's southward run. Like the Kemp's ridley they are cold-stun casualties when inshore water temperature crashes in November.

The largest turtle on Earth — up to 2,000 pounds — follows jellyfish blooms into New York's ocean waters every summer. Seen from whale-watch boats and by offshore anglers off Montauk; endangered, and a frequent victim of vertical fishing lines.

A large, highly migratory shark of temperate and tropical waters — torpedo-shaped, deep blue above, and the fastest shark in the ocean. Retention is prohibited in the US Atlantic.

Named for the long, scythe-like upper tail lobe it uses to stun schooling fish. Ranges from Newfoundland to Cuba and is regular off the Montauk canyon edge in summer.

Slender, brilliant indigo pelagic shark common in offshore New York waters during summer.

The waters off Montauk are a documented white shark nursery — the New York Bight is where Atlantic juveniles spend their first summers, tagged and tracked in ongoing research. Adults pass offshore; you will almost certainly never see one from the beach, and that is normal.

Toothy, aggressive schooling fish that chop through bait on the surface. A classic East End surfcasting target.

Left-eyed flatfish that moves inshore in warm months. Drift-fished with bucktails in Gardiners Bay and around Montauk.

The iconic East End gamefish. Runs the Montauk rips from spring through fall; night tides in late October produce the famous trophy bite.

The fall Montauk Blitz: bullet-fast little tunny that boil the surface off Montauk Point each autumn. Light tackle and fly anglers travel from around the world for it.

Arctic owl that appears south of the Canadian border in numbers during irruption winters, favoring open country: coastal marshes, beaches and dunes.

Brought back to New York by DEC's Bald Eagle Restoration Project (1976-1989), which released 198 nestlings to re-establish breeding pairs; the state counted 256 occupied territories in 2020. Watch for adults along Mashomack and the bays.

Fish-hawk that nests on platforms, poles and duck blinds near water. Badly hit by pesticides in the mid-20th century, ospreys have made a good comeback since DDT was banned in 1972.

Warblers, thrushes and vireos push through the Hamptons each spring and fall. The forests at Morton National Wildlife Refuge come alive in spring with arriving migratory songbirds, and Mashomack is a popular fall migration stopover.

Endangered in New York and federally threatened. Breeds on Long Island's sandy beaches from Queens to the Hamptons, arriving early-to-mid March; eggs are laid in May and June, and by early September all but a few stragglers have gone.

Sea ducks winter on the bays and the ocean. The long-tailed duck is the emblem of the season: it migrates late in fall, travels in flocks of hundreds, and rafts far out on open water.

Great egrets and other wading birds work the edges of marshes, shallow coastal lagoons and estuaries all summer, wandering far to the north in late summer.

Extirpated from Long Island for over a century, river otters have documented themselves back — Seatuck's surveys track their eastward recolonization through the Island's creeks and ponds, including the East End's freshwater systems. Seeing one is a genuine event.

Primarily nocturnal, though foxes turn up in daylight too — especially vixens feeding pups in spring. Look along old fields, forest edges and roadside ditches; territories are held year-round.

Gone from New York by the mid-1840s and restored by trap-and-transfer releases from 1959 on. Flocks are largest in winter; the breeding season begins in early April, when gobbling males display near woodland edges.

Found throughout New York and abundant here — most often along forest edges and open ground by roadways, farm fields and waterways. Do a tick check after any hike in their range.

The world's only turtle that lives in brackish water — salt marshes, tidal creeks and shallow harbors. Look for heads bobbing at the surface or turtles basking on mud banks; females come ashore in early summer to nest. Seatuck's Terrapin Watch maps nesting sites and hazardous road crossings.

A living fossil older than the dinosaurs. During May and June, adults congregate along sheltered bay shorelines to spawn, timed to the highest tides around the full and new moons — their eggs feed migrating shorebirds like the Red Knot. Seatuck runs community monitoring nights and a sighting tracker.