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More Park Facilities Reopen During May 2013
Watch Hill and Sailors Haven marinas open May 10. Limited ferry service from Sayville to Sailors Haven resumes May 13 and ferries from Patchogue to Watch Hill start on May 18. Remaining park facilities to reopen by May 25, 2013. More »
Insects, Spiders, Centipedes, Millipedes
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From mid-September to early October, watch for the annual migration of monarch butterflies along the duneline on Fire Island.
Hundreds of species of insects and spiders occur on Fire Island, from dragonflies to monarch butterflies to mosquitoes. Ticks are locally abundant from May to September. Many of these insects are valuable pollinators that sustain natural ecosystems, helping to preserve the quality of human and all other species of life. It's a special treat to view the annual fall migration of monarch butterflies and dragonflies along Fire Island. Located along the Atlantic flyway, Fire Island National Seashore provides excellent habitat for many migratory species. Odonates (dragonflies and damselflies) are considered by scientist to be excellent indicators of wetland ecosystem health and condition. An inventory of Odonata is one of the recent NPS Inventory and Monitoring projects conducted at Fire Island National Seashore. Fire Island's beach and intertidal invertebrate communities, an important component of the ecosystem which serves as forage for shore birds, includes several species of insects. A recent survey found that:
Results of the study found the most abundant species in all collections (benthic core, wrack sight and pitfall trap) to be the tenebrionid beetle (Phaleria teastacea), the talitrid amphipod (Talorchestia longicornis), the ant (Lasius nenoiger), the anthicid beetle (Mecynotarsus candidus), homopterans and the planthopper (Delphacodes sp). The most common taxonomic groups were: Coleoptera, Diptera, Amphipoda, Hymenoptera. Learn More
USACE's Beach and Intertidal Invertebrate Study, January 2005, included a spring and fall survey in 2003 of the beach and intertidal invertebrate assemblages located along both the oceanside and bayside of the FIMP study area, inlcuding stations on Fire Island that had been sampled in 1995-96.
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Did You Know?
The Patchogue-Watch Hill Ferry Terminal is a short, 2-block walk from the Long Island Railroad Station in Patchogue, New York. From there, you can enjoy a delightful 25-minute passenger ferry trip across the Great South Bay to the facilties at Watch Hill. (Open mid-May to mid-October only.) More...
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