Great egrets nesting, wood thrushes calling, great blue herons stalking the shallows — summer is peak season at two Rye preserves that together offer some of the best birding anywhere in the lower Hudson Valley.
The Marshlands Conservancy (147 acres, 220 Boston Post Road) and the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary (179 acres, Playland Parkway) span more than 300 combined acres of tidal marsh, mudflats, forest and meadow along Long Island Sound. Both hold the National Audubon Society's Important Bird Area designation. More than 230 bird species have been documented at Marshlands alone.
Marshlands protects the only extensive salt marsh left in Westchester County — rare enough that the state recognized it in 1987 — feeding migrating shorebirds like greater yellowlegs and semipalmated sandpipers, while its forested uplands host scarlet tanagers, Baltimore orioles and black-and-white warblers during migration season.
At Read, the 85-acre Manursing Lake pulls in wintering long-tailed ducks and red-breasted mergansers, and wooded sections shelter eastern screech owls and red-shouldered hawks. Ospreys — once nearly wiped out by DDT — now nest successfully at both sites. Rarer finds include the federally threatened piping plover, the declining saltmarsh sparrow, and a red-headed woodpecker spotted at Marshlands last December.
Kara Mason sold her Manhattan dental practice to photograph nature full time, often shooting both preserves from a kayak on the Sound. Her work has appeared in Audubon Society calendars and local photography shows.
"Birds are the harbingers of the health of our environment," Mason said. "They come from afar and stop at many places along their migratory routes. If any resource on their sojourn is diminished, the entire species is negatively affected."
Westchester County Parks runs free programs at Marshlands, including Birding for Beginners and Audubon-led bird walks; some require registration at parksevents.westchestercountyny.gov or by calling 914-835-4466. Read is open on foot year-round from dawn to dusk; vehicle access requires a Friends of Read Wildlife Sanctuary membership (914-967-8720).
While you're in Rye: free summer concerts continue through August
- Rye Town Park, Tuesdays at 7 p.m.: July 14 — Ursa & the Major Key; July 21 — Studio B Band; July 28 — Christine Chanel
- Crawford Park, Thursdays at 7 p.m.: July 16 — Gil Parris; July 23 — Jamshow Acoustic; July 30 — Logical Pretzel
