Nearly Four Decades of Wildlife Observations by the Group’s Steve Biasetti
Group director of environmental education Steve Biasetti is a lifelong naturalist. While he is recognized among his fellow Groupies and the environmental community for his love of birds in particular, he has been recording his wildlife observations since 1988.
When asked about the changes he’s noticed over the years, Steve shares: “Long Island’s wildlife has never been a static assemblage. Populations of various individual species are often in states of flux, expanding and contracting in numbers over long-term and sometimes even short-term periods.”
Yet the sight of a harlequin duck or scarlet tanager never gets old, and spotting rarely seen species is always a triumph. After recently compiling his 2024 nature notes, Steve determined that he encountered at least 617 species of wildlife on eastern Long Island last year. These are his findings…
What types of species did you see in 2024?
A slight majority of the sightings (54%) were invertebrates such as insects, spiders, mollusks, and crustaceans. The remaining minority (46%) were birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
I was excited, as always, to observe some of my perennial local favorites: harlequin ducks off the rocks at Orient Point; stunning scarlet tanagers and Blackburnian warblers singing from the treetops; majestic bald eagles soaring overhead; hearing the ethereal musical song of the hermit thrush in Manorville Hills; horse-headed gray seals bobbing in the Montauk surf; humpback whales feeding just off the ocean beach; monarch butterflies nectaring at milkweed patches; snowberry clearwings (day-flying moths) hovering at the flowers of butterfly bush; metallic-green six-spotted tiger beetles roaming dirt paths in the pine barrens; seaside dragonlets (dragonflies) patrolling the salt marshes; hatchling northern diamondback terrapins (salt-marsh turtles) scampering near the water’s edge; four-toed salamanders under logs; horseshoe crabs plowing through the shallows; and wood frogs residing near vernal pools.
Click for a better look!
Are there any other species you were particularly excited to see?
Other sightings were exciting because of their rarity: an alder flycatcher calling at Hallock State Park; a wayward lazuli bunting frequenting a Riverhead birdfeeder; an equally out-of-place rufous hummingbird hanging out in an Eastport garden; a spotted turtle on a log; a northern ring-necked snake along the edge of a Manorville field; a pickerel frog on a lily pad at a preserve in Riverhead; an eastern beaded chiton (mollusk) on a Peconic Bay beach; great blue skimmers (dragonflies) in Northampton; and catching a lined seahorse with a seine net in Shinnecock Bay.
A final category of exciting sightings involves creatures I had never seen before: a blotched swimming crab near Ponquogue Bridge; a scarlet-bordered assassin bug in Northampton; a skilletfish caught with a dip net in Greenport; and an American flamingo with apparent wanderlust hanging out at a pond in East Hampton.
Any tips for people interested in starting to observe wildlife?
If you are similarly interested in observing and learning about the local fauna, I mention a few resources that can be quite helpful:
iNaturalist — This website can be extremely helpful for identifying observed organisms of all kinds, both locally and globally. I have posted my photographs (often of mediocre quality from my phone) for a wide range of living things, ranging from mammals to fish to moths to mollusks to plants. The website, utilizing its AI capabilities, will suggest likely identifications for your photographed organism. Scientific experts regularly review the posted photos and will either confirm your identification or suggest a more likely alternative. To provide a few examples of iNaturalist’s utility, last year experts confirmed 17 species of Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and hornets) and 10 species of arachnids (spiders) that I photographed around my suburban house during the year. Without this helpful tool, I would have had great difficulty trying to identify each animal.
Merlin Bird ID – The Merlin app can assist in identifying bird sounds. Using your phone to record the sounds you currently hear, Merlin Bird ID will list the species it identities in real time.
eBird – Birdwatchers post their observations for specific locations at specific dates/times. In this way, a vast collection of information is available for anyone to examine. To give a few examples, via eBird I can find out the full list of birds observed at Morton National Wildlife Refuge over the last month. Alternatively, I can find out exactly when and where American bitterns were seen on eastern Long Island in the past year.
What are some of the species you’ve noticed that have become more common on the East End since you began recording your wildlife observations?
Bald eagle photo by Jim Colligan
For local bird populations, several species that were infrequently (or, in some cases, never) encountered 20 years ago have become noticeably more common around eastern Long Island in recent years. This includes turkey vultures, bald eagles, common ravens, and wild turkeys. Turkey vultures, bald eagles, and common ravens expanded their geographic ranges on their own from not-too-distant breeding grounds. Wild turkeys benefitted from a reintroduction program by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in the mid-1990s. All four species are permanent residents today on Long Island and can be seen here every month of the year.
Other bird species that have become more common are warbling vireos, Cooper’s hawks, and red-headed woodpeckers. For the latter, the recent devastating effects of southern pine beetle on pitch pine has supplied red-headed woodpeckers (and other woodpeckers) with ample feeding and nesting habitat in the form of standing dead trees.
It would be difficult not to notice the jump in osprey numbers over the past decade. Over the 50-year period from the 1960s to 2010s, the fish hawk had made a slow but steady recovery from dangerously low numbers. In the past 10 years however, the population has simply exploded.
Marine mammals constitute a noticeable subset of local wildlife that have benefitted from the recent large schools of Atlantic menhaden. Humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins are regularly seen from shore, experiences that were quite uncommon just 15 years ago. The local harbor seal population has also increased significantly, although their elevated presence was detected a decade or two earlier than the whales and dolphins. More seals are observed around eastern Long Island than was the case in the early 1990s.
Other mammal species that have increased in population numbers include the ubiquitous coyote. The population is quite small for now, but the betting money is on this adaptable creature expanding its Long Island presence in the years to come. River otters have increased their residence in the past few decades. The white-tailed deer population is overly abundant, sometimes to the detriment of the environment. This population expansion is a recent phenomenon, as deer were present in much smaller numbers a half-century ago.
The Italian wall lizard had established a small population in Nassau County in the 1960s. By unknown means (I suspect deliberate relocation by humans), the species is now found in isolated habitat pockets on the East End, including Hampton Bays, Mattituck, and East Hampton. Their arrival to eastern Long Island is a recent occurrence, probably within the last two decades. I observed the species locally for the first time in 2009.
Sachem butterfly photo by Jay Rand
Three butterfly species have had a heightened presence in recent years. The sachem is a small, orange-brown grass-skipper that is common in the southern United States and was known to migrate north on occasion in the past. In recent years, the species has been present on eastern Long Island in substantial numbers and for an extended period of the year. The red-banded hairstreak shares a similar story. The well-documented global weather trends of the past half-century may play a role in these geographic shifts.
The broad-winged skipper has become more common on eastern Long Island over the past two decades. The species has a year-round presence, although not in the flying adult stage between October and June. It was simply a matter of time for this species to become well-established on the East End, as broad-winged skipper caterpillars feed on Phragmites, also known as common reed.
I must mention a trio of arachnids that unfortunately cannot be ignored: dog ticks, deer ticks, and lone star ticks. When I grew up on Long Island in the 1960s and ‘70s, ticks were present and occasionally found, yet not in numbers anywhere close to current levels. As every Long Islander now knows, their present abundance is a recent phenomenon that initially became evident in the 1990s, has caused serious community health concerns, and requires sober forethought for any venture into potential habitat.
What are some of the species you’ve noticed that have become less common on the East End?
Bobwhite photo by Tim Gallagher
Three game birds have significantly declined in numbers from the local landscape. During my childhood, and continuing into the mid-1990s, the distinctive call of the northern bobwhite was regularly heard on eastern Long Island. Alas, this native quail has mostly disappeared from the East End. If one hears or sees a bobwhite today, the encounter is probably with an individual that was released recently from a captive breeding program.
Originally from Asia, the ring-necked pheasant is found across much of the northern half of the United States. A nesting population existed on Long Island into the early 2000s. In the past two decades, pheasants have drastically decreased in the region, and I am not confident that a stable breeding population remains. Any pheasant seen today certainly seems to be a captive-raised bird that was released for hunting purposes within the previous few days.
The ruffed grouse was uncommon on eastern Long Island for as long as I had been paying attention. Yet the species was occasionally spotted in the pine-oak woodlands of Manorville, East Quogue, and Flanders into the 1980s and ‘90s. Unfortunately, it seems that the ruffed grouse has completely disappeared from Long Island in the last 25 years. My last sighting was a hen with chicks near Bald Hill in 2001, and I do not know of any other recent sightings.
Eight species of salamanders are found on Long Island, with seven of these inhabiting the East End. The northern red-backed salamander is the most common species by far. It is the small, thin, darkly-colored salamander often revealed under logs in local woodlands. On eastern Long Island, our population does not show red on its back; instead, the regional race is referred to as the leadback phase. My subjective impression is that the local population of red-backed salamanders is smaller than it previously was. In the past 10 years, the species has been more difficult to find when searching places where it was formerly abundant. I do not contend that the species is disappearing from eastern Long Island. Nonetheless, local naturalists should continue to pay attention to the species’ current population situation.
The Fowler’s toad, Long Island’s common species of toad, is worth mentioning, but not because I have noticed less of them. Instead, it was brought to my attention about 10 years ago that the species has seriously declined, and perhaps disappeared, from Shelter Island. When I checked with local land managers and naturalists at that time, they supported the claim. I am curious whether any sightings of Fowler’s toad have taken place on Shelter Island in recent years.
Two butterflies whose populations appear to have decreased over recent decades have host plants that are found in Long Island’s pine barrens. For frosted elfins, its caterpillars feed on wild indigo and wild lupine. For Edwards’ hairstreak, the host plant is scrub oak. While both butterfly species can still be found at a few local sites, their regional populations appear to be less stable than they were 30 years ago. I speculate that habitat loss has played a role in their stories.
Any parting thoughts?
I never regret my time spent outdoors observing wildlife. My wildlife-watching experiences come in all shapes and sizes. They involve participation in official wildlife surveys and coordinated searches with friends; incidental sightings during Group-led field trips and checking the porch light for night-flying insects; spying an animal while driving and taking in the scene while sipping my morning coffee in the backyard. Regardless of the setting or circumstances, paying attention to the natural surroundings has always been a rewarding activity.
