Blue Heron Park natural area

Blue Heron Park is a 222-acre natural oasis that features forests, meadows, freshwater wetlands, trails, and kettle ponds created by the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciers 15,000 years ago. The wetlands and ponds are integrated into the New York City Department of Environmental Protection's Bluebelt system, which preserves natural drainage corridors and stores runoff.

There are 6 ponds in Blue Heron Park, including the 1.4-acre Blue Heron Pond. These ponds provide a refuge to many birds such as the famed great blue heron (Ardea herodias), glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), and the wood duck (Aix sponsa). This park is home to the Blue Heron Park Nature Center, where visitors can learn about the park’s history and attend programming organized by the Friends of Blue Heron Park or the Urban Park Rangers. Blue Heron Park has transformed over the years from former farmland threatened with development to a refuge providing home to an array of flora and fauna. More than 5 miles of trails traverse successional forests, dense sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) forests and freshwater wetlands, which provide excellent opportunities for bird watching and migratory activity along the Atlantic Flyway. Keep an eye out in early spring for Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), the fiddleheads of native ferns such as hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula) and cinnamon fern (Osmundastrum cinnamomeum), and meadow anemone (Anemonastrum canadense).