Great Kills natural area

Hylan Blvd., Old Mill Rd., Cedar Grove Ave. bet. Hopkins Ave. and New Dorp La.

Great Kills Park's natural areas cover 251 of the 330 total acres managed by NYC Parks at Great Kills Park. It is contiguous with the National Park Service’s Gateway National Recreation Area. Together, these parks play a vital role in preserving Staten Island's coastal ecosystems. Great Kills Park's salt marshes, mudflats, dunes, beaches, and woodlands are an important stopover for migrating birds along the island’s coast and nesting sites for osprey (Pandion haliaetus), killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), boat-tailed grackles (Quiscalus major), orchard orioles (Icterus spurius), and red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus). Birders have recorded over 271 species across the park, including rarities like the king eider (Somateria spectabilis), sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis), short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), and yellow-headed blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus).

Newly created paths link the community with woodlands, beaches, dunes, and coastal grasslands. Wild native flowering plants, including common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), host to the monarch butterfly, saltmarsh fleabane (Pluchea odorata), New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), and low bush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), are abundant in the park and play a large role in providing food and habitat for pollinators such as bees, birds, bats, and other wildlife.