Shooters Island natural area

Shooters Island is a 43-acre uninhabited island at the Southern end of Newark Bay off the North Shore of Staten Island. Currently, nine out of the 43 acres of the island belong to New Jersey and the remaining acres belong to New York, with 9 acres of forested area, 2 acres of salt marsh, and 15 acres of freshwater wetland. In the 1990s, a heron colony was discovered on the island, which helped to lead to its preservation as open space. Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus), black-crowned night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax), yellow-crowned night herons (Nyctanassa violacea), snowy egrets (Egretta thula), great egrets (Ardea alba), and cattle egrets (Ardea ibis) were all observed on the island. The herons no longer nest on the island but it remains an intact natural area with large aspen (Populus spp.) and black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) trees and a pervasive understory of poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans).