Location: Blue Point, NY
Size: 17 acres
Date of hike: April 14, 2023
Blue Point Nature Preserve is a small passive park with paved trails that wind through an open space featuring a variety of beautiful birds. I passed the preserve while recently running errands in Bayport and Blue Point, and I gladly made plans to visit it with my wife and dog. Needless to say, we all enjoyed the peaceful preserve and its symphony of chirping birds.
Before exploring, I learned about the history and habitats of the Blue Point Nature Preserve, which was created by the Town of Brookhaven. "Surrounded by nature, Blue Point Nature Preserve is an open park space containing nature trails, a picnic area and scenic views," said the website CitySeekers.com, which had the most detailed description of the park. "You can sight a variety of birds while you walk through the preserve." Apparently, the preserve was constructed by the town on a 20-acre property that had been previously occupied by a nursery, but it had been vacant for many years, according to the town's website. Today, it has paved walking paths as well as numerous benches and a pergola, which is an outdoor structure comprised of wood beams that create a shaded sitting area. The preserve's easternmost point also connects to the Blue Point Veterans Memorial Park, which features another pergola along with picnic tables and a stunning sculpture of an eagle.
The preserve's entrance is on the north side of Maple Street between Gillette and Blue Point avenues. The parking area has room for about a dozen cars and is just a stone's throw from the aforementioned pergola. Although my wife brought a book and there was a "little library" packed with used novels near the picnic tables, we couldn't help but check out the network of paved trails. It took us half an hour to walk the paved paths, which had painted markers delineating quarter-mile increments. We also paused to peruse the preserve's "Storywalk," which on this day was about a cow named "Cindy Moo." "The Bayport-Blue Point Library has set up signposts where they put in pages from kid's books, so as you walk you could read a story going from station to station," stated the website LifeOffTheBeatenPath.com.
The hike's highlights for me were the bevy of birdhouses and lifelike sculpture of a box turtle. The sculpture was created in memory of a boy named William James Schultz, whose family wanted to memorialize him after he passed at the age of 7 in 2017, according to the website SkylightStudiosinc.com. "His parents thought a sculpture of a turtle – one of the animals he loved – would be a great memorial that could be placed at a new park, the Blue Point Nature Preserve," the website said. "We worked with the Schultz family to create a sculpture of an indigenous box turtle species and a plaque and to modify a natural rock to fit both of them."
Regarding wildlife, the preserve boasts an array of bird species that can be spotted coming and going amongst the greenery and birdhouses – some of which looked like "bird condos," according to my wife. There was also an area identified as a "monarch waystation," which did not have any butterfly activity yet due to cold weather. As for plant species, you'll see everything from aster to milkweed to switchgrass, according to The Suffolk County News.
In closing, I'd definitely recommend a quick visit to the Blue Point Nature Preserve if you're looking for a short stroll amongst the chirping birds. The limited trails might not be enough for more serious hikers. But, of course, even serious hikers need a short stroll sometimes.
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