Natural Areas of the South Shore of Long Island

Munn’s Pond County Park and Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons (South Flanders)

At Munn’s Ponds County Park, you can combine an educational visit to a wildlife rehabilitation center, with a walk around several pretty ponds and through classic Pine Barrens forest. A tour along the pine-needled paths of this park conveys a surprisingly wild and isolated feeling. It is connected to the 1,000-acre Sears Bellows Pond County Park on the other side of Sunrise Highway (outside the South Shore watershed).

The Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons is located at the entrance to Munn’s Ponds Park. This facility houses up to 100 animals comprising up to 40 different species. It is a superb destination for educational groups. Visitors get to see such unusual species as osprey, gannet, and razor-billed auk. The staff aims to bring injured wildlife back to health so they can be released back into the wild. Some animals, however, are permanently injured, and the pens of this center are the only home they will know. The facility has a Raptor Flight Conditioning Building that is 100 feet long and 20 feet high. There is also a diving duck pool facility, a medical examination room, and a critical care center (a wildlife E.R.!).

One paid staff person, ten working volunteers, 40 rescue transport volunteers, and funding from foundations and donors make all this possible. The center has 700 members. Interestingly, the land around this wildlife shelter was once a chicken farm.

Next to the Rescue Center are three water bodies referred to as Munn’s Ponds. Trails wind around them and extend north into Sears Bellows Pond Park, north of Sunrise Highway. This neighboring park has picturesque ponds and offers high quality hiking, lake swimming, fishing, camping and other activities.

Pitch pine and scarlet oak form the park’s woodland. Blueberry, huckleberry, bear oak, bayberry, and bog laurel are conspicuous shrubs. The admired and aromatic wintergreen grows on the white sand of the forest floor along with bearberry, a rarity in this part of its range. The rare inkberry, a holly relative, also grows here. The ponds are a good place to see the shy and remarkably colorful wood duck, as well as great blue heron.

To inquire about tours and programs of the Rescue Center, contact (631) 728-WILD, West Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays, NY 11946. Memberships are available. For information about the county park, contact (631) 852-8290.

How to Get There: Take Sunrise Highway (Route 27) to exit 65. Turn south on Route 24 (Hampton Bays Road). In a very short distance, turn right on Montauk Highway (Route 27A). The first four-way intersection is Bellows Pond Road. (If you turn right here, you cross under Route 27, and the entrance to Sears Bellows Pond Park is on your left.) A quarter-mile further on Montauk Highway, turn right into the Rescue Center parking lot.

After touring the Rescue Center, inquire where the trail to Munn’s Pond begins. As you pass between Munn’s Pond and Snowy Egret Pond, turn left. Follow the shoreline of this second pond. When you reach the other end, turn left. You pass between Snowy Egret Pond and Glossy Ibis Pond. Stay on the main trail until you reach a large clearing in the forest where park equipment is stored. Turn left and follow the margin of the field. In a short distance, turn right on a woods road. You pass thru Pine Barrens forest. Ignore smaller side trails. Stay to the left at the fork. In about a half-mile, pass through a railroad overpass tunnel. Shortly after, you pass under Sunrise Highway. After you cross a power line corridor, you reach the parking lot of Sears Bellows Pond Park. At this point, look around so you can memorize how to find the trail on your way back. The road to your left leads you to the exquisite Bellow’s Pond.

From here, you can choose to return the way you came, or continue on trails through Sears Bellows Pond Park. The blue-blazed trail circles around Bellow’s Pond. In 3 miles, the blue trail takes you to beautiful Sears Pond. If you continue to follow the blue trail, it loops you back to Bellow’s Pond. From here, return on the trail you came on.

Access Guide Introduction :: Map and Guide :: More Estuary Site Information
	Munn’s Pond County Park and Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons (South Flanders) At Munn’s Ponds County Park, you can combine an educational visit to a wildlife rehabilitation center, with a walk around several pretty ponds and through classic Pine Barrens forest. A tour along the pine-needled paths of this park conveys a surprisingly wild and isolated feeling. It is connected to the 1,000-acre Sears Bellows Pond County Park on the other side of Sunrise Highway (outside the South Shore watershed). The Wildlife Rescue Center of the Hamptons is located at the entrance to Munn’s Ponds Park. This facility houses up to 100 animals comprising up to 40 different species. It is a superb destination for educational groups. Visitors get to see such unusual species as osprey, gannet, and razor-billed auk. The staff aims to bring injured wildlife back to health so they can be released back into the wild. Some animals, however, are permanently injured, and the pens of this center are the only home they will know. The facility has a Raptor Flight Conditioning Building that is 100 feet long and 20 feet high. There is also a diving duck pool facility, a medical examination room, and a critical care center (a wildlife E.R.!). One paid staff person, ten working volunteers, 40 rescue transport volunteers, and funding from foundations and donors make all this possible. The center has 700 members. Interestingly, the land around this wildlife shelter was once a chicken farm. Next to the Rescue Center are three water bodies referred to as Munn’s Ponds. Trails wind around them and extend north into Sears Bellows Pond Park, north of Sunrise Highway. This neighboring park has picturesque ponds and offers high quality hiking, lake swimming, fishing, camping and other activities. Pitch pine and scarlet oak form the park’s woodland. Blueberry, huckleberry, bear oak, bayberry, and bog laurel are conspicuous shrubs. The admired and aromatic wintergreen grows on the white sand of the forest floor along with bearberry, a rarity in this part of its range. The rare inkberry, a holly relative, also grows here. The ponds are a good place to see the shy and remarkably colorful wood duck, as well as great blue heron. To inquire about tours and programs of the Rescue Center, contact (631) 728-WILD, West Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays, NY 11946. Memberships are available. For information about the county park, contact (631) 852-8290. How to Get There: Take Sunrise Highway (Route 27) to exit 65. Turn south on Route 24 (Hampton Bays Road). In a very short distance, turn right on Montauk Highway (Route 27A). The first four-way intersection is Bellows Pond Road. (If you turn right here, you cross under Route 27, and the entrance to Sears Bellows Pond Park is on your left.) A quarter-mile further on Montauk Highway, turn right into the Rescue Center parking lot. After touring the Rescue Center, inquire where the trail to Munn’s Pond begins. As you pass between Munn’s Pond and Snowy Egret Pond, turn left. Follow the shoreline of this second pond. When you reach the other end, turn left. You pass between Snowy Egret Pond and Glossy Ibis Pond. Stay on the main trail until you reach a large clearing in the forest where park equipment is stored. Turn left and follow the margin of the field. In a short distance, turn right on a woods road. You pass thru Pine Barrens forest. Ignore smaller side trails. Stay to the left at the fork. In about a half-mile, pass through a railroad overpass tunnel. Shortly after, you pass under Sunrise Highway. After you cross a power line corridor, you reach the parking lot of Sears Bellows Pond Park. At this point, look around so you can memorize how to find the trail on your way back. The road to your left leads you to the exquisite Bellow’s Pond. From here, you can choose to return the way you came, or continue on trails through Sears Bellows Pond Park. The blue-blazed trail circles around Bellow’s Pond. In 3 miles, the blue trail takes you to beautiful Sears Pond. If you continue to follow the blue trail, it loops you back to Bellow’s Pond. From here, return on the trail you came on.