Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area
(Oceanside)

Probably the best place to walk in comfort through a tidal marsh on the South Shore of Nassau County is at Oceanside Marine Nature Study Area. This 52-acre Town of Hempstead Sanctuary was opened on the first Earth Day in 1970.

Oceanside is one of Nassau County’s most outstanding places to see a rich variety of bird life, as well as a close view of superb saltmarshes. It should be a high priority for nature lovers and educators to visit. It receives about 12,000 visitors a year, 40% of which are school and college classes.

To date, a total of 253 bird species have been recorded here. You can see many unusual or uncommon species, such as clapper and Virginia rails, gull-billed and least terns, yellow crowned night herons, long-billed dowitcher and Wilson’s phalarope. The threatened osprey frequently uses a nesting platform on the marsh island just south of the pond. Flocks of brant, geese, and some white swans can be seen at times.

Boardwalks take you across all the wetlands. Along the trails, you can see trees such as the uncommon holly and Atlantic white cedar, as well as beach plum, silverberry, sumac (the edible kind), and black locust. In the dry areas, scarlet and white oaks, cherry and even pitch pine grow. The marsh is covered by reeds (Phragmites) and saltmarsh grass (Spartina).

Enhancing your visit is a fine little museum with aquariums and living wildlife. A trail guide provides a thorough tour of the mile-long trail network.

During the 1960s, area residents were concerned that this natural area could be destroyed by development and wetland filling because it was privately owned. They researched the original Dutch patents and learned that the land had been designated as “common” or public ownership. This voided the private owners’ claims and it became a public nature preserve.

How to Get There: From Meadowbrook Parkway, get off at exit M9 west onto Merrick Road and go west. Turn left at the first traffic light. Follow Mill Road to its end and turn left onto South Main Street. Then make a right at the second traffic light onto Atlantic Avenue. Drive for 2.5 miles and bear left onto Waukena Avenue. At the first traffic light after the country club entrance, turn left onto Park Avenue. Near the end of Park Avenue, turn left onto Golf Drive. Take to end and make a left on Bunker Drive and a right onto Slice Drive, which takes you into the preserve.

The preserve is closed Sundays, Mondays and holidays. On other days, it is open 9 am to 5 pm. During the summer, bring insect protection. For further information, call (516) 766-1580. Their address is 500 Slice Drive, Oceanside, NY 11572.

Pick up a trail guide. If you follow it, it will take you on all the trails with explanations for each station. At the observation point at the end, you have a wonderful panorama, with Jones Beach Tower and theatre to the southwest (left), 11.5 miles away.