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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVisitors can see a variety of bird and wildlife species at Broad Cove Preserve in Aquebogue. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVisitors can see a variety of bird and wildlife species at Broad Cove Preserve in Aquebogue. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
North Fork birders won\u2019t have to travel far to visit a New York State Birding Trail<\/a>, as Broad Cove Preserve in Aquebogue was recently added to the state trail.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nature enthusiasts can enjoy the new trail and grass plantings, installed in part through Department of Environmental Conservation Invasive Species Grant funding, from dusk to dawn. The trail begins at the mouth of Overlook Drive near Lighthouse Market and Deli in Aquebogue.<\/p>\n On a walk through the preserve, visitors can spot bluebirds, ospreys, great horned owls, bald eagles, hummingbirds and monarch butterflies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are so grateful to be able to work together to provide an important home for birds and wildlife as they are so quickly vanishing across the North Fork and elsewhere,\u201d Peggy Lauber of the North Fork Audubon Society said Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Peconic Land Trust purchased the nearly 100-acre waterfront parcel on Flanders Bay for $11.5 million in December 2021.\u00a0The property includes\u00a025 acres of tidal wetlands and 8,000 feet of shoreline\u00a0along\u00a0Terry Creek and Broad Cove.<\/p>\n It was previously zoned for a high-impact, mixed-use resort when owner Walo LLC accepted a developer\u2019s offer in late 2020, according to Peconic Land Trust\u2019s website<\/a>. While the contract was under review, managing partner Andreas Weisz, learned Peconic Land Trust was prepared to make an offer and agreed to delay the resort deal so the property could instead be preserved.\u00a0<\/p>\n The preserve also includes land deeply connected to Indigenous and African American history.<\/p>\n Peconic Land Trust president John Halsey noted the site\u2019s significance as ancestral land of the Corchaug people and recognized thousands of years of Indigenous presence there.<\/p>\n in the 1930s, 16 acres in Aquebogue were purchased by the four Bell brothers \u2014 Mansfield, Condry, Ezekiel and Melkiah \u2014 sons of a self-taught black farmer and grandsons of slaves from Virginia. The Bell Town Cultural Heritage Area was formally recognized<\/a> by Riverhead Town Board in 2021.<\/p>\n Marilyn Banks-Winter, a descendant of the Bells and Bell Town historian, helped lead efforts to preserve and recognize the area\u2019s history. Her daughter, Orlesha Banks \u2014 a descendant of the Corchaug, Unkechaug, Narragansett and Cherokee people \u2014 spoke about the importance of protecting land \u201cwith deep indigenous and African-American roots.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPrior to establishing Bell Town, the Bell men purchased land and built cottages to live in right here in this 99.4-acre Broad Cove Preserve, formerly the Broad Cove Duck Farm,\u201d Ms. Banks said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The land also operated as Broad Cove Duck Farm, owned by Joseph P. Celic Sr., from the early 1900s through the mid-1960s. A plaque on the grounds details the property\u2019s history, including the man-made ponds and dredged waterways still visible throughout the preserve.<\/p>\n Peconic Baykeeper executive director\u00a0Peter Topping\u00a0called the preservation effort\u00a0a \u201cmajor victory for the Peconic Estuary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI like to think of the Peconic River and this area as the beating heart of the Peconic Estuary, and the organism is only as strong as its heart functions,\u201d he said. \u201cSo protecting, preserving all of this land is a huge, huge victory.\u201d<\/p>\n Niamuck Land Trust board member Denise Silva-Dennis celebrated the preservation of the land so that everyone can enjoy it as a \u201cpeaceful place to come.\u201d<\/p>\n Peconic Estuary Partnership executive director Joyce Novak thanked the state for supporting preservation of the property.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to continued partnership here for the benefit of generations to come,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The preserve is one of three North Fork locations slated to join the state birding trail this spring, according to DEC Assistant Regional Director Ryan McGarry. Hallock State Park and Orient Beach State Park are also expected to be added later this season.<\/p>\n To learn more about the preserve and the New York State Birding Trail, visit peconiclandtrust.org\/our-work\/projects\/broad-cove<\/a> and dec.ny.gov\/things-to-do\/birding\/new-york-state-birding-trail<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Visitors can see a variety of bird and wildlife species at Broad Cove Preserve in Aquebogue. (Credit: Nicole…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[88312,18524,88313,10297,9,11,10,49,88314,51,50,88315,2578,46232,9512],"class_list":["post-224621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-aquebogue","tag-birding","tag-broad-cove-preserve","tag-department-of-environmental-conservation","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-birding-trail","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-overlook-drive","tag-premium","tag-riverhead","tag-trail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/tree-zoom-1024x711.jpeg\")
A northern yellow warbler perches on a tree at Broad Cove Preserve. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/John-Halsey-Peconic-Land-Trust-1024x683.jpg\")
John Halsey, president of Peconic Land Trust, celebrates the trail\u2019s designation as a New York State Birding Trail and recognizes its history as indigenous land. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Orlesha-Banks-Bell-Town-1024x683.jpg\")
Orlesha Banks, descendant of the Bell brothers who purchased land included in the preserve. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/water-1-1024x683.jpg\")
Landscape at trail end near Peconic Estuary. (Credit: Nicole Wagner)<\/p>\n