Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge

Overview

Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge is managed by Fish and Wildlife Service and is located near Lloyd Harbor, New York.  

Target Rock National Wildlife Refuge was acquired in 1967 as a donation from the Eberstadt family, who maintained the land as a garden estate. The 80-acre refuge is located on the north shore of Long Island in the Village of Lloyd Harbor, 25 miles east of New York City. Target Rock refuge consists of mature oak-hickory forest, a half-mile of rocky beach, a brackish pond and several vernal ponds. This refuge is open to the public and is an extremely popular shore fishing location.

Wetlands like the brackish pond provide important habitat to Long Island’s wildlife. Here, the tide from Huntington Bay floods this pond daily and mixes with the freshwater from the surrounding watershed. The result—a pond with salinity lower than that of the Bay, teeming with life from plants to birds, turtles, mammals, and fish.

Microscopic plants and animals inhabit the pond and serve as food for other invertebrates and small fish. Black ducks and other puddle ducks feed on the invertebrates and aquatic plants. Herons and egrets silently stalk the water’s edge preying on fish.

A ring of smooth cordgrass lines the pond. It’s roots are adapted to filter out excess salt from absorbed water, which is then secreted through leaf pores. As the land becomes drier, cordgrass gives way to hightide bush, a woody plant which produces distinctive white flowers in early autumn. Red cedar and other trees border the upland edge of the pond. The sun loving cedar bears bluish berries, providing food for robins, catbirds, mockingbirds, thrushes and others.