This event is co-sponsored by ReWild Long Island and ChangeHampton and led by Vicki Bustamante.

Spaces are limited. Register by emailing leonard.green@rewildlongisland.org

Join us on a walk through Big Reed woods to see the spring ephemerals- wild geranium, wood anemone, trout lily, jack-in-the-pulpit, marsh violet, with unfurling native ferns.

The Big Reed area is the jewel of the 1,100-acre Montauk County Park and host to many rare and unusual plants. The hike will pass through some vulnerable ecological communities and we will stop to overlook Big Reed pond, a pristine 57-acre coastal plain pond without a house, building or road in sight.

The area was the last ancestral home of the Montaukett tribe.

Bring your binoculars to view the spring migration. We'll be on the lookout for Scarlet Tanager, Great Crested Flycatcher; Rose-breasted grosbeak, warblers, vireos, blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Directions:
Take route 27 (Montauk Highway) east through the Hamptons into Montauk.
Pass straight through town continuing east toward the lighthouse.
After a few miles (~4) turn left (north) onto East Lake Drive (don't make the mistake of turning too soon onto West Lake Drive)
Follow ~ 2 miles north, see the sign for the Big Reed Nature Area on right, follow short dirt drive into parking lot.
If you come to the airport you've gone too far.

Special instructions:
Tick precautions, sturdy boots and binoculars are recommended. Plan to bring water; lunch and/or a snack.

Note there are no bathrooms in the park, so allow for time to stop in downtown Montauk beforehand and find one of the public bathrooms in town (Kirk Park ball field, one behind Fort Pond Native Nursery, one attached to the Montauk Police sub-station, one before Gosman's Dock, also a couple at the public beaches).