Featured Species

The Long Island Field Office is involved in recovery efforts for threatened and endangered species on Long Island, New York City, and Rockland and Westchester Counties. These efforts include on-site monitoring, participation in plant and animal census surveys, predator management, oil-spill cleanups, public and private landowner assistance, public education, and outreach. 

As the principal federal partner responsible for administering the Endangered Species Act (ESA), we take the lead in recovering and conserving our Nation's imperiled species by fostering partnerships, employing scientific excellence, and developing a workforce of conservation leaders.

As we work in partnership with others, our two major goals are to:

  1. Protect endangered and threatened species, and then pursue their recovery; and 
  2. Conserve candidate species and species-at-risk so that listing under the ESA is not necessary.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s endangered species responsibilities include the following:

  • Listing, reclassifying, and delisting under the ESA
  • Providing information and biological opinions (through the Project Reviews process) to federal agencies on their activities that may affect listed species
  • Enforcing species protection under the Act
  • Overseeing recovery activities for listed species
  • Providing for the protection of important habitat
  • Providing assistance to states and others to assist with their endangered species conservation efforts

For definitions and details on the meaning behind species listing statuses, follow the links below:

Federally Listed, Proposed, and Candidate Species on Long Island

Plants

A picture of sandplain gerardia, a shorter plant with grass-like leaves and purple flowers
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SANDPLAIN GERARDIA(Agalinis acuta) – Endangered

Seabeach amaranth
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Seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus) – Threatened

Insects

A picture of a monarch butterfly, a black and orange butterfly on a purple flower
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Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) – Candidate

  • 12/15/2020 Monarch butterfly becomes candidate for listing under ESA
small tan beetle on sand
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Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle (Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis) – Threatened

Birds

A picture of a Bald Eagle, a large eagle perched on a structure
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BALD EAGLE (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) – Delisted

Eastern black rail walks on decaying and live grasses in a marsh area.
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BLACK RAIL  (Laterallus jamaicensis) – Threatened

A tiny gray, white and black shorebird called a piping plover at Cape May National Wildlife Refuge.
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Piping plover (Charadrius melodus) Atlantic Coast Breeding Population - Threatened

A picture of a red knot, a bird on the beach with ruddy red coloration and a long pointed beak
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RED KNOT (Calidris canutus) – Threatened

A picture of a roseate tern, and black and white bird on a beach
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ROSEATE TERN (Sterna dougallii dougallii) – Endangered

Reptiles

An adult green sea turtle crawling across the beach.
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Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) – Endangered

A single adult Kemp's ridley sea turtle basks in the sun on a beach.
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Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) – Endangered

a large sea turtle on a beach, sand covers it partially
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Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) – Endangered

A tiny loggerhead turtle hatchling crawls over the sand to the sea at Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge in Florida.
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) – Endangered

Mammals

A picture of a Northern longeared bat, a small light-brown bat hanging upside down
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NORTHERN LONG-EARED BAT (Myotis septentrionalis) – Threatened

Fish

A picture of an Atlantic sturgeon, a large brown fish with a long pointed nose
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ATLANTIC STURGEON (Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus) – Endangered

A picture of a shortnose sturgeon, a brown fish with a pointed, small nose
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SHORTNOSE STURGEON (Acipenser brevirostrum) – Endangered

A monarch butterfly on a yellow flower

Adult monarch butterflies are large and conspicuous, with bright orange wings surrounded by a black border and covered with black veins. The black border has a double row of white spots, present on the upper side of the wings. Adult monarchs are sexually dimorphic, with males having narrower...

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Kingdom
Animalia
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Species
Bald eagle up close with wing raised

A large raptor, the bald eagle has a wingspread of about seven feet. Adults have a dark brown body and wings, white head and tail, and a yellow beak. Juveniles are mostly brown with white mottling on the body, tail, and undersides of wings. Adult plumage usually is obtained by the sixth year. In...

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Animalia
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Species
Adult Black Rails are small blackish marshbirds with a black bill which are difficult to see. Juveniles are similar to adults, but are duller and have less distinct spotting and streaking.

References cited in Species Profile

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2015. Black Rail. All...
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Kingdom
Animalia
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Species
Grey, white and black bird on sand in the foreground

Size: 18 cm (7.25 in) in length. Color: Breeding season: Pale brown above, lighter below; black band across forehead; bill orange with black tip; legs orange; white rump. Male: Complete or incomplete black band encircles the body at the breast. Female: Paler head band; incomplete breast band....

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Kingdom
Animalia
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Species
A small white bird with light grey wings, orange legs and a black cap

The roseate tern is about 40 centimeters in length, with light-gray wings and back. Its first three or four primaries are black and so is its cap. The rest of the body is white, with a rosy tinge on the chest and belly during the breeding season. The tail is deeply forked, and the outermost...

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Animalia
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Subspecies
A greenish brown sea turtle laying on the beach

The Kemp's ridley turtle is the smallest of the sea turtles, with adults reaching about 2 feet in length and weighing up to 100 pounds. The adult Kemp's ridley has an oval carapace that is almost as wide as it is long and is usually olive-gray in color. The carapace has five pairs of costal...

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Animalia
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A large sea turtle swimming along a reef

Loggerheads were named for their relatively large heads, which support powerful jaws and enable them to feed on hard-shelled prey, such as whelks and conch. The carapace (top shell) is slightly heart-shaped and reddish-brown in adults and sub-adults, while the plastron (bottom shell) is...

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Animalia
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A scaly, dark-grey reptile hatchling, partially covered in sand on a beach

The leatherback is the largest, deepest diving, and most migratory and wide ranging of all sea turtles. The adult leatherback can reach 4 to 8 feet in length and 500 to 2000 pounds in weight. Its shell is composed of a mosaic of small bones covered by firm, rubbery skin with seven longitudinal...

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Animalia
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Species
A green sea turtle swims along the bottom of the reef.

The green sea turtle grows to a maximum size of about 4 feet and a weight of 440 pounds. It has a heart-shaped shell, small head, and single-clawed flippers. Color is variable. Hatchlings generally have a black carapace, white plastron, and white margins on the shell and limbs. The adult...

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Kingdom
Animalia
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Species

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