Kingfisher Pond Park

Kingfisher Pond Park is a nature preserve in the New Springville / Heartland Village area of central Staten Island, protecting a freshwater pond and surrounding wetlands that provide habitat for the belted kingfishers that give the park its name.

The park preserves a fragment of the freshwater wetland ecosystem that once covered much of central Staten Island before suburban development transformed the landscape in the second half of the 20th century.

Belted kingfishers, the birds for which the park is named, are diving birds that hunt fish and aquatic insects from perches above the water. Their presence indicates a healthy aquatic ecosystem with clean water and abundant prey.

The park's preservation was the result of community advocacy during the rapid suburbanization of central Staten Island, when residents fought to protect natural areas from the development pressure that was paving over the island's remaining open spaces.

Kingfisher Pond Park preserves a piece of Staten Island's natural heritage in the suburban heart of the island, where the calls of kingfishers can still be heard above the hum of nearby shopping centers.