Grey seals carry no formal NatureServe conservation rank in New York, SNA not applicable, and nearly all of the state’s 222 records, 218 of them, come from iNaturalist, meaning casual beachgoer sightings, not survey data, document most of what’s known about this species here. Long Island’s 16 logged sightings and Fire Island National Seashore’s 10 anchor the classic winter-into-spring haul-out beaches for this species.
April alone accounts for 52 of the 222 records, close to a quarter of the total, tracking the tail end of the winter haul-out season before seals disperse north; records drop to a low of 4 in July and October, consistent with most grey seals having left New York waters by summer.
