Against the silhouette of Manhattan, you might spot 332 species of birds—avocets with upturned needle-like bills, blue herons with sinuous necks, sandpipers, loons, mute swans elegant and pale as moonlight, and sometimes even a snowy owl.

West Pond, as it is known, is one of a pair (the other being East Pond) along the route of the Atlantic flyway. By grace of their protected shoreline and freshwater, the ponds have always attracted huge numbers of birds and, in turn, bird-watchers.

Last October 29, the stunning blow that was Hurricane Sandy breached the ponds, opening them to the saltwater marsh, and wrecked much else in Gateway, which is part of the National Park System and encompasses three