Great Gull Island

=History and General Information=

Great Gull Island, New York (coord|41|12|07|N|72|07|09|W|) is a small island in the Long Island Sound. The island is a major stopover for birds following the Atlantic Flyway. It is the subject of the [http://research.amnh.org/ornithology/ggi/ Great Gull Island Project] , a long term effort by the American Museum of Natural History to restore the island's ecosystem after the closure of a World War II-era army base. It and Little Gull Island (coord|41|12|23|N|72|06|25|W|) to the east are located between Plum Island and Fishers Island.

Terns

The dominant faunal feature of the island - during the summer months at least - is the active Common Tern ("Sterna hirundo") colony spread across the flatter areas of the island that are not taken over by bittersweet (Celastrus spp.) or common reed ("Phragmites australis"). A tentative estimation of the "S. hirundo" mating pairs present on the island places their number at 10,000, though this has not been confirmed, due to the inavailability of a complete and authoritative census.

The other major avian on Great Gull Island is the Roseate Tern ("Sterna dougallii"), which mostly inhabit the ring of boulders that cover the edges of the island. Originally, these boulders were arranged to prevent erosion and were placed there by the US Army. However, the Roseates are well suited to the narrow crevices and hard-to-reach spaces created in this environment, with their young quite adept at vanishing in between the rocks, only becoming accessible when a parent calls to summon them. The population of "S. douglii" populating the island is estimated to hover somewhere around 1,000 mating pairs, though no complete census is available.

Personnel

The first and current director of the program is Helen Hays, who has been managing the island since the 1960's. Joe Dicostanzo is responsible running for the database detailing the family history, hatching records, locations of nests and DOB of many of the birds born on or visiting the island.

The Great Gull Island Program has an ongoing partnership with several Argentinian projects that monitor the terns during the winter and spring months. Occasionally, as a show of support, an Argentinian delegation will arrive to assist in preparation work for "peak week", when hatchings-per-day can range into the thousands. In recognition of their contribution, the west end of the island is thus named "Little Argentina". Reportedly, even the birds there drink mate.