Great Gull Island
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Great Gull Island
Great Gull Island is a island separating the Long Island and Block Island sounds, located approximately southwest of Little Gull Island. Both islands are located in the town of Southold in Suffolk County, New York, and lie roughly midway between Plum Island and Fishers Island. The island is the location of former military fortifications, but is now owned by the American Museum of Natural History which is working to restore its ecosystem. It hosts many nesting Common and Roseate terns. History A major stopover for birds following the Atlantic Flyway, Great Gull Island was the home of large colonies of nesting terns up until the end of the 19th century, when many birds were killed as a result of the millinery trade and the construction of military fortifications on the island. In 1897, Fort Michie was constructed on Great Gull Island as part of the Coast Defenses of Long Island Sound. The military base was operational from the Spanish–American War through World War II ...
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Orient Point, Plum Island, Great Gull Island, Little Gull Island, From A 1904 USGS Map
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the continent of Asia, loosely classified into the Western Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and sometimes including the Caucasus. Originally, the term ''Orient'' was used to designate only the Near East, and later its meaning evolved and expanded, designating also the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, or the Far East. The term ''oriental'' is often used to describe objects from the Orient; however in the United States it is considered an outdated and often offensive term by some, especially when used to refer to people of East Asian and Southeast Asian descent. Etymology The term "Orient" derives from the Latin word ''oriens'' meaning "east" (lit. "rising" < ''orior'' " rise"). The use of the w ...
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Coast Defenses Of Long Island Sound
The Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound was a United States Army Coast Artillery Corps harbor defense command. It coordinated the coast defenses of Long Island Sound and Connecticut from 1895 to 1950, beginning with the Endicott program. These included both coast artillery forts (all but two on islands in the sound) and underwater minefields. The area defended included the approach via the Sound to New York City, the port cities and manufacturing centers of New London, New Haven, and Bridgeport, and eventually included the submarine base and shipyard in Groton. The command originated circa 1900 as an Artillery District, was renamed Coast Defenses of Long Island Sound in 1913, and again renamed Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound in 1925.Stanton, pp. 455-481Rinaldi, pp. 165-166Berhow, pp. 430-434 History Early Long Island Sound forts Colonial period Connecticut appears to have had few coastal fortifications in the colonial era. Unnamed forts are referred to in New Haven at ...
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Islands Of Suffolk County, New York
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. Sedimentary islands in the Ganges delta are called chars. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands, such as the Philippines, is referred to as an archipelago. There are two main types of islands in the sea: continental and oceanic. There are also artificial islands, which are man-made. Etymology The word ''island'' derives from Middle English ''iland'', from Old English ''igland'' (from ''ig'' or ''ieg'', similarly meaning 'island' when used independently, and -land carrying its contemporary meaning; cf. Dutch ''eiland'' ("island"), German ''Eiland'' ("small island")). However, the spelling of the word w ...
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Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourth-largest country in the Americas, and the eighth-largest country in the world. It shares the bulk of the Southern Cone with Chile to the west, and is also bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. Argentina is a federal state subdivided into twenty-three provinces, and one autonomous city, which is the federal capital and largest city of the nation, Buenos Aires. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system. Argentina claims sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and a part of Antarctica. The earliest recorded human prese ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as '' The Daily''. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The ''Times'' has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national " newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S. The paper is owned by the New York Times Company, which is publicly traded. It has been governed by the Sulzberger family since 1896, through a dual-class share structure after its shares became publicly traded. A. G. Sulzberger, the paper's publisher and the company's chairman, is the fifth generation of the family to head the pa ...
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Helen Hays (ornithologist)
Helen Hays is an American ornithologist and conservationist. Hays has lived on Great Gull Island for six months of each year since 1969 in her capacity as chair of the Great Gull Island committee at the American Museum of Natural History. As of 2014, this work saw the island's tern population increase tenfold compared to the level of 1969. Early life Helen Hays grew up in Johnstown, New York. She attended Wellesley College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in biology in 1953. She next conducted graduate work in Manitoba at Cornell University’s Delta Waterfowl field station, but both Cornell and Wellesley refused to credit her with a master's degree for her work, studying ruddy duck breeding biology; Wellesley said her study was "not relevant". Nevertheless, her research into ruddy ducks was eventually published in the leading peer-reviewed ornithological journal in North America, ''The Auk'', as well as the ''Handbook of North American Birds.'' Career Without an advanced ...
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United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United States Constitution (1789). See alsTitle 10, Subtitle B, Chapter 301, Section 3001 The oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed 14 June 1775 to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)—before the United States was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army.Library of CongressJournals of the Continental Congress, Volume 27/ref> The United States Army considers itself to be a continuation of the Continental Army, and thus considers its institutional inception to be th ...
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Sterna Dougallii
The roseate tern (''Sterna dougallii'') is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name ''Sterna'' is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific ''dougallii'' refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDougall (1777–1814). "Roseate" refers to the bird's pink breast in breeding plumage. Taxonomy English naturalist George Montagu described the roseate tern in 1813. Genetically, it is most closely related to the white-fronted tern (''S. striata''), with their common ancestor a sister lineage to the black-naped tern (''S. sumatrana''). This species has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in bill colour and minor plumage details. ''S. d. dougallii '' breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America, and winters south to the Caribbean and west Africa. Both the European and North American populations have been in long term decline, though active conservation measures have reversed the decline in the last few years at som ...
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Phragmites Australis
''Phragmites australis'', known as the common reed, is a species of plant. It is a broadly distributed wetland grass that can grow up to tall. Description ''Phragmites australis'' commonly forms extensive stands (known as reed beds), which may be as much as or more in extent. Where conditions are suitable it can also spread at or more per year by horizontal runners, which put down roots at regular intervals. It can grow in damp ground, in standing water up to or so deep, or even as a floating mat. The erect stems grow to tall, with the tallest plants growing in areas with hot summers and fertile growing conditions. The leaves are long and broad. The flowers are produced in late summer in a dense, dark purple panicle, about long. Later the numerous long, narrow, sharp pointed spikelets appear greyer due to the growth of long, silky hairs. These eventually help disperse the minute seeds. Taxonomy Recent studies have characterized morphological distinctions between the int ...
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Celastrus
''Celastrus'', commonly known as staff vine, staff tree or bittersweet, is a genus in the family Celastraceae which comprises about 30-40 species of shrubs and vines. They have a wide distribution in East Asia, Australasia, Africa, and the Americas. The leaves are alternate and simple, ovoid, and typically long. The flowers are small, white, pink or greenish, and borne in long panicles; the fruit is a three-valved berry. In North America, they are known as bittersweet, presumably a result of confusion with the unrelated bittersweet (''Solanum dulcamara'') by early colonists. '' C. orbiculatus'' is a serious invasive weed in much of eastern North America. Selected species *''Celastrus angulatus'' Maxim. – Chinese staff vine *''Celastrus australis'' – Australian staff vine *''Celastrus dispermus'' – orange boxwood *''Celastrus flagellaris'' Rupr. *''Celastrus gemmatus'' Loes. *''Celastrus hindsii'' Benth. *''Celastrus monospermus'' Roxb. *'' Celastrus orbiculatus'' Th ...
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Disappearing Gun
A disappearing gun, a gun mounted on a ''disappearing carriage'', is an obsolete type of artillery which enabled a gun to hide from direct fire and observation. The overwhelming majority of carriage designs enabled the gun to rotate backwards and down behind a parapet, or into a pit protected by a wall, after it was fired; a small number were simply barbette mounts on a retractable platform. Either way, retraction lowered the gun from view and direct fire by the enemy while it was being reloaded. It also made reloading easier, since it lowered the breech to a level just above the loading platform, and shells could be rolled right up to the open breech for loading and ramming. Other benefits over non-disappearing types were a higher rate of repetitive fire and less fatigue for the gun crew. Some disappearing carriages were complicated mechanisms, protection from aircraft observation and attack was difficult, and almost all restricted the elevation of the gun. With a few ...
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16-inch Gun M1919
The 16 inch gun M1919 (406 mm) was a large coastal artillery piece installed to defend the United States' major seaports between 1920 and 1946. It was operated by the United States Army Coast Artillery Corps. Only a small number were produced and only seven were mounted; in 1922 and 1940 the US Navy surplussed a number of their own 16-inch/50 guns, which were mated to modified M1919 carriages and filled the need for additional weapons. History The first US 16-inch (406 mm) gun, a coastal artillery weapon, started construction in 1895 at Watervliet Arsenal. It was known as the M1895 and completed in 1902; only one was built. It was mounted on a disappearing carriage in Fort Grant on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal Zone in 1914, where it served until scrapped in 1943. The weapon's muzzle section was displayed at the Watervliet Arsenal museum, which closed in 2013. The second 16-inch (406 mm) gun was the United States Army 50 caliber Model 1919 (M1919) ...
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