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
Fishers Island (Pequot: ''Munnawtawkit'') is an island that is part of Southold, New York, United States at the eastern end of Long Island Sound, off the southeastern coast of Connecticut across Fishers Island Sound. About long and wide, it ...
. 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
tern
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of e ...
s up until the end of the 19th century, when many birds were killed as a result of the
millinery
Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter.
Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...
trade and the construction of military fortifications on the island. In 1897,
Fort Michie
Fort Michie was a United States Army coastal defense site on Great Gull Island, New York. Along with Fort H. G. Wright, Fort Terry, and Camp Hero, it defended the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound as part of the Harbor Defenses of Long ...
was constructed on Great Gull Island as part of the
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. Thes ...
. The military base was operational from the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
through
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It included one of the largest gun installations in the United States, an emplacement for a
16-inch gun on a
disappearing carriage
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 bac ...
.
Great Gull Island was acquired by the
American Museum of Natural History on March 31, 1949. It marked the beginning of the Great Gull Island Project, a long-term effort by staff from the museum and other volunteers to restore the island's ecosystem. Gradually, terns began returning to the island to nest, and the population grew into one of the largest colonies in the world for two species of terns.
Terns
The dominant faunal feature of the island during the summer months is the active Common Tern (''
Sterna hirundo'')
colony spread across the flatter areas of the island that are not taken over by bittersweet (''
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 Amer ...
'') or common reed (''
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 ...
''). A tentative estimation of the ''S. hirundo'' mating pairs present on the island estimates their number at 9,500.
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
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
. 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. dougallii'' populating the island is estimated be around 1,300 mating pairs,
though no complete census is available.
Personnel
The founder and director of the Great Gull Island Project is
Helen Hays, who has been managing the island since 1969.
Joe DiCostanzo is responsible for running the database detailing the family history, hatching records, and nest location of many of the birds hatched on or visiting the island.
The Great Gull Island Program has an ongoing partnership with several
Argentine projects that monitor the terns during the winter and spring months.
Occasionally, as a show of support, an Argentine 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".
References
External links
Great Gull Island Project
{{Coord, 41, 12, 07, N, 72, 07, 09, W, display=title
Southold, New York
Islands of Suffolk County, New York
Long Island Sound
Protected areas of Suffolk County, New York
Islands of New York (state)