The Great Gull Island Project
The Great Gull Island Project is a monitoring study of Common and Roseate Terns nesting on Great Gull Island, which is in Long Island Sound off Orient Point on the North Fork of Long Island. Additionally GGI connects with scientists in Brazil, Argentina, and the Azores, where many of the banded birds from Great Gull Island spend their non-breeding time. Helen Hays and her team rely on many volunteers each year to help gather data on the island and maintain the site.
HELEN HAYS
Hays has been leader of Great Gull Island (GGI) from 1969 until present. She is a tirelessly dedicated scientist with infectious spunk who has given much of her life to the study of and preservation of terns on Great Gull Island. Common Tern pairs on GGI have increased from 3,000 to 10,000 since 1969 and Roseate Terns are on the rise too. In addition to the numerous published scientific papers generated by the GGI, Helen Hays has received many awards for her work including the President’s Volunteer Action Award (1985); Chevrolet Outdoor Conservation Award – National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (1996); Lifetime Achievement Award New York Audubon (1998); and Conservation Service Award U.S. Department of the Interior (2002); Honorary Doctorate from University of Connecticut (2015), where Helen gave the commencement address in May 2015.
Great Gull Island 2022 Wrap Up
This communication from Helen Hays and the Great Gull Island folks will bring you up to date on what has transpired during the 2022 field season and plans in the works for the 2023 field season. Your support over the years has been critical to the success of the Project. Thank you very much and all the best for the Holiday
Lydia Thomas, Great Gull Island Office Coordinator
Setting the Stage: Hammers and a Landing Craft
Spring on GGI began right on schedule, and, thanks to your support, Matthew Male and the carpentry team were able to spend a month getting the island ready for the re-tern of the terns, as well as a re-tern to a full summer of research and monitoring. The carpenters built new raised walkways to move equipment from the dock to the Carpenter’s Shop, built new tent platforms to house students, and installed safety railings on some precarious stairways. We installed nearly ¼ mile of new fencing around the Big Gun and other points on the island where the Army fort presents notable “falling” hazards for the tern chicks. This is always a hurry-up operation as we thread the window between spring’s arrival, and the arrival of the terns – but all the work was completed.
There were two other major tasks to tackle before the birds arrived – battling the invasive weeds that crowd the terns out of their nesting spaces, and gathering marine debris that washed up on the island. With the help of USFWS’ Suzanne Paton, the USFWS landing craft team from McKinney National Wildlife Refuge, and University of Rhode Islandstudents, we were able to get boatloads of marine debris off the island. That work needs to be done each year, but the result is a GGI that is safer for the adult and young birds.
Back Home
The island was Tern-Ready for their arrival on May 2, 2022, when the first birds came home. The trip for the Roseate Terns from the northern coast of Brazil, and the Commons from Brazil and the coast of Argentina, is long and difficult, and their arrival is always inspiring. The terns were not alone in this homecoming. After two years of extremely reduced staffing due to COVID-19 precautions we were able to field a team of seven students and researchers throughout the season. The reduced staffing is necessary because the old dorms are no longer usable, and the physical plant just can’t keep up with more people. This limits the scale of some of the work we can do, but we are learning how to make this work.
Egg, Chick, Band, Feed, Fledge
Nesting proceeded “as expected”, and soon GGI was covered in Common and Roseate nests. New nesting “pup tents” were occupied by the Roseates, and the Commons squeezed into every inch, as usual. Researchers and students from Mass Audubon, University of Connecticut, CEMAM/University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil, and University of Rhode Island carried on monitoring the terns. All Roseate Tern nests were marked and counted (about 1,787 Roseate nests), and we continued to use the area “upstairs” (above the Carpenter’s Shop) as our index plot to let us know how the Commons were doing (the number was within 1 nest of the total for the same area in 2021)!
A sample of the Roseate and Common chicks were banded with metal as well as plastic bands with large, easy-to-read codes, and we looked for those chicks every other day until fledging to estimate the survival of chicks. Many of the Roseates were not possible to find regularly, so we spent hundreds of people-hours searching for them at fledging time. This gave us a productivity estimate for both species. We were able to do the “following” by watching with scopes or binoculars from blinds around the island. This reduced our time in the colony, and also lets us gather some other data, like feeding rates, as well as the type of fish delivered to the nests (spoiler alert – it was a BIG mackerel year).
During the fall, URI and UCONN students returned again to help with marine debris cleanup, and helped to close down the island. Invasive plant work continued, and, if all goes well we expect to have even more nesting space on GGI next year.
What’s Next?
In August 2022 the American Museum of Natural History, Mass Audubon, and UCONN hosted seabird and climate change experts from across the US to help build a long-range conservation and climate adaptation plan for GGI. This work is funded by the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, and will set us up with a plan for continuing the important annual monitoring and management work that the terns need to thrive on GGI. At the same time, we need to plan for the future – a future with stronger storms and rising sea levels. The planning will identify strategies for ensuring GGI is able to be a home for the terns for decades to come.
Some of these strategies will be large-scale erosion control. Other strategies will be small scale, and will be designed to provide safe nesting spaces to move terns incrementally above the ever-rising high water mark. Still other strategies will be employed to increase our vigilance for any introduced pathogens or predators, and to be able to respond to the unexpected – this is all part of the plan to ensure the island is resilient in the face of climate change.
Grants, gifts, a healthy dose of “can-do”, chocolate-covered donuts, and a dedicated cadre of supporters has been the engine that transformed GGI from an abandoned Army base, into a one of the largest seabird colonies in the United States. That funding engine is as important now as it ever was. The islandneeds significant improvements to the physical plant (more solar power, replace the defunct dorms with cabins, install a small desalinating unit for drinking water), to the monitoring program (optics, new observation blinds, support for lab work to monitor for disease, support for the fish monitoring program), and also needs support to continue to provide the safest nesting habitat for the terns.
Thank you very much and we look forward to the Spring of 2023 when we welcome the terns home again!
Sincerely,
Helen Hays, Director
Joe DiCostanzo, GGI Associate
Margaret Rubega, UCONN
Peter Paton, URI
Joan Walsh, Mass Audubon
Joel Cracraft, AMNH
The Great Gull Island Project is made possible through the generous contribution of volunteers from every walk of life. We’ve asked some of them to contribute their own thoughts about the impact their experience has made.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities with the Great Gull Island Project please email greatgulloffice@gmail.com.
Introducing our Great Gull Islanders
The Great Gull Island Project is made possible through the generous contribution of volunteers from every walk of life. We’ve asked some of them to contribute their own thoughts about the impact their experience has made.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities with the Great Gull Island Project please email greatgulloffice@gmail.com.
Augie Kramer, Gull Islander since 2014
“Coming to Great Gull Island for the first time in high school, never could I have imagined a place where such a diverse group of people would come together with a common goal of studying and appreciating terns. I am forever grateful for Helen and the rest of the amazing GGI crew for fostering my love of fieldwork and bird research.”
Talvi Ansel, Gull Islander
“Every time I hear a tern or see a tern flying by I think of Gull Island and Helen's work out there. Full Circle captures all that and makes me very homesick.”
Bear Fox, Gull Islander
“For me, Great Gull Island is the closest place to Heaven on earth. I miss it dearly.”
Grace Cormons, Gull Islander
“One weekend on GGI marking nests in the spring of 1966 influenced the rest of my life. I was “hooked” by the sea, sky, and rocks at GGI, by the feeling of being one with the life of the terns, and most importantly, by Helen’s enthusiasm. These things brought me back year after year.
My husband Matt became involved, as well as sons Peter and Tom. Helen’s contagious energy and interest brought together a special community of volunteers willing to cheerfully work hard- marking nests, trapping, observing, keeping records- from early morning ‘til after late June sunsets. It has been exciting to be part of that community.
Helen kept coming up with questions: wanting to know more about the terns’ behavior and how to increase their numbers on GGI, then where they went when they left the island at the end of the season, then where they went in South America during our winter. Her dauntless spirit oversaw the building of observation blinds, terraces and nest boxes on GGI, led us up and down the east coast 1968-1970 from ME to NC to find banded terns, then, for many of the years 1996-2018, to Brazil and Argentina. The South America trips brought us in touch with Esteban in Argentina and Pedro in Brazil who became important collaborators with the GGI Project. In addition to finding major sites where Common and Roseate terns spend their non breeding season, Helen established wonderful respectful relationships with the local people living in communities along the coast. Then Helen had another question: do Roseate Terns that nest in the Azores ever go to Brazil during our winter? See Full Circle for the answer. By the way, I am still “hooked’.
Joe DiCostanzo, Gull Islander
"Besides my family, Great Gull Island has been the biggest and most important thing in my life. "
Dick Young, Gull Islander
“Great Gull Island, steeped in American history and home to one of the largest tern colonies in the world, is a unique and wonderful place. Far and few are the locations where the average person off the street can go mano a mano with such challenging birds. During peak, when one is stressed and in the thick of it, it is hard to maintain that perspective.
It has been my privilege to have spent 36 summers there. Kudos to Helen for keeping the Project going lo these many years. I know that, having been there, I have been changed for the better, and for good.”
Matthew Male, Gull Islander
I first came to Great Gull in the early 1970’s as a teenager for a weekend. Helen Hays was at a water bird meeting in Australia. My father and 3 of my brothers came also, and we were put to work clearing vegetation (some things never change). It was exciting to explore the old fort and island, I jumped at the chance to return for a few trips the following year, helping my older brother with a film he was making (some things never change). I met Helen who soon put me to work as a handyman (some things never change). I became intrigued by all the life on the island - birds, seals and insects, as well as the people. Through the last 40+ years Gull Island has become the place I think of as home, and the people who work there have become family. I plan my life on shore around my time on the island. I love to welcome the terns every spring.
Peter Paton, Gull Islander
“Great Gull Island provides an incredible opportunity for University of Rhode Island undergraduates to get involved with a critical conservation program. For over 8 years, I have been bringing students to assist with habitat management and creating nesting opportunities for both Common and Roseate terns. Students are so excited to know they are helping to protect the largest Roseate Tern colony in the NW Atlantic, with over 50% of the region's nesting population.”
Loretta Stillman, Gull Islander, since 1984
“I remember the first time I set foot on Gull Island, a graduate student looking for an adventure in Ornithology fieldwork. Bareheaded, I bounced off the dock and into a maelstrom of feathered fury. Hundreds, (seemed like millions) of birds diving at my head, screeching and swooping and raining down bird poop. With my arms over my head I made it to the main headquarters where everyone seemed unperturbed and busily unpacking a boatload of food. They all wore hats. First lesson learned. Above all else, everyone on Gull Island needs a good hat and a poop shirt.
The hats and I did not get along. Standard issue was a straw hat with a crown of sticks attached with duct tape. In theory the sticks gave the birds an attack target above the level of your head. In practice you had to use so much duct tape that the hats became top heavy and slid off your head just as the meanest bird on the Island was going in for the kill. Luckily Helen is always open to new ideas and I suggested perhaps something softer than sticks might work better. On my next trip back to the Island I came loaded with plastic flowers from the Dollar Store. I was in the hat business, sewing plastic daisies or roses, or even orchids onto hats. Helen considered the matter scientifically and by observing hats in the field, determined that yellow daisies were attacked the least. For over twenty years Helen and I always have yellow daisies on our hats.”
Michael Male, Cinematographer/ Producer of Full Circle, Gull Islander since 1974
“May of 1974 as a university student was my first time on Great Gull Island. It was early in the nesting season. The island was still washed fresh by winter, tern courtship calls filled the air, and egg laying had just begun. The weekends were busy with Gull Islanders preparing for the full on nesting yet to come. During the first week I was there Helen and I covered nest check alone. It was all magical to me, and Helen such an amazing teacher!
I unfortunately had to go back to the mainland for a paid summer job the rest of the season, and again in 1975 I was only able to spent the same two weeks of May on GGI, but with Helen’s encouragement hatched a plan to return for the full summer in 1976 - to make a film about the project! A dream come true for me … combining natural history and documentary filmmaking, something I very much had the desire to do but had no experience doing. Helen thought it possible, and that makes it a go! UConn offered me independent study credit in biology & fine arts, a camera (that had been used to film studies of "Birds of Paradise” courtship in New Guinea!) was borrowed from the basement of The Museum and “Ternwatch” was the result in 1977 after months of work. Learning while doing can certainly be effective, and it set me off on a career.
For “Full Circle” I returned to Great Gull Island to film again some 40 years later.
Of the several filming trips the favorite and most magical one for me was early season ... yet again. The experience of seeing the tern flocks first arrive after their long migration was new, and getting to share that excitement with Helen who remains as enthusiastic as ever, was a huge treat!”
Lottie Prushinski, Gull Islander since 1992
“Helen is an inspiration to all Gull Islanders. I have missed being able to o out to the island the past 2 years, hopefully we will all be able to get back out there, clear vegetation, welcome the common and roseate terns back for another season and start marking nests again. Of course we can’t forget those wonderful breakfasts, lunches and dinners that Helen along with the volunteers make, and sitting around after dinner and catching up with everyone. Hope to see everyone soon!”
Verónica Neves, Gull Islander
“Working on GGI in 2017 was an inspiring and heart warming experience. The restoration work done for the birds is amazing and I felt part of the winged-human community from the first moment on the pier! So much fun, learning and discovery. Thank you Helen, for being so open, kind and enthusiastic.”
Matt Cormons, Gull Islander
“Great Gull Island entered my life thanks to my then-girlfriend Grace. From her first visit she loved it so much she wanted to share it with me. In subsequent years I volunteered on GGl, married Grace, and was delighted that our two sons were able to work there with Grace. When Helen learned from her Brazilian colleague Pedro. Lima that he had netted a wintering Common Tern banded in the Azores, she wondered if Roseate terns from the Azores might also winter in Brazil.
At the time, Veronica Neves was the only person banding Roseate Terns in the Azores; Helen reasoned that if more Roseates could be banded, there would be an increased chance others might be netted in Brazil. She asked me if I would be willing to visit the Azores to assist Veronica. So began the first of more than a half dozen trips, two with Grace and one with our younger son Peter, plus a visit to Brazil. The first verified trans-Atlantic record resulted when Peter, as part of the Azorean Roseate team trapped a Roseate his brother Tom had banded 5 months earlier with the GGI team with Pedro in Brazil. Since then, Pedro has netted additional Azorean Roseates there. Our entire family is delighted and honored to have been part of this important research which has enriched my family's lives and brought together conservationists from 3 continents —all thanks to Helen’s vision and enthusiasm.”
Pedro Lima
“In 1995 I discovered the migration route of Sterna dougallii (Roseate Terns) in the State of Bahia, Brazil on a sandbar in Mangue Seco. In 1996 Helen discovered me because of the dozen bands I recovered from S. dougallii (Roseate Terns) banded by Helen at GGI. From 1997 on, we started to work together. It's been exactly 25 years - half the circle completed by Helen.
In these 25 years of working together I could summarize the following discoveries: we discovered the migration route of Sterna hirundo (Common Terns) and S.dougallii (Roseate Terns) from the Azores, Portugal and also the migration of S.dougallii from England. These were major discoveries that changed everything that was known about these two species. We captured thousands of birds in Bahia with bands from North America, the Caribbean, more than a dozen banded birds from the Azores and two S. dougallii banded from England. We monitored more than half of the coast of Brazil for S. dougallii - from the coast of Espírito Santo to Oiapoque in Amapá. We worked hard to get S. dougallii (Roseate Terns) included on the list of endangered species in Brazil.
On the north coast of Brazil, we found that Ceará fishermen were killing the birds to remove the bands. Without any kind of coercion, we managed to reverse the situation and bring the fishermen to the side of the fight to protect the terns (S. dougallii) thanks to the intense work of Environmental Education where communities were included in conservation work.
The main reason for this resulting protection lies in the strength of the communities and their contribution to conservation.”
Margaret Rubega, Gull Islander
“I really believe that it's our responsibility as Great Gull Islanders to ensure that all Helen's work is honored by the conservation of tern populations. There are terns in Long Island Sound because Helen created this colony. Climate change threatens to undo that work, and we must adapt along with the birds.”