[CT Birds] Helen Hayes Great Gull Island Lecture at Audubon Greenwich

[COMINS, Patrick]

An exciting lecture coming up at Audubon Greenwich on April 17th.  Helen Hayes is one of the legends of bird conservation in the Northeast.  Come hear about Great Gull Island (NY), one of the coolest and most important places for birds in this part of the world.

Patrick Comins, Meriden.

You are cordially invited to a lunch time lecture and lunch:

Here and There

A talk by Helen Hays on the American Museum of Natural History's Great Gull Island Project

With the largest concentrations of endangered Roseate Terns in the world and Common Terns in the Northern Hemisphere, Great Gull Island, located at the eastern end of the Long Island Sound, has provided scientists with almost 40 years of conservation research.  The Great Gull Island Project was created in 1969 to protect nesting areas for these species and to study their behavior.

Helen Hays has coordinated much of these efforts and will present a fascinating glimpse into her quest to preserve these beautiful birds.

These efforts Come learn about vital research taking place just off our CT & NY coasts and efforts in Latin America to protect these important species.

12 Noon
Thursday, April 17th, 2008

Kiernan Hall at The Kimberlin Nature Center
613 Riversville Road, Greenwich

Refreshments and light lunch will be provided

Please RSVP to Liz Lane at 203-869-5272 x229

Great Gull Island is a recognized NY Important Bird Area.  This site includes a seventeen-acre rocky island covered with grassy and herbaceous vegetation (owned by the American Museum of Natural History), and the surrounding marine waters, including a deepwater channel known as “The Race.” The Race hosts large concentrations of striped bass (Morone saxatilis), bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), tautog (Tautoga onitis), and summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus). It is also a major migration corridor for striped bass and supports a regionally significant commercial lobster (Homarus americanus) fishery.

Ornithological Summary:
This is one of the most important tern nesting sites in the world, with the largest breeding colony of Roseate Terns in North America (1,500 pairs in 1996; 45% of the northeast North American population) and one of the largest colonies of Common Terns as well (8,000 pairs in 1995, 7,750 in 1996; 40-45% of the state population). The numbers of terns during the years 2000-2004 continued to be about 10,000 Common Tern nests and roughly 1,600 Roseate Tern nests annually. Congregations- Waterbirds Mixed species Has well exceeded threshold (100 ind.) over past ten years.

Conservation Issues:
This site is listed in the 2002 Open Space Conservation Plan as a priority site under the project name Long Island Sound Coastal Area. Oil spills are a potential threat to this area. A long-term research project managed by staff from the American Museum of Natural History involves the demography and life history of terns. During the first round of IBA site identifications, this site was recognized under the research criterion because of the research being performed there.


Roseate Tern:

Global population of 80,000

Population Status & Trends: The Roseate Tern, due to its long-term trend of declining populations, is listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as an endangered species in the northeast. The Caribbean population is listed as threatened, by the USFWS and the global status of the Roseate Tern is "near threatened."
Conservation Issues & Efforts: Devastated by plume and egg hunters in the late 1800s, Roseate Tern numbers increased following legislative protection in North America. This partial recovery ceased in the 1930s, partly due to the concentration of Roseate Terns in a small number of nesting colonies. Consequently, overfishing-related declines in the fish they feed upon, chemical pollution, or oil spills, often have disastrous results. Their small population size and habitat of staging in relatively large groups also makes Roseates vulnerable to fall hurricanes. The species is also vulnerable to direct disturbances, such as human activity, and domestic and introduced predators.
Exploding gull populations create problems for Roseates. Individual gulls specialize in preying on tern eggs, chicks, and even adults. Also, gulls, which nest earlier than terns and are larger and more aggressive, frequently cause terns to abandon their nests. With increasing human development, suitable alternative coastal locations are scarce. The continuing decline of Roseate Terns is also partly due to hunting on their South American wintering grounds, where colonies roosting on beaches and sandbars are vulnerable to trapping and egging.
Because Roseate Terns nest with Common and Arctic terns, protection of all tern nesting colonies is vital to their survival. Researchers are exploring the use of various non-lethal control measures to create and maintain gull-free islands. The success of tern colony management, geared toward maintaining productivity levels at more than one fledgling per pair per year, presents some cause for optimism about the Roseate Tern's future. Recovery strategies include maintaining predator-free tern breeding sites, reducing gull populations by reducing the amount of food available to them from dumps and fishery wastes, and promoting tern protection on winter ranges.



Common Tern:

Rate of Decline: 70 percent of the populations in smaller, unmanaged colonies have vanished in the last 40 years; however, trends for large, unmanaged colonies are unknown. Managed colonies along the Atlantic Coast and Great Lakes are stable or increasing.
Global Population: 2.7 million
Continental Population: : 300,000 at large, managed colonies; 100,000 at large, unmanaged colonies; and 30,000 at small colonies – down from 100,000 40 years ago

Threats: Narrowly escaped extinction in the late 19th century, when its feathers were sought by plume hunters and used to adorn ladies hats and dresses. Human development along lakes and rivers (mining, drilling, logging, housing, and boating) can cause Common Terns to abandon nest sites; acidification or other pollution can deplete fish availability in lakes and rivers. In South America, Common Terns are illegally trapped and shot for food during the non-breeding season, and they must compete with humans for food along heavily fished and sometimes polluted shores.
Outlook: Preserving the Common Tern will require continued intensive management of breeding colonies wherever possible, and the protection of lakes and rivers that provide important habitat from development. Coastal colony management involves helping Common Terns compete with gulls for nest sites, removing overgrown vegetation, deterring predators, and creating new colony sites.