Great Gull Island Project

The Great Gull Island project is a monitoring study of Common and Roseate Terns nesting on Great Gull Island. Recently it has been expanded to include surveys of the South American coast to determine where numbers of both species spend the nonbreeding season.

Great Gull Island (41°12’N 72°17’W - follow this link for the map), 17 acres (6.9 ha), lies at the eastern end of Long Island Sound, NY, USA. The former site of an army fort, its overgrown battlements are now defended by the largest concentration of nesting Common Terns in the world (9,500 pairs). The boulders dumped around the edge of the island to stabilize the shoreline, as well as some of the retaining walls of the fort, offer nesting sites for 1300 pairs of Roseate Terns, the largest nesting concentration of this endangered species in the Western Hemisphere.

What is the Great Gull Island Project?

Director of the 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, locations of nests.