Great Gull Island: Part 2, TERNS!

When Great Gull Island was purchased by the American Museum of Natural History in 1949, it intended to restore the historic landscape of the island. This included its ecology, specifically its nesting seabird colonies.

The birds occupying the island for nesting are Common Terns and Roseate Terns. It is one of the largest colonies for these birds, which is great for the endangered Roseate terns. Let's meet the stars of the island...

Common terns like this one patrolled the walkways, ready to give you a piece of their mind. Very vocal, sometimes they just held their ground and yelled at you as you walked by-- this was the best case scenario.

Outside the door to our room were these little common tern chicks!

Common tern chicks are beggars, when they are hungry, they will beg to any adult passing overhead, especially those with a fish in their beak!

The young terns varied in size, these birds being on the larger side. the young are quite mobile from just a day after hatching.

Clutch sizes also varied in size, from one to sometimes three chicks! A few nests even had 4 or 5 eggs.

So, common tern versus roseate terns... This is a common tern, mature adult.
Their orange beaks seem thicker or heavier than the roseate and also show more orange. The Common tern wing tips are darker, backs are more grey, and tails shorter -- tails and wing tips ended at about the same distance.

A roseate tern. Their bills on the breeding adults are darker, blacker and seem more slender. Their backs are lighter grey- in flight almost looking completely white. At rest, their tails are longer than their wingtips.
Roseates in the right light have a rose/blush-hue to their bellies, giving them their name. Its very subtle, but when you catch it, its beautiful!

Commons and roseates also differ in their nesting preferences. Commons nest on the ground, among the outskirts of the vegetation or on bare ground, they also lay their eggs right on the rocky beaches. While roseate terns nest in rock crevices or terraces made along the hill sides, giving them a human-made nest site.

From the big blind above the dock, we enjoyed views of the birds coming in with fish, having rest from their nests, and taking a chance to preen.

Some birds showed variation in plumage, this one a younger bird or perhaps just coming out of breeding plumage. The time were were at the island was past peak, most nests have been made and birds paired up, raising half grown chicks.

Always a flurry of activity, all around. Babies being fed, siblings stealing food, adults defending their chicks who are trying to eat.  

A gorgeous view of the Roseate tern. This birds numbers were decreased from the plume and feather trade. Birds hunted just for their feathers for fashion-- one of the reasons the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was put together, as many birds some of which common today, nearly went extinct!
Great Gull Island is the largest colony of roseate tern in NY and a large percentage of NY birds nest there.

Roseates are also smaller than common terns, their voices differ too. The roseate having a higher pitch and squeaky quality while the common terns are more robust in their calls, in comparison.

This is why walking around the island is terrifying. I feared every step I took. One had to keep a careful eye on where their foot was about to land as chicks AND eggs are well camouflaged.

...but man, they make even the coldest hearts melt! This young chick has a sibling that is pipping, a small hole signals another chick is breaking out into the world.
Eggs are not a closed system, they breathe and at later stages, especially before hatching a chick will even vocalize from within the egg.

One of the adult common terns who made their nest on a grassy patch right outside of headquarters.

A large clutch- we learned sometimes terns will "dump" eggs in another terns nest. A behavior that is not just limited to cuckoos, cowbirds, and other "nest parasites!" Apparently this is quite common among shore birds and sea birds.

Tail longer than wings? Check.
Almost fully black bill? Check.
Blush hue on chest? Check.
Lighter grey, almost white back? Check.
Smaller in size? Check.

It's a roseate tern!

A roseate with a popular fish that the terns feast on, the sand lance.

One of two chicks lets its parent know that it's hungry!

So many mouths to feed! Good news is we saw a lot of fish coming in, from the popular sand lance, to butter fish, even identified blue fish and a rock eel! It felt like there were enough fish to go around, even much so that the adults even throw them at you as you walk through their colony.

A chick doing its best impression of a rock.

But seriously, their camouflage is almost too good!

A not uncommon common tern chick sight. Little beggar.

A lot of folks may have never noticed terns, brushing them off as a black, white, and grey "seagull." A closer look reveals thinner, pointed wings, a less chunky body, and a long pointed, and often forked tail.

Our focus was mainly on the common terns, and they are just more abundant in general on the island. There are close to 10,000 pairs of common terns on GGI. At the time we were there we were at over 8,000 pairs. Birds are still laying down nests, but the peak of nest laying is past.

A family life that at times seems not too far off from our own...

Some chicks, affectionately referred to as "elephants," or "ellies," for their large size, grey color and ability to run! Elephants have their down feathers slowly replaced with the adult feathers- ones better suited for flight and life over the water.
Birds with such feathers coming in often stretched and flapped theirs wings, getting their exercise in preparation for flight.

A common tern shows off its sand lance.

Those bright gapes are common in all young birds- a signal for parents on where to put the food! With age the common terns mouth inside will match the orange of the outside, losing that contrasting fuchsia and orange target for fish to be placed.

Wing stretching by one of 2 siblings, showing off that transition from downy chick to a juvenile bird.

One thing I was amazed by was the variety of calls the common terns made. Since I often heard them outside our door they had sounds that were specifically for their chicks, sounds used towards neighbors getting too close, the warning "clicks," made as they approached you quickly for a dive-bomb, to even whimpers when you caught them for processing and measuring. Sometimes I heard a sound and realized it came from a tern, not expecting to hear some of the sounds they made.

This tern is sitting atop a blind, where humans can hide and use the small look out holes to make observations from. You crawled in up a ladder, treehouse style to a platform.

The beautiful roseate, with that rose-colored belly. You can see the whiter, lighter wing tips and overall lightness of this bird compared to the commons below.

During one of our "swim breaks," where it was too cold to swim, I sat and tried getting birds in flight, in over cast skies, which was not easy. Birds were flying in overhead with beaks of fish, which is a great thing to see as it is promising for more chicks to survive. This bird has a sand lance.

We also saw quite a few little bluefish come in- as birds often dropped them and we could retrieve the fish to identify. In terms of having the colony thrive on GGI it is also important to have a thriving population of food. Some birds fly to block island and other not super close places to hunt. We know this from the birds equipped with tags that are picked up by receiving towers on surrounding islands and areas.

A sub-adult common tern.

Being immersed in the colony, I gained a huge respect for these birds, seeing their drive to raise the next generation to seeing the ugly, the birds attacking young of conspecifics and even killing other nearby birds. They truly are little dinosaurs!
While lying in my bunk at night, these birds continue through the night, their voices constant. Part of me did feel like there were little compsognathus outside our room at times - with no TV and detachment from reliable internet service, your mind can wander and let your imagination take over. I liked the idea of being on this island, surrounded by feathered dinosaurs.

Great Gull Island: Part 1, the Island!

So I just lived my own childhood dream of living and working in the field with wildlife. I always thought I'd grow up to be a paleontologist, digging up dinosaurs or studying reptiles in the jungle and while that didn't turn out so, I found a great way to fulfill that yearning.

Last December I signed up to become a volunteer on Great Gull Island and between work and personal interest I got to go for a week! So, needless to say, I have so much to share and I am going to do it in a few parts to avoid one giant post:

Here we will begin with what Great Gull Island is, a little bit of its history and what it is currently like there these days. In another post I'd like to share the stars of the island, the terns! Later I will share a bit about the research, what our role was in volunteering there and how we contributed to this on-going monitoring of the colony. And last, a little bit about who else we found there-- because it's not just terns! So strap yourself in for a few posts and please, enjoy!!

Historically the island was always a place for seabirds, but in the late 1800's their populations decreased as a fort was built on the island, remaining active from the Spanish-American War through World War II. Evidence of the military is all over the island, ruins of bunkers and other structures are throughout the tiny island, which is only about 17 acres.

The island was purchased by the Museum of Natural History in 1949 and so began the Great Gull Island project, working to restore the historic colonies of terns that were nearly decimated by the island's period of time spent as a fort.

The two species of interest are the Common and Roseate Tern. In restoring habitat and maintaining that habitat, the terns have returned and the pairs on the island have grown over time.

One cannot just go to Great Gull Island (GGI), we had to board the one boat a week that ferries volunteers, food, mail, and freshwater to the island. The boat is a medium sized fishing boat, a fairly smooth ride. and not going to lie, when the island comes into sight, I felt like I was in Jurassic Park.... but on a boat, and the dinosaurs were flying all around me, and spoiler-- no one got eaten.

Also, positioned all around the island are alien-looking white tarp covered blinds. A blind is where one can hang out, observe the birds and not disturb them. Blinds also provide a place for one to hide, and get refuge when trying to trap birds or a place to hang out when there is down time to observe birds and take note of behavior, fish they are carrying in, etc.

All you have to do is follow the birds to find your way to GGI. A roseate tern leads the way.
The Island is situated on the Eastern part of the Long Island Sound, East of Orient and Plum Island, With Gardiners Island and Montauk to its South, Fishers and Block Island to the East, and Connecticut to its North.

A small dock allows a boat to carefully side up to the island, allowing for a swap of volunteers-- those visiting the island and those who are tagging out to return home. Off the boat comes the belongings of the volunteers, groceries, mail, and tanks of fresh water. Onto the boat goes empty water tanks, trash, and bird-soiled belongings of the volunteer crew disembarking.

Incoming to GGI with the provisions that included fresh veggies, fruits, eggs, proteins, and most importantly, ice cream!

It may look peaceful, but your first steps onto the island are chaotic, everyone tries to move fast but carefully. Birds swoop at your head and delicate nests lie at your feet, every step needs to be made with delicate care and precision.

Protecting our heads as we take our first steps onto GGI.

Once upon the island, wide-brimmed straw hats equipped with silk plants are a coveted piece of equipment. From boats surrounding the island, on fishing trips-- we must look like an odd cult on an island with those odd white blinds all along its perimeter, as everyone wears a hat.
The hat protects you from sharp beaks, droppings, and brazen birds who will get all up in your face, all in the name of defending their nests and young.

Old barracks become our temporary living quarters. The island has no electricity or running water. At night we use candles or flashlights- and even with use of such light-producing implements, we have to be sure shades are drawn as the lights can attract potential predators like night herons or gulls.

My coworker and I lived in the room with the patio. Our outdoor neighbors were terns, with chicks. We brushed our teeth out there while also avoiding a beak swoop from an ornery bird.
Since there is no running water, a re-useable bottle was key to always have drinking water available. For washing dishes and hands, we utilized collected rain water, which I honestly had to accept as okay to do. I figured if this has been the method since 1949, it's tried and true. I soon got past that.

Without electricity, late dinners were eaten by candlelight, family style. It's the rare type of dinner one can have, where there is no TV playing, just others around you to engage in conversation with.

Gasoline? No, but this is what our freshwater was brought to us in and what we happily drank from.

Our kitchen inside headquarters... looking little, it produced! Zucchini, corn bread, and cobblers whipped up with delicious dinners that involved many fresh ingredients.

The work space within headquarters, where were kept our records straight, extra strings of bands could be found, and where you could find Helen or Joe at their desks,

This structure, called the "Big Blind," was an awesome place to view birds. It also housed a beautiful spotting scope that we could use to look for birds who had/lacked bands, a place to count and estimate the sizes of fish being brought in, and a place to observe behavior.

We always had an afternoon break, one could nap, fix a lunch, read a book, or go down to the water and do it all. I was very proud of myself for taking this ladder down to some rocks to get down to the water. I am scared of heights and wobbly ladders that balance you over large boulders, so I am proud of myself for doing this a few times!

This little rocky space was my favorite, you could sit in it and get used to the chilly water. Once used to it I had some amazing camping soap that I used to clean up with. It worked as shampoo and soap. I even got very adventurous, I sampled some delicious seaweed (it was tasty!) and used the seaweed as a scrub (people pay for spa seaweed scrub treatments-- it's free in the ocean!). So I was happy not to have to touch my solar shower- the biodegradable, plant based soap I used did a super job of making me feel pretty good and clean.

Next to GGI is Little Gull Island-- which is where the big, bad gulls live. The island also houses a light house that has a fog horn that seems to be used at all hours of the day, except when it is truly foggy.

A true treasure of GGI is Helen Hays. She came to GGI in the 1960's to assess the tern populations and then returned each year since, to monitor the birds and live on the island among them.
She is such a beautiful human being, good-natured, and doing what she loves-- but sharing it with others. She loves these birds and it was an absolute pleasure to be taken under her wing, so to speak, for a week and learn from her about what they do on the island.
Helen is awesome-- so much so that even the Times wrote a piece about her in 2012.

A drawing on the workspace table. Helen would make announcements on the headquarters PA system, often in rhyme, which I appreciated. One of her more famous ones, "No more napping, time for trapping!" announced when the afternoon session of trapping adult tern pairs commenced!

A bunch of us volunteers from the Common Tern project, one volunteer from the Roseate tern project, and the amazing Helen! Credit to Loy who shared this photo with us all!

One thing is for sure, surrounded by birds on this otherwise un-human-inhabited island, a week went by where I forgot I was in New York but felt more like a remote location on the ocean. Birds worked through the night, calling to their mates, their chicks, and warning the others when danger was present. It was amazing to forget where I was and be immersed in this historic field work that is the Great Gull Island Project.