There will be a dinner at 5 pm. If you wish to meet Ms Hays prior the program , drop me a line at Prosbird@aol.com.
The first 5 replys will join some council members at the dinner.
Below are the details of the program
Thursday, September 20th, 6:30 P.M.
Great Gull Island Project
Presenter: Helen Hayes, Director, Great Gull Island Project, Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History
Ms. Hays discusses this island project managed for tern species— namely Common and Roseate—and the importance of monitoring tern populations at this critical 17 acre haven in Block Island Sound, in operation since 1969.
From the Great Gull Island website: 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 non breeding season. Great Gull Island (41°12'N 72°17'W ), 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
