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Southhold, NY
Plum Island, Great Gull Island, and Little Gull Island
This Stewardship Area includes three islands in eastern Long Island Sound: Plum Island, Great Gull Island, and Little Gull Island. These islands serve as extremely important habitat areas for common tern, roseate tern, least tern, and piping plover populations. Great Gull Island is home to one of the largest breeding populations of roseate terns in the continent and is home to the world’s largest concentration of common terns, with about 9,500 pairs nesting on the island. Plum Island sits just off the tip of the north fork of Long Island and acts as a wildlife refuge where over 100 bird species have been documented. All of these areas are privately-owned and closed to the public.
Watch the Citizens Campaign for the Environment video of staff from various organizations, including LISS and Audubon, visiting Great Gull Island in August 2012 to see firsthand one of the most significant tern colonies in the western hemisphere.