Our Audubon group requested a visit to Plum Island to observe the wildlife and have a guided tour of the facilities. Although it was a lengthy process to gain access it was well worth it. Not many get to visit Plum Island. Since the announcement of the possible sale of Plum Island many environmental groups have stepped forward to try and preserve the Island for birds and wildlife.
We all gathered in the early morning to take a ferry ride over to the island. We were given ID tags and papers to sign regarding the rules and regulations of the island for visitors. There is a lot of security and rightfully so. Plum Island is the home of the Animal Disease Research Center and a Level 3 Bio Lab. Visitors to Plum Island are assigned a tour guide receive a Welcome and PIADC Mission Overview by Dr. Larry Barrett, DVM.
"Plum Island is undoubtedly the most mysterious location on Long Island and, as the home of the U.S. Animal Disease Laboratory, it certainly has the scariest reputation. This piece of glacial moraine, just off the tip of Orient Point, is one of a series of islands and promontories in the region that were formerly the site of elaborate coastal fortifications and defenses meant to protect us from enemy attack by sea. Since the Animal Disease Center was established there in 1954, the island has become the subject of many controversies and conspiracy theories, mostly having to do with germ warfare. In recent years, the Department of Homeland Security, which has taken possession of the facility and the island, has instituted a program of community outreach permitting visitors to tour the facility and the island under highly controlled circumstances. The laudable aim is to defuse the atmosphere of mystery and fear surrounding this place. The tour for birders which took place this morning was part of that effort.
At 11 am, the indoor part of the tour ended with a visit to a coastal area just back of the main lab building where a rehabilitated Osprey -- a young bird that had been injured -- was being released."
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| Osprey being released by Hampton's Wildlife |
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| This young osprey was found weak and undernourished near an Osprey Nest on Plum Island |
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| The Osprey was nursed back to health by Hampton Wildlife |
"First the mammal highlight. Although ordinary land mammals are not welcome on Plum Island, the island has become known as a major hauling-out place for seals. It would be no surprise to see seals here in the winter but it was a treat to see them in the summer. Several large-headed animals were seen from the shore, all them apparently Gray Seals, a creature that was, not very long ago, considered scarce even in the northern latitudes that are the center of its distribution. ~Eric Salzman
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| Gray Seal |
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| Gray Seal |
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| Gray Seal |
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| Gray Seal |
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| Eric Salzman & MaryLaura Lamont |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Terns, Immature Gull & Double-Crested Cormorant |
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| Double-Crested Cormorants |
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| Common Tern & Immature Gulls |
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| Common Tern & Immature Gulls |
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| Common Tern, Immature Gulls & Double-Crested Cormorants |
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| Immature Gulls & Double-Crested Cormorants |
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| Immature Gulls |
"Another northerner that was seen several times around the edges of the island was Common Eider. Again this is a creature that one would expect to see in the winter but the presence of these birds here in the summer suggests that they may be breeding on the island (they have bred, if I am not mistaken, on nearby Fisher's Island). This is a remarkable exception to the rule that climate change is pushing southern birds north. This is a northerner that is expanding to the south and Plum Island may be Exhibit B." ~Eric Salzman
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| Common Eider |
"Two young Turkey Vultures, perched on the roof of one of the abandoned buildings of the old Fort Tyler, also suggest that these birds may have birthed on the island. The first documented breeding on Long Island was in an abandoned fortification in Camp Hero in Montauk in a very similar kind of habitat." ~Eric Salzman
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| Young Turkey Vultures |
"Perhaps the most spectacular avian sights on the island were the agglomerations of terns and swallows. Terns were everywhere -- fishing in the straits on the side of the island, perched on the adjacent jetties and rocks with myriad young birds calling to be fed by their parents. Most of these birds were Common Terns -- numbering in the thousands -- but there were a few Roseates, Forster's and Black Terns mixed in. I'm not sure if any of these terns actually bred on Plum Island but it should be pointed out that Great Gull Island, the next island over and also a former military establishment, is home to one of the largest tern colonies in the world (dominated by Common Terns but also including considerable numbers of the much rarer Roseate Terns). " ~Eric Salzman
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| Common Terns & Double Crested Cormorants |
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| Common Terns & Double Crested Cormorants |
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| Common Terns |
"The island was also playing host to thousands of Tree Swallows as well as smaller number of Barn Swallows, moving through in their annual migration. The swarms of Tree Swallows, each flock containing hundreds of birds, filled the air over the natural island greenery, presumably hunting insects, and occasionally landing to perch side-by-side on long stretches of wire. The migration of the Tree Swallows is one of Long Island's great bird spectacles and the Plum Island gatherings precede their continuing flight though coastal Long Island. " ~Eric Salzman
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| Tree Swallows & small number of Barn Swallows |
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| Tree Swallows & small number of Barn Swallows |
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| Tree Swallows & small number of Barn Swallows |
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| Tree Swallows & small number of Barn Swallows |
"There were small numbers of shore birds seen (including a possible Hudsonian Godwit in flight -- seen by me but no one else) and a Belted Kingfisher. In the raptor department, there was a Red-tailed Hawk, a Northern Harrier and of course, many Osprey. A gray-backed accipiter was briefly seen by two or three people in the group who ID'd it as a possible Goshawk (although all male accipiters are gray-backed). A fair number of familiar passerines were seen in both the densely vegetated and more open areas including Willow Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird and an American Redstart. " ~Eric Salzman
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| Plum Island Shore |
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| Mary Laura Lamont, Gigi Spates & Tom Moran |
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| Plum Island Shore |
Plum Island Lighthouse
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| Plum Island Lighthouse stands on three-acres at the west end of Plum Island, which were purchased from Richard Jerome for $90 in 1826, and marks the east side of Plum Gut, a mile-wide entrance to Long Island Sound with extremely strong tidal currents. ~ Lighthouse Friends |
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| “This lighthouse was built in 1869,” Wiggin said. “The first lighthouse was built in 1826.” He said the lighthouses were manned from 1826 until the second structure was abandoned in 1978. He pointed out that the lighthouse used to be 300 feet from Plum Gut but erosion has cut that to 50 feet. ~Lighthouse Depot |
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| Plum Island Lighthouse |
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| Out buildings on the right of Lighthouse |
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| Sally Newbert & Mary Laura Lamont |
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| Eileen Schwin, President of Eastern Long Island Audubon Society |
"Since it has been announced that the Animal Disease Laboratory will move to Manhattan, Kansas, it looks like Plum Island may soon be on the block. Environmentalists and others would like to see it preserved from development. Along with Great Gull Island (currently owned by the American Museum of Natural History) and Gardiners Island (if it ever comes on the market), Plum Island could serve as the nucleus of a superb East End Islands National Park. "~Eric Salzman
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| Group Photo |
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1st Row: ? Wilson, Evelyn Voulgarelis, Gigi Spates, Eileen Schwinn, ? Salzman, Mary Laura Lamont, Annette DeGiovine Oliveira, Sally Newbert
2nd Row: Dan Wilson, Eric Lamont, Eric Salzman, Tom Moran, Chris Schmitt
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You can visit Eric Salzman's blog at http://ericsalzman.blogspot.com/ Photos by Sally Newbert
Photos & editing by Annette DeGiovine Oliveira
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