Important Bird Area: Monomoy and South Beach NWR

The barrier beach and other habitats support breeding populations of the federally listed Piping Plover and Roseate Tern, and state listed Northern Harrier, Common Tern, and Least Tern (formally also the Pied-billed Grebe, Arctic Tern, and Short-eared Owl). Also recorded have been the transient federally listed Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon (formally the Eskimo Curlew and state-listed Common Loon). Six breeding and six transient regional high conservation priority species are found at this site. Lesser numbers of a variety of transient passerines and raptors use the area as a stopover during migration, and significant numbers of transient and wintering sea ducks (Common Eidesr and all three scoter species numbering into the ten of thousands; Red-breasted Mergansesr and Long-tailed Ducks occasionally 1,000+) have been observed. Freshwater ponds often host 1,000+ waterfowl in the fall, with regionally significant numbers of American Black Ducks, Northern Pintails, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Gadwalls, Northern Shovelers, American Wigeons, Ruddy Ducks, and American Coots (all of the dabbling ducks breed in varying numbers). Numbers of migrant shorebirds routinely exceed 5,000 birds in the spring and 10,000 birds in the fall, with globally significant numbers of the Hudsonian Godwit in the fall. The breeding population of Snowy Egrets has recently ranged from 28 to 75+ pairs and Black-crowned Night-Herons exceed 100 pairs. Research projects include long-term monitoring of terns, 25 years of ISS shorebird census, American Oystercatcher research in the 1980s, Short-eared Owl studies in the 1980s, and Piping Plover research in the 1990s.