Sampsons Island is a uninhabited, undeveloped

barrier island Barrier islands are a Coast#Landforms, coastal landform, a type of dune, dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of an ...

at the mouth of

Cotuit Cotuit ( ) is one of the villages of the Town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, Barnstable on Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Located on a peninsula on the south side of Barnstable about ...

Harbor in

Barnstable, Massachusetts Barnstable ( ) is a List of municipalities in Massachusetts, town in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area and population ...

. It is the location of the

Massachusetts Audubon Society The Massachusetts Audubon Society, commonly known as Mass Audubon, founded in 1896 by Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall and headquartered in Lincoln, Massachusetts, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "protecting the nature of Massachuset ...

's Sampsons Island Wildlife Sanctuary, and it forms part of the Sampsons Island/Dead Neck Island barrier beach system. The island is only accessible by private boat, and is used for recreation and wildlife viewing and preservation. As a barrier island, Sampsons Island and Dead Neck Island protect Cotuit Harbor and nearby coastal areas. The island is a nesting site for

piping plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, Passerellidae, sparrow-sized wader, shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band acro ...

least tern The least tern (''Sternula antillarum'') is a species of tern that breeds in North America and locally in northern South America. It is closely related to, and was formerly often considered conspecific with, the little tern of the Old World. Oth ...

s, and

common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in Temperateness, temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is stron ...

s and a habitat for many other

shore bird 245px, A flock of Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflats in order to foraging, ...

s. It is designated an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

. Access to the island is limited during nesting season.

References

External links

Sampsons Island Wildlife Sanctuary
{{authority control Barnstable, Massachusetts Islands of Barnstable County, Massachusetts Sampson's Island Open space reserves of Massachusetts Coastal islands of Massachusetts Wildlife refuges in Massachusetts Massachusetts Audubon Society Important Bird Areas of the United States Barrier islands of Massachusetts