Wildlife & Nature
What calls Cove home
Birds, pollinators, dragonflies, and plants recorded at Cove Island — browsable by season.
Birds & Other Animals
Northern Flicker
Colaptes auratus
A ground-feeding woodpecker, easy to spot by its flash of color in flight.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Archilochus colubris
Cove's only breeding hummingbird, drawn to the pollinator garden.
Osprey
Pandion haliaetus
A regular sight over the Sound, hunting in a steep, feet-first dive.
Orchard Oriole
Icterus spurius
Northern Yellow Warbler
Setophaga petechia
One of Cove's regular warblers, favoring shrubby edges and thickets.
Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
A year-round presence at Cove, bright against the winter woods.
White-tailed Deer
Odocoileus virginianus
Butterflies & Insects
Twelve-Spotted Dragonfly
Libellula pulchella
Bumble Bee
Bombus sp.
A steady presence across the pollinator plantings all season.
Monarch Butterfly
Danaus plexippus
Passes through the meadow gardens on its long fall migration.
Blue-winged Scoliid Wasp
Scolia dubia
Plants
Butterfly Weed
Asclepias tuberosa
A native milkweed and pollinator-garden staple, bright orange through midsummer.
Habitats & Ecology
See how it all connects
Every species here belongs to a habitat — salt marsh, dune, meadow, and grove — each shaping what you’ll find and when. Cove has also documented 26 species of dragonflies and damselflies, among the most remarkable hunters in the sanctuary.
Explore Cove’s habitats