DSCN9292 (2)Meet our most recent member of the Cape Cod Museum Trail – Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge and its volunteer Friends’ group that manages the visitor center and gift shop there. We just visited it ourselves. It’s a wonderful time to explore the refuge – inside and outside.

Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1944 to provide habitat for migratory birds. Sand stretches for eight miles off the elbow of Cape Cod, forming the barrier islands of North and South Monomoy. In addition to the two islands, a 40-acre unit on Morris Island is also part of the refuge.

The total size of the refuge is 7,604 acres with varied habitats of oceans, salt and freshwater marshes, dunes, and freshwater ponds of which 3,244 acres are designated Wilderness.

The refuge provides important resting, nesting and feeding habitat for migratory birds, including the Federally protected piping plover and roseate tern. More than ten species of seabirds, shorebirds, and waterbirds nest on the islands. The refuge also supports the second largest nesting colony of common terns on the Atlantic seaboard with over 8,000 nesting pairs.

The visitor’s center is hosted by Friends of Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge.

Click here to visit them. It includes a museum and exhibition area. Call for hours during the off season.

We hope you enjoy this photographic tour: