Leach’s Storm Petrels (Hydrobates leucorhous)是一种小型(大约知更鸟大小)的长寿海鸟，它们在近海岛屿的地下洞穴中筑巢. Storm Petrels have been studied on Kent Island for almost 90 years. To monitor breeding efforts, researchers reach into burrows to feel for adults, eggs, and (later in the season) chicks. During this process, called “grubbing”, incubating adult petrels exhibit a variety of behaviors, including biting the researcher. The variety in behavioral response interested me, and I wanted to study why petrels act the way they do.
Recent Summer Fellows
Undergraduate research: Ten Kent Island fellows from Bowdoin lived, studied, and created on the island for two months over the summer of 2023.
Sejal Prachand
Class of: 2024
Fellowship Focus: Leach's Storm Petrel
Major(s): Biology and Mathematics
Charlie O'Brien
Class of: 2023
Fellowship Focus: Island Steward
Major(s): Earth and Oceanographic Science
Together with my friend Reed Warburton, at the direction and with the guidance of Ian Kyle, we tackled diverse projects on the island this summer, ranging from building, repairing, and maintaining the station’s infrastructure for resident scientists. 完成有助于科学家们在这里保持最佳工作状态的项目本身就是一种回报. 了解正在发生的科学并在其中发挥一点作用是一种荣幸, 我很幸运能来到一个我可能再也见不到这样的地方，也是很多人从未经历过的地方. 我认为我们在岛上建立的社区使得更困难的责任值得麻烦, 在这里，我学到了实用技能，也获得了自我认识.
Lily Fanburg
Class of: 2023
Fellowship Focus: Herring Gulls
Major(s): Psychology
在海鸟中，年龄较大的个体通常比年轻的个体有更高的繁殖成功率. 然而，2010年对鲱鱼鸥的一项研究发现，一对育雏的幼鸥比一对育雏的幼鸥更重. 我们测量了在肯特岛的银鸥巢中年老和年轻的父母的相对贡献. Using plumage to identify young parents, we measured incubation, chick attendance, and territory defense across sixteen nests. 总体而言，由一位年轻父母组成的巢与由两位年长父母组成的巢表现相似. However, 在年轻的巢中，年长的父母比年轻的父母更多地参与到领地中. This could be due to unequal prioritization of the nest, or unequal foraging skills, resulting in younger birds spending more time away from the nest.
Danny Lee
Class of: 2025
Fellowship Focus: Leach's Storm Petrels
Major(s): Biology
长寿的海鸟面临着在繁殖和生存之间分配资源的挑战. My project explores these tendencies in Leach's Storm Petrels. 我测量了328个个体和168对繁殖对的身体状况(体重/跗骨长度), 并发现良好的身体状况增加了成功孵化的可能性. Furthermore, 我从肯特岛历史数据集中观察到916对鸟的配对长度与孵化成功率呈正相关, 这表明更持久的伴侣关系会带来更高的繁殖成功率. 这些发现强调了个体质量和配对长度在决定利奇风暴海燕繁殖成功方面的重要性.
Helena Souffrant
Class of: 2025
Fellowship Focus: Tree Swallows
Major(s): Environmental Studies and Africana Studies
In Canada, aerial insectivorous birds have declined by roughly 59% since the 1970s, and by about 32% across North America due to climate change, habitat degradation, and insect decline. Among these declining birds are tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). 自1934年以来，肯特岛一直在监测树燕在人工巢箱中的筑巢活动. 巢址保真度和繁殖散布对树燕的筑巢成功有很大的影响. By analyzing the long-term dataset, I examined whether sex influenced dispersal, 以及成虫密度和雏鸟数量对成虫巢间散布距离的影响. I found that female birds are more likely to disperse than males. 我还得出结论，雏鸟的密度和数量对传播距离都没有显著影响.
Reed Warburton
Class of: 2023
Fellowship Focus: Island Steward
Major(s): Psychology & Biology
Together with my friend Charlie O'Brien, at the direction and with the guidance of Ian Kyle, we tackled diverse projects on the island this summer, ranging from building, repairing, and maintaining the station’s infrastructure for resident scientists. 完成有助于科学家们在这里保持最佳工作状态的项目本身就是一种回报. 了解正在发生的科学并在其中发挥一点作用是一种荣幸, 我很幸运能来到一个我可能再也见不到这样的地方，也是很多人从未经历过的地方. 我认为我们在岛上建立的社区使得更困难的责任值得麻烦, 在这里，我学到了实用技能，也获得了自我认识.
Brad Schoenthaler
Class of: 2024
Fellowship Focus: Intertidal Studies
Major(s): Environmental Studies & History
This summer I studied how prey choice of green crabs (Carcinus maenas) changed with respect to crab size and snail (Littorina obtusata) size. In controlled tests, 大蟹攻击大蜗牛的次数明显多于小蜗牛或藤壶(Semibalanus balanoides); however, they consumed relatively similar numbers of small and large snails. 小蜗牛不分青红皂白地攻击猎物，但不会吃掉大蜗牛. 我还分析了不同大小的螃蟹的胃内容物，发现藻类经常出现, especially among smaller crabs. 此外，我发现与大螃蟹相比，小螃蟹捕食蜗牛的频率更低. 这些发现表明绿蟹的食草性比之前认为的要高.
Cora Dow
Class of: 2024
Fellowship Focus: Artist in Residence
Major(s): History and Visual Arts
我项目的目标是将更多的人与他们周围的自然世界联系起来. For
me, this happened through birding. When I began to recognize species by sight and sound, it felt
like a whole new world had opened up to me. Somehow, naming these organisms enabled me to
notice not only more birds, but so many other things as well. It feels like a gift or a superpower,
and it is certainly something that I want to share with other people.
我也开始更多地关注气候变化对鸟类的影响等问题
以及我在校园里窗户旁发现的死鸟数量. Bird watching
使我更加意识到我和我周围的人对某些事物的影响
species and ecosystems. This, too, is an awareness I want to share with others.
通过我的项目，我想为其他人打开一个新的世界——无论是一个新的世界
有机体，通过艺术对世界的另一种看法，对绝对数量的认识
我们身边存在的生命，或者一种连接和注意周围世界的新方式.
Eva Ahn
Class of: 2026
Fellowship Focus: Pollinators
Major(s): Environmental Studies and Biology
授粉促进是同花物种之间的一种间接关系，其中一种物种有利于另一种植物的繁殖. Flower color is thought to play a role in facilitation, 比如，在同花物种中脱颖而出，获得更大的繁殖成功率. 我使用肯特岛植物传粉者网络数据来测量最接近的物理距离和颜色相似度 Ranunculus acris (高毛茛)和岛上的其他开花物种来回答这个问题:在物理空间中存在得更近的花在光谱空间中是否存在得更近? I found no significant relationship between these factors, 但我发现颜色非常不同的花与颜色相似的花之间有更大的生态位重叠, suggesting greater specialization in flowers with similar color displays.
Oscar Nigam
Class of: 2025
Fellowship Focus: Savannah Sparrows
Major(s): Biology
为了成功孵化，鸟类必须平衡在巢中的时间和觅食的时间. Eggs must remain sufficiently warm for embryonic development, meaning excessive time off the nest can decrease reproductive success. 我试图确定哪些环境和生物变量会影响萨凡纳麻雀的巢温(Passerculus sandwichensis). During summer 2023, I deployed temperature sensors in 28 nests on Kent Island, NB, CA to measure nest temperatures during incubation. Model results showed that precipitation, wind, local density, and female age affect nest temperatures. Female age was only important in inclement weather; yearling females displayed lower nest temperatures than older females during rainstorms. 了解影响孵化的因素可以帮助确定在给定不同环境条件和个体特征的种群中繁殖成功率的差异.