Lily Fanburg removes a gull decoy while testing herring gull nesting behavior for her field research. (She wears a helmet to protect her from bird strikes, due to past concussions.) Exposed to the harsh weather of the Gulf of Maine, most of the trees on the island are stunted by storms and winds. The archipelago, located at the southern end of the Bay of Fundy is extremely damp, generally blanketed in fog, although the summer of 2023 was unusually so. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Sejal Prachand, and Molly Hill (of Brown University, the only undergraduate not from Bowdoin in 2023) assist Lily Fanburg with her study of herring gull nesting behavior, on a rare sunny day. Student research topics at the Kent Island Science Station range from behavioral ecology, savannah sparrows songs/nestlings, tree swallows behavior, a decades long leach’s storm petrel census, forest restoration, intertidal zones studies, kelp regeneration, and pollinators data capture. To experience true field work, students spend the entire summer in the remote archipelago, only coming to still relatively remote Grand Manaan Island once for Canada Day. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Professor Patty Jones, Director of the Bowdoin College Scientific Station on Kent Island, overseas the students work and undertakes the heritage field work when students are busy with their own research. Here she 'grubs' for a storm petrel in a well hidden burrow deep in the Shire section of the island. Prof Jones is responsible not only for the students field work, but also the day to day running of the program, and students, while her partner Ian Kyle is island manager. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Danny Lee measures the wing length of a storm petrel as a part of the many decade long storm petrel census on Kent. While the soot gray birds are graceful in the air and water, with long wings and webbed feet, they are awkward on land and are nocturnal to avoid predators who can easily catch them when they are returning to their burrows. This makes them especially vulnerable to invasive species, including cats and dogs, who easily grab the birds on the mainland. Kent Island, has been carefully culled of all invasive plant and animals over many decades to support native animals. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Students are not allowed to use their phones on Kent, except in their bedrooms, to encourage engagement in nature, the pace of the land, and immersion in the work. In down time Oscar Nigam and Robert Schoenthaler read books from the extensive library which the island has acquired over the many decades of students and guests visiting the island. Over the course of a full summer, the minimal use of technology also leads to endlessly creative uses of free time, well known to those who come from pre digital era’s but totally unfamiliar to college students from the digital age. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Students are responsible for their own survival, pitching in on a rotation of chores and cooking. This is essential on an island that is two boat rides away from the mainland, where supplies come in weekly. Lily Fanburg pauses after removing her challah bread from the oven. The Science Station treads lightly on Kent, running primarily off of solar power, with oil back up. Students use composting toilets and solar heated bucket showers. In the summer of 2023 there was minimal sunshine so showers were chilly. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Each season a few self directed graduate students, like Sarah Mueller, join the undergraduates on the island. Sarah studies Savannah Sparrows and listens for birds she has tagged, hiding deep in the grass, while herring gulls protest her presence. Graduate students benefit from the remote but geographically accessible Science Station while the undergraduates benefit from living and working alongside experiences biologists. A career path which they are presumably at the beginning of. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

A herring gull flies overhead, fiercely protecting his nestlings on the ground. Although common at the coast, when examined, any bird is beautiful, and essential to their ecosystem. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Patricia Jones carefully holds a Leach’s storm petrel egg while taking the petrel census. To do this she must 'grub' for the birds, reaching gently into the burrow (nest) of the pair, first removing the single egg for safety, and then the single bird for careful census and biological information. The partner bird is out fishing. They switch off sitting on the egg. This enables researchers to take a census of both. Burrows are spread widely across the Shire and can be hard to find so the census takes the full season. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Molly Hill reaches for an especially difficult burrow as Professor Patty Jones look on. The rare census on Kent Island, spanning many decades, suggests that that like most pelagic birds, the beautiful soot gray birds are in decline. This is due to a combination of factors which affect the animals, including climate change, overfishing, plastic pollution, light pollution and loss of habitat. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Molly Hill, overseen by Professor Patricia Jones, checks the leg band of a storm petrel. A previous study of the Kent Island colony found that the pairs alternate sitting in the burrow on their single egg while the other travels hundreds of miles to hunt for fish in Cape Cod Bay. Findings from the island are important to Canadian Wildlife Service Biologists, who sometimes collaborate on studies, and also use findings in legal processes to create protections for wildlife. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

A Leach’s storm petrel, damp with mud of its burrow is weighed, its wing span measured, and a blood sample taken for gender for the census. The census has been going on, unbroken for 70 years except for covid. Sadly it shows a decline, and Patty fears the worst in the long term. The birds have a wonderful musty smell to them, of clean damp earth. The researchers handle birds as little as possible to minimize stress. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Rising Bowdoin senior, Helena Souffrant, checks the nest boxes of the tree swallows, another long term population study at the Kent Island Science Station. The rains in the summer of 2023 resulted in the death of the entire swallow nestling population as parents were unable to hunt for food, insects typically caught on the wing, and the nestlings starved. ©Julianne Gauron 2023

Eva Ahn walks back from a day in the field with samples. Her personal project focuses on native pollinator populations on the island, a challenge in the damp of the summer of 2023. All students applying for a fellowship on the island must do so with a unique personal area of inquiry which they then report on at the end of the summer back on campus. The students also support ongoing studies like the storm petrel census. ©Julianne Gauron 2023